Kid's bad cholesterol reduced - Goodnews: essential natural health news - Brief Article

Better Nutrition, Dec, 2003

About 50 million children in the United States suffer from high blood levels of LDL, or "bad" cholesterol--and doctors are finding the condition more and more.

Now, a study published in the August 11, 2003 edition of the medical journal Circulation suggests a nutritional solution.

Children with elevated LDL levels were given 500 milligrams (mg) a day of vitamin C and 400 international units (IU) a day of vitamin E for 6 weeks. They were also placed on the National Cholesterol Education Program Step II diet--a special low-fat diet containing only 7 percent saturated fat--for 6 months.

After antioxidant supplementation, the kids exhibited a return of normal endothelial cell function (improper function is an early sign of atherosclerosis)--suggesting a turning away from the road to heart disease.

$1.6 BILLION Reduction in US health care costs over 5 years from daily multivitamin intake for people over 65. SOURCE: LEWIN GROUP