“I’ll Have the Cholesterol-Cutting
Combo, Please”

Changing your diet can be an important step in lowering your cholesterol. In fact, one study showed that certain foods eaten in combination are as effective as powerful, cholesterol-lowering medicines called statins.

All the people in the study ate a low-fat diet. They also ate these four types of food daily:

• 1 gram of margarine enriched with plant sterols
• About 10 grams of oats, barley, psyllium, okra, or eggplant
• 22.5 grams of soy milk or soy protein
• 23 grams of whole almonds

Eating these foods led, on average, to about a 13% drop in LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol, which lasted over a one-year period. And, about one-third of subjects lowered their LDL by 20% or more. That’s about the same effect seen with statins.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 83, No. 3