Word: benecol
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...taste good and be reasonably good for me. But more and more these days we're encouraged to view the grocery store as a medicine chest. There are tofu and yams for hot flashes. Ginseng tea for energy. Stewed tomatoes to prevent prostate cancer. So when I heard about Benecol and Take Control, the new margarines that are supposed to lower cholesterol levels in the blood, I didn't exactly smack my lips in anticipation. Still, I figured, given how much heart disease there is in the U.S., they deserved a look...
Both spreads come with pretty good scientific credentials. The key ingredient in Benecol, which was approved last week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, comes from a compound that occurs naturally in pine trees. Take Control, which got the green light in April, uses an extract made from soybean oil. Randomized, controlled trials show that folks with mildly elevated cholesterol levels (between 200 mg/dl and 240 mg/dl) who ate roughly two tablespoons of Benecol a day decreased their level of LDL, the "bad cholesterol," about 14%. The manufacturers of Take Control, on the other hand, designed their product...
Just in time for all those Memorial Day barbecues and picnics: margarine that can help cut your cholesterol. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a new cholesterol-reducing margarine called Benecol, which is made with a substance found in pine trees. Available next week, it follows on the heels of Take Control, a spread containing a natural soybean extract, which hit the shelves last week. The two new products are among the first of a new series of foods that are designed to act like drugs and promote health or prevent disease. "The studies show that these products...
...before Johnson & Johnson can sell the stuff to Americans, it must first resolve a dispute with the FDA. The agency claims authority to vet all new ingredients in food, including the key ingredient in Benecol: sitostanol, derived from pine trees. The substance appears to help reduce the body's absorption of dietary cholesterol into the blood. But the FDA says Benecol's makers cannot advertise specific health benefits without proving them through the agency's rigorous testing process--one that many companies consider unnecessarily bureaucratic and expensive. That's why Johnson & Johnson designates Benecol as a nutritional supplement. Such products...
...does Benecol taste? Nothing like a pine tree, we're pleased to report. It's mild, with a slightly nutty flavor...