Word: ldl
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...NUTS Peanut butter as health food? Well, yeah. A study (financed by the Peanut Institute) shows that the oil in peanuts is just as good as olive oil at lowering cholesterol, including "bad" LDL cholesterol. The study's subjects went nuts on the stuff. They ate 2 tablespoonfuls of peanut butter and 1 1/2 oz. of nuts a day and kept meat and dairy fat to a minimum. The idea that a peanut diet cuts cholesterol is not a total surprise to nutritionists. Peanut oil, like olive, is a monounsaturated fat--a known cholesterol fighter. The news should be welcome...
...GREAT GRAPE There's little dispute that red wine can help keep a heart healthy. Now it's increasingly clear that grape juice may do the trick too. Purple grape juice--not the white kind--seems to offset damaging effects of LDL (or "bad") cholesterol and keep blood vessels elastic in adults who drink about 12 oz. a day. The fruit juice contains the same beneficial flavonoids--aromatic micronutrients--found in red wine...
STATINS When combined with a low-fat diet, these cholesterol-lowering drugs can cut the risk of death from heart disease 40%. Statins interfere with the liver's ability to make cholesterol, keeping LDL (bad) levels to a minimum while boosting levels of HDL (the good stuff...
NICOTINIC ACID In large doses, this B vitamin cuts LDL 30%, triglyceride levels as much as 55% and increases HDL 35%. The dosage that's needed, however, is up to 70 times the recommended daily allowance, and it comes at a price. Many patients experience flushing, itching and panic attacks. Adjusting the dose, taking an aspirin 30 min. beforehand, or taking the medication on a full stomach alleviates some of the symptoms...
None of this argues for a return to an all-butter diet. Margarines may not lower LDL levels much, but lower them they do. What's more, food scientists in Europe have developed margarines free of trans-fatty acids, and these are slowly making their way to grocery shelves in the U.S. Until they're in wide use here, it's up to manufacturers to give consumers the food labels they need--and it's up to consumers to read them...