High fibre diets, surprisingly, may not protect gut health, but they do heighten your chances of developing diverticulosis.

The condition is characterised by small bulging pouches forming on the inner lining of large intestine, trapping bits of stool and becoming infected.

Sympoms include abdominal cramping, constipation and diarrhoea, linked with of difficulty in passing stools. More serious complications include collection of pus in the pelvis, colon obstruction and rectal bleeding.

"It looks like we may have been wrong, for decades, about why diverticula actually form," said Anne Peery, fellow in gastroenterology and hepatology, University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill School of Medicine, who led the study.

The findings, which involved more than 2,000 people, reveal that a fibrous diet actually raised the risk of developing diverticulosis, which affects about a third of adults over 60 years in the US alone, the journal Gastroenterology reports.

In fact, those with the lowest fibre intake were found to be 30 per cent less likely to develop diverticula than those with the highest fibre intake, according to a North Carolina statement.

A high-fibre diet, comprising leafy vegetables, fresh and dry fruits, grains, beans, nuts and seeds, etc., had been recommended by doctors since the late 1960s, to keep diverticulosis at bay. But this assumption has seldom been backed by studies.

The study found no links between diverticulosis and physical inactivity, intake of fat, or intake of red meat. The disease's causes remain unknown, but the researchers believe gut flora may play a role.

Read the rest of this entry »

I'm sure this will come as no great shock, but I don't think I've ever finished an exercise session feeling anything but pumped and exhilarated. Buggered, yes, and sore, often, but always all fired up and ready to take on the world.

I've long been an advocate of a good workout to get your head in the right place. Feel-good endorphins and hormones are released by the pituitary gland and hypothalamus at the base of the brain when we exercise, launching us into a "bring it on" state of mind. However, research by an Aussie (of course) academic has concluded that exercise isn't the only choice on offer for good brain function. A 2010 study by Dr Felice Jacka from Victoria's Deakin University found that what we eat can have a profound effect on our mental health in the long term, reducing the risk of depression and anxiety.

Jacka interviewed more than 1000 women regarding their diet and mental-health symptoms. What made this study different was that for the first time the whole diet of the subjects was looked at, rather than just the role of specific nutrients, such as omega-3, magnesium and folate, in relation to depression and anxiety disorders. Interestingly, the results were the same, irrespective of age or socio-economic status – or even exercise.

The study found that those subjects who had diets high in processed foods and junk food were more likely to suffer anxiety and depression disorders than those who – you guessed it – had wholefood diets high in vegetables, fruit, fish and other lean protein.

Jacka also conducted a study, published in September last year, on adolescents in relation to diet and mental health. With a quarter of young Australians already experiencing mental-health issues, she found that there was a strong suggestion that it may be possible to help prevent teenage depression by getting youngsters to adopt a nutritious, high-quality diet.

What's more, changes in the quality of adolescent diets over two years were reflected in the mental health of subjects. So the kids whose diets got worse over the two years had a commensurate deterioration in their mental health, as opposed to an improvement for those kids who adopted a healthier diet. Wow. And people ask me why I keep banging on about diet and exercise!

If we could rein in the junk-food peddlers, make wholefoods a much cheaper alternative, and each increase our exercise to at least 30 minutes a day, our society would benefit at every level.

Michelle's tip
Start with an experiment – if your diet includes a lot of junk and processed food, go cold turkey for just three days. You will be amazed at how much better you sleep, concentrate, relax and enjoy life. This may just motivate you to change your eating habits for good!

Read the rest of this entry »

Dieting is hard enough if it means giving up or cutting back on favorite foods. Doing it without the comfort of an occasional drink can be near-impossible for some dieters. While certain diets have a zero-tolerance policy toward booze, others allow or even encourage moderate alcohol consumption—and experts say diets that permit drinking may be easier to stick to than their more rigid counterparts.

Here's a look at six diets that allow drinking, with the first five listed in the order they're ranked among Best Weight-Loss Diets. One diet has not been evaluated by U.S. News as part of its Best Diets rankings. Each diet allows for at least one drink a day, and doesn't require compensating with exercise or by shaving calories elsewhere.

Volumetrics. Certain foods are less energy dense than others—that is, they have fewer calories per gram. On Volumetrics, you'll fill your plate with more of these to get the most out of every bite you eat. (For the same amount of calories, for example, you could have 1 pound of low-density carrots, or 1 ounce of high-density peanuts.) It's alcohol-friendly, too, though women should stick to one drink a day, and men, no more than two. Go for wine coolers, gin-and-tonics, and light beer, since they're lowest on the energy-density spectrum. Avoid pina coladas, margaritas, and daiquiris, which are highest.

DASH Diet. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) is a healthy-eating plan designed to deflate high blood pressure. Alcohol is allowed, but not a boundless amount. Dieters should stick to one or two drinks a day for women and men, respectively. Though two daily drinks equals 14 a week, you can't save up and have them all at once. Binge drinking can elevate blood pressure and damage the liver, brain, and heart, so moderation is key.

Mediterranean Diet. What's a Mediterranean diet without wine? You'll load up on fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, nuts, legumes, and olive oil—and top it all off with a splash of red wine. Why? Red wine is packed with antioxidants and resveratrol, a chemical that may have anti-aging properties. Many studies suggest a glass or two a day is heart-healthy, may protect against certain cancers, and may slow the progression of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

Vegetarian Diet. Most vegetarians choose a lacto-ovo approach, turning their backs on meat, fish, and poultry while still eating dairy products and eggs. There are no restrictions on alcohol—if you want to have a drink or two a day, that's fine. The approach is significantly more alcohol-friendly than veganism, which only permits certain types of alcohol. Some wines, for example, are filtered through gelatin, egg whites, and isinglass, which is made from fish bladders, and vegans don't consume any animal products.

Zone Diet. Following Zone means conforming to a ratio of 40 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent fat, and 30 percent protein. Alcohol fits into that equation, too, though Barry Sears, the diet's creator, warns that beer and wine contain carbs, and all alcoholic beverages add calories. If you're going to drink, Sears recommends red wine, since it's packed with polyphenols, antioxidants thought to thwart inflammation and other health problems.

Sonoma Diet. Like the Mediterranean diet, it emphasizes fruits, veggies, whole grains, fish, and nuts. Wine plays a leading role, too: The New Sonoma Diet (2011, $22.95), by registered dietitian Connie Guttersen, even suggests food and wine pairings. Guttersen points to a 2010 study of 20,000 women that found that drinkers were 30 percent less likely to become overweight or obese over a 13-year span than were nondrinkers.

Read the rest of this entry »

This past weekend, Science-ish was disappointed to read Margaret Wente’s column on health evidence, in which she opined: “Today’s health wisdom has a way of becoming tomorrow’s bunk… This may help explain why all the standard diet and exercise advice is worthless.” Sure, evidence about the best way to eat is evolving, the media screws up reporting on science all the time, and the health sciences are particularly vulnerable to what Edmonton-based health law professor Timothy Caulfield calls, in his insightful new book A Cure for Everything!, “an unprecedented number of perverting influences” like Big Food.

But that’s no reason to discount science altogether. When you look at the evidence about diet, some things are pretty straightforward. So rather than taking a blind approach to a healthy life, Science-ish will stick to the science, and give you the six things you should know about an evidence-based approach to diet and weight loss.

1. Surprise, surprise! There is no “best” diet for losing weight.
Science-ish found research to prove that just about every diet imaginable works when it comes to losing weight. As the authors of this study point out, “Several trials showed that low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets resulted in more weight loss over the course of three to six months than conventional high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets, but other studies did not show this effect… other researchers found that a very-high-carbohydrate, very-low-fat vegetarian diet was superior to a conventional high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet.”

And on and on and on.
Now, this isn’t because the science is necessarily bad or purposefully misleading. It doesn’t mean we should throw our hands in the air and live on chocolate and burgers. The variability in results is caused by a few things: Good studies about the effects of diet need to be long-term and long-term studies are expensive; tracking people over time and getting them to adhere to their assigned diet is difficult; bias sometimes influences the results of the study; and science is an iterative process so things change as research evolves, which—when reported without context—can be confusing.

But, when taken as a whole, the evidence suggests it doesn’t really matter what diet you follow—low carb, high protein, Atkins, whatever. When it comes to losing weight, it’s cutting calories that counts.

Here’s some evidence: this trial looked at long-term results of diets with different ratios of carbohydrates, fat, and protein and found that “the diets were equally successful in promoting clinically meaningful weight loss and the maintenance of weight loss over the course of 2 years. Satiety, hunger, satisfaction with the diet, and attendance at group sessions were similar for all diets.”

Another randomized trial looked at some 300 premenopausal overweight and obese women for 12 months as they each followed one of four weight-loss diets: Atkins (very low in carbohydrates), Zone (low carb), Ornish (very high carb), and LEARN (low in fat, high in carb, based on U.S. national guidelines). Conclusions? Those assigned to the Atkins diet lost more weight and had more favourable outcomes for metabolic effects after one year than the women who went on the other diets. But the implication of this study, researchers suggested, is that weight loss with a low-cab diet is “likely to be at least as large as for any other dietary pattern.”

The journal Public Health Nutrition published a trial comparing the effects of Atkins, the Slim-Fast Plan, Weight Watchers Pure Points program, and the ‘Eat yourself Slim’ Diet and Fitness Plan against a control diet for six months. Participants here were overweight and obese men and women, aged 21 to 60. No difference was observed among the groups at six months, and all groups lost between five and nine kilograms.

The take-home message is pretty simple: when people eat less, and stick to eating less, they will lose weight—no matter the diet. If you want to slim down, figure out a way to eat less that works for you.

2. The basics of a healthy diet are known.
The seemingly ever-changing advice about how to eat is confusing. More avocados, no avocados, some wine, no wine. But it’s confusing because reporters publicize single studies about the details of diet, which change as science incrementally moves along. While the details of a healthy diet are working themselves out, Caulfield told Science-ish, “There has been very little flip flopping on the basics of a healthy diet. We know what it looks like: fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean meats, et cetera.”

He’s not the first to point this out. In recent years, the foodie activist-journalist Michael Pollan as well as as the British debunking doctor Ben Goldacre—among others—have done good work in this area. In particular, I like this Goldacre tirade against the complicating forces of nutritionists: “Diet has been studied very extensively, and there are some things that we know with a fair degree of certainty: there is convincing evidence that diets rich in fresh fruit and vegetables, with natural sources of dietary fibre, avoiding obesity, moderate alcohol, and physical exercise, are protective against things such as cancer and heart disease. But nutritionists don’t stop there, because they can’t: they have to manufacture complication, to justify the existence of their profession.”

3. Cut the crap.
When you’re cutting calories, you need to leave enough room in your diet for those things that your body needs to stay healthy—fruits, vegetables, lean protein—and this means you need to cut the crap. A good place to start is by eliminating all pop, juice, and junk food, Caulfield suggested, adding that half of what’s on your plate should be fruits and vegetables. (Think of Pollan’s famous adage: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”)

As Science-ish has noted before, consuming sugary drinks, processed meats, and potato chips has been correlated with weight gain in a previous cohort study while eating vegetables, fruits, nuts and yogurt has been correlated with less weight gain. (Remember, correlation is not causation, but it’s something to think about.) As well, this 2010 Harvard study on sugary beverages and the risk of obesity and type-2 diabetes found that epidemiological reports “clearly indicate that regular consumption of (sugar-sweetened beverages) can lead to weight gain and substantially increase risk of developing chronic diseases including (metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and coronary heart disease).”

Caulfield, an evidence nerd who put himself on a diet to test his theories and lost 25 pounds, put it simply for Science-ish: “We need to eat fewer calories—forever. Not just during the dieting period, but long term. So we need to figure out what we can cut and what you can’t give up. Eat the latter in moderation.”

4. Sticking to a diet is tricky; make a lifestyle change.
Having thrown that “keep it simple” advice out there, Science-ish must acknowledge that doing so is incredibly difficult for us mortals. This trial found it was so difficult to get people to adhere to their prescribed diets, that studying different diets was damned near impossible. “Despite the intensive behavioral counseling in our study, participants had difficulty achieving the goals for macronutrient intake of their assigned group,” the study read.

In a fascinating editorial related to this study, the author notes: “The inability of the volunteers to maintain their diets must give us pause. . . even these highly motivated, intelligent participants who were coached by expert professionals could not achieve the weight losses needed to reverse the obesity epidemic.” The writer goes on to suggest the remedy may be community overhaul, pointing to studies of two small towns in France, in which everyone from the mayor to restaurant owners joined together in an effort to get kids to eat better and exercise more. Over five years, “the prevalence of overweight in children had fallen to 8.8%, whereas it had risen to 17.8% in the neighboring comparison towns, in line with the national trend.”

For now, one message we can take from this is that lifestyle changes are needed to sustain weight loss. As Caulfield told Science-ish, “It is a cliché, but I’ll say it again: it must be a lifestyle change, not a ‘diet.’ ” Science-ish would offer Rob Ford, Toronto’s mayor, that wisdom, as he publicly attempts to lose weight before the summer in a very smart PR trick. Think about the rest of your life, Mayor Ford, not just the summer—or the next election.

5. Tracking helps.
Counting calories may seem retro, and not in a fun way. But those who track what’s going in and frequently weigh themselves have better weight-loss outcomes, which is particularly helpful since studies have found people underestimate calories in the food they eat, especially high-calorie foods.

6. Be aware of the mind-bending forces of industry and culture.
As you have surely noticed by now, there are some evidence-based things we know about what works to help people lose weight. But somehow, the wisdom about what makes us healthy has been twisted to the point that we don’t recognize these simple truths—a statement Caulfield makes very convincingly in his book.

In fact, I wonder whether we’d have a better chance at keeping extra weight off if we had less messaging about junk food around us. Some cities are already taking steps in this direction. But until Mayor Ford’s weight loss regime is extended into a province- and nation-wide health overhaul, Science-ish will leave you with some of Caulfield’s sound advice:

“Be conscious of all the twisting forces that exist in our culture (and within us) that are constantly trying to pull us from a pattern of healthy eating. These forces include our own misconceptions about ourselves and what we eat… Refuse fast food. Don’t get tricked into accepting big portion sizes. Don’t let social pressures—friends, work situations, travel—derail healthy eating. And don’t get bamboozled by the ‘healthy’ or ‘organic’ labels on packaged food. These are, by and large, marketing tools… Simplicity is the revelation.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Funded by Diabetes UK and published in Diabetes Care, researchers spent 12 months giving half the sample of 93 women flavonoid-enriched chocolate. Half the group of women were given placebo chocolate bars, by the group at University of East Anglia.

The results show those who ate chocolate with enhanced flavonoids reduced their risk of heart attack in the next decade by 3.4%. Their risk of stroke, resistance to insulin and cholesterol levels were also significantly reduced, the trial shows. The researchers stressed that this did not mean women with type 2 diabetes should eat more chocolate.

Commercially available chocolate does not contain "nearly as much of it as the women consumed" and eating too much chocolate would adversely affect weight unless the diet was balanced for energy intake.

The chocolate bars used in the trial were specially formulated to provide a high dose of two flavonoid sub-classes - flavan-3-ols which are found in cocoa and tea, and isoflavones which are found in soy.

"These results are significant from a public health perspective because they provide further concrete evidence that diet has a beneficial clinical effect over and above conventional drug treatment," said lead researcher Prof Aedin Cassidy, from Norwich Medical School.

The women who took part in the research were part of the "high risk" age group between 51 and 74. Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Diabetes UK, said: "This trial assessed the effects of flavonoids on the risk of heart disease in post-menopausal women with type 2 diabetes over a period of one year.

"Although it involved quite a small number of women already at high risk of heart disease, these compounds appeared to offer them better protection against heart problems than conventional drugs when administered under very carefully controlled circumstances."

Read the rest of this entry »

New Delhi: People taking diets high in several key vitamins or in health-boosting omega-3 fatty acids are less likely to develop the brain shrinkage linked to Alzheimer`s disease, according to a new research.

This means people who regularly eat oily fish like salmon, mackerel and sardines or large amounts of fruit and vegetables could delay the disease or stop it developing. So the scientists claimed that making simple changes in diet could prevent death from Alzheimer`s disease.

"It is very exciting to think that people could potentially stop their brains from shrinking and keep them sharp by adjusting their diet," the Daily Express quoted study author Dr Gene Bowman as saying. Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish like salmon and mackerel have been shown to cut the risk of heart disease, help people recover from heart attacks, slow mental decline and reduce the risk of blindness.

Previous research has shown that eating fish can reduce people`s risk of Alzheimer`s disease by 47 per cent and even slow its progress. But the latest study found that people with diets high in omega-3 fatty acids and in vitamins C, D, E and the B vitamins have higher scores on mental tests than people with diets low in those nutrients.

"Although there is no sure-fire way of preventing Alzheimer`s yet, we know that risk factors for heart disease and stroke can also increase the risk of dementia," said Dr Simon Ridley, head of research at Alzheimer`s Research UK.

"The best advice at the moment is to eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, and keep healthy by not smoking, taking regular exercise and keeping blood pressure and cholesterol in check," he added.

The research was published in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Read the rest of this entry »

It seems people have been looking for the perfect diet since the first chunky caveman. Nowadays every week seems to bring word of some new fad that a friend of a friend swears by or some regimen the hot celebrity du jour is rumored to be using to get into bikini shape. Diet fiends have jumped on so many bandwagons and get-fit-fast diet plans that it's amazing they can even keep track of them all. So far, nobody has found the perfect diet. They have, however, happily filled their bodies and minds with countless bad diets on their endless quest.

Some diets are disgusting, some are so counterintuitive that it's a wonder they even became fads and some just stink -- literally. Maybe the perfect diet doesn't exist, but these five diet nightmares are a good place not to start ...

No. 5: The Atkins diet
Everyone has heard of the Atkins diet, and despite its popularity doctors and dieters have a laundry list of horror stories.Any diet that lets you eat bacon all day sounds great, but does it really sound healthy?

The Atkins diet essentially turns the longstanding food pyramid on its head, favoring fatty meat and slashing carbs, something doctors fervently warn their patients not to do. Atkins begins with dramatically changing how your body works by putting it in a state called ketosis; which has been linked to chronic dehydration, nausea, depression and bad breath. Such high-protein diets are also very dangerous for people with high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney ailments. Doctors say eating a diet so high in protein can also cause gout and an increased risk of cancer.

While some dieters report great results, many Atkins dieters also gain all those lost pounds back soon after the bacon-and-beef party ends.

No. 4: Juice detox/fasting diets
The juice detox and juice fasting diets became all the rage among raw food fans and people looking to get the "toxins" of everyday life out of their body. These diets come in many forms: fruit juices, juiced veggies and even cayenne pepper juice and molasses.

The idea behind the diets is that the body digests juice with little effort and wipes the slate clean, so to speak. Dieters use juice fasting beyond just losing weight, they also look to it to quit smoking, drinking caffeine or for an alternative to normal medical procedures.

Dieters have, however, reported many problems with the diet. Acne breakouts, extreme irritability, fatigue and the leaching of calcium and other nutrients crucial to a healthy body have all been reported by dieters who try juice fasting.

No. 3: The cabbage soup diet
The cabbage soup diet is one diet that literally stinks, first from the soup and later from the flatulence many dieters have reported.

The basis of the diet is eating huge quantities of cabbage soup -- hence the name. The low-calorie soup diet typically lasts for seven days. During that time, the cabbage soup is paired with sides such as several bananas, unsweetened fruit juice and beef.

Doctors have criticized the diet because it is very high in sodium in order to make the bland soup edible. They also say any weight lost is usually water weight; which means dieters gain the weight back soon after the diet ends.

Beyond the flatulence, dieters also say they often feel weak and light-headed during the diet and reported feeling nauseous at the smell of cabbage soup after a few days on the diet.

No. 2: The garlic and onion diet
The garlic and onion diet is likely the stinkiest diets most people will ever hear of.

Read the rest of this entry »

A new study published in JAMA demonstrates the various effects of overeating of three diets that differed mainly in protein composition.

George Bray and colleagues randomized 25 healthy volunteers to participate in an inpatient study to consume low, normal, or high protein diets which provided 40% more calories than required to maintain their normal weight. After 8 weeks there was less weight gain in the low protein group than in the other groups (p=.002).

Weight gain:
low protein group: 3.16 kg
normal protein group: 6.05 kg
high protein diet group: 6.51 kg
However, there was no difference between the groups in the increase in body fat, and the low protein diet caused no increase in energy expenditure or lean body mass. By contrast, energy expenditure and lean body mass increased with the normal and high protein diets.
Lean body mass:

low protein group: -0.70 kg
normal protein group: 2.87 kg
high protein diet group: 3.18 kg
For the low protein diet more than 90% of the extra calories were stored as fat, while for the normal and high protein diets only 50% of the excess calories were stored as fat.

In an accompanying editorial Zhaoping Li and David Heber write that the study showed that “body fat increased in proportion to excess calories but overall weight gain was less with low protein relative to normal or high protein diets.” Because Western diets are high in fat and carbohydrates the results “suggest that body weight may underestimate the true hazards of over nutrition.” They point out that in free-living populations, high protein diets “may contribute to more successful weight loss in the long-term due to the effects on resting energy expenditure observed in this study.”

When Overeating, Calories, Not Protein, Contribute to Increase in Body Fat

CHICAGO – In a study conducted among 25 healthy individuals living in a controlled setting who were randomized to overconsumption of different levels of protein diets, those consuming the low-protein diet had less weight gain compared to those consuming normal and high protein diets, and calories alone, and not protein appeared to contribute to an increase in body fat, according to a study in the January 4 issue of JAMA. The researchers also found that protein did contribute to changes in energy expenditure and lean body mass.

“Obesity has become a major public health concern with more than 60 percent of adults in the United States categorized as overweight and more than 30 percent as obese,” according to background information in the article. The role of diet composition in response to overeating and energy dissipation is unclear.

George A. Bray, M.D., of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, La., and colleagues conducted a study to determine whether the level of dietary protein differentially affected body composition, weight gain, or energy expenditure under tightly controlled conditions. The randomized controlled trial included 25 U.S. healthy, weight-stable male and female volunteers, ages 18 to 35 years, with a body mass index between 19 and 30. The first participant was admitted to the inpatient metabolic unit in June 2005 and the last in October 2007. After consuming a weight-stabilizing diet for 13 to 25 days, participants were randomized to receive diets containing 5 percent of energy from protein (low protein), 15 percent (normal protein), or 25 percent (high protein), which they were overfed during the last 8 weeks of their 10- to 12-week stay in the inpatient metabolic unit. Compared with energy intake during the weight stabilization period, the protein diets provided approximately 40 percent more energy intake, which corresponds to 954 calories a day.

All participants in the study gained weight and there were no differences by sex. The rate of weight gain in the low protein diet group was significantly less than in the other 2 groups (6.97 lbs. [3.16 kg] vs. 13.3 lbs [6.05 kg] for the normal protein diet group and 14.4 lbs [6.51 kg] in the high protein diet group).

“Body fat increased similarly in all 3 protein diet groups and represented 50 percent to more than 90 percent of the excess stored calories. Resting energy expenditure, total energy expenditure, and body protein did not increase during overfeeding with the low protein diet,” the authors write.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rapid weight-loss plans typically last 15 days and see just 20 per cent of women reach their target, with 35 per cent putting on more than they lost. Despite shedding an average 2.5kg (5.6lb), women gain 2.1kg (4.7lb) less than three weeks after the diet ends, according to breadmaker Hovis. Olympic cyclist and Hovis ambassador Victoria Pendleton said: 'It's worrying to think that women put pressure on themselves to lose weight quickly and then suffer emotional repercussions if they give up or don’t see the desired results. 'The secret to a healthy lifestyle is not crash diets, marathons or cutting out bread from your diet.'

The poll of 2000 women found just in one five were able to keep to plans which steered clear of certain food groups, such as the Dukan or Atkins diet. One in three women tried to remove bread from their diet, and nearly half of those questioned said they failed after trying to cut out all savoury snacks.

Read the rest of this entry »

People using a diet centered on fruits and vegetables to lower their cholesterol may be able to introduce lean beef and get similar results, suggests a new study.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, are similar to those of past research that found red meat may be fine in moderation. The new study, while small, was uncommonly well controlled, with participants' diets closely monitored.

"It isn't all that different from what people were saying," said Dr. Elizabeth Jackson, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Michigan Health Systems, who was not involved in the study. "It was very well done, and that is one of the things that are difficult with nutrition science," said Jackson. "You could never do data like this on thousands of patients."

The new research followed 36 people with high cholesterol as they ate four different diets for five weeks each. Penny Kris-Etherton, a professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, and her colleagues closely monitored the men and women between late 2007 and early 2009.

Of the four eating patterns followed by the participants in different stages of the study, the "healthy American diet" allowed for more oils, saturated fat and refined grains compared to the "DASH" diet based on fruits and vegetables, and two other diets that each included lean cuts of beef. But all diets had about the same number of calories.

To make sure each person stuck to the regimens, participants in the study ate one meal a day at Penn State's Metabolic Diet Study Center between Monday and Friday. The rest of the meals were also prepared by the Center and packed to be eaten later.

At the outset, the mean LDL, or "bad," cholesterol for the group was 139 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) and mean total cholesterol was 211 mg/dL. Those are considered borderline-high numbers according to the National Institutes of Health's standards. The group's mean HDL, or "good," cholesterol was 52 mg/dL, which is about the recommended amount.

Compared to the healthy American diet, which slightly raised cholesterol, the vegetable- and fruit-based DASH diet and the diets including lean beef lowered LDL and total cholesterol to a mean of 129 and 200 mg/dL, respectively. The diets also slightly lowered the group's mean levels of "good" cholesterol, which the researchers said can be explained by the fact that saturated fat raises HDL.

The lean beef diets were lower in saturated fat than an average American diet, which contains more full-fat cheese and butter. The beef diets included between 4 and 5.5 ounces a day of lean meats, primarily in the form of top round, chuck shoulder pot roast and 95% lean ground beef. Meats were grilled, braised, or in the case of ground beef, fried.

The study was jointly funded by Penn State and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Joan Salge Blake, a clinical associate professor at Boston University's Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and an Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson, said it's important to make sure a person watches their entire diet.

"I think it's really important that the public understands that and is not going to go hog-wild with beef," said Salge Blake. "We just have to make sure that the portions stay lean and small, and that it's a part of a heart-healthy diet," Salge Blake told Reuters Health.

Read the rest of this entry »