Tofu and citrus peeling helps reduce cholestrol

One Food Helps Lower 'Bad' Cholesterol
If you want to lower your cholesterol, eat

some tofu. New research from Tulane

University concludes that soy protein helps

lower total cholesterol by decreasing low-

density lipid "bad" cholesterol and

triglycerides and slightly raising high-

density lipid "good" cholesterol
To come to this conclusion, lead study

author Kristi Reynolds, assistant professor

of epidemiology at the Tulane School of

Public Health and Tropical Medicine,

analyzed data from 41 different studies on

the effects of isolated soy protein on

blood cholesterol levels. All the studies

were randomized controlled trials conducted

from 1982 through 2004 with a total of

1,756 adult participants. Those who

consumed soy protein tended to see a

decline in their LDL "bad" cholesterol of

about 4 points.
Here is an easy way to add soy to your

diet. Replace foods that are high in

saturated fat, trans-saturated fat and

cholesterol with soy foods. Example: Give

up hamburgers and eat veggie burgers

instead. The study was published in The

American Journal of Cardiology.

Startling Benefit of Citrus Peels
Orange and tangerine peels may be better

than drugs for lowering cholesterol--with

zero side effects.

The magic ingredients that lower "bad" LDL

cholesterol by as much as 32 to 40 percent

--the same as expensive prescription

medication--are compounds known as

polymethoxylated flavones (PMFs), reports

Science Daily of an international research

study conducted in the United States and

Canada. Best of all, supplements made from

orange and tangerine peels have none of the

potentially debilitating side effects of

liver disease and muscle weakness so common

with the popular cholesterol-lowering

prescription drugs.

The researchers from the U.S. Department of

Agriculture and KGK Synergize, a Canadian

nutraceutical company, isolated the PMF

compounds from the orange and tangerine

peels and gave them to hamsters with diet-

induced high cholesterol. The hamsters'

cholesterol was lowered as much as 40

percent. There was no effect on "good" HDL

cholesterol. A long-term human study is

currently in progress.

Why do PMFs lower cholesterol? The

researchers suspect, based on early results

in cell and animal studies, that it works

by inhibiting the synthesis of cholesterol

and triglycerides inside the liver. The

study is the first to show that PMFs can

lower cholesterol, the researchers say. "We

believe that PMFs have the potential to

rival and even beat the cholesterol-

lowering effect of some prescription drugs,

without the risk of side effects," Elzbieta

Kurowska, Ph.D., lead investigator of the

study and vice president of research at KGK

Synergize in Ontario, Canada, told Science

Daily.

PMFs are similar to other plant pigments

found in citrus fruits and have been shown

to protect against cancer, heart disease,

and inflammation. Unfortunately, it would

take about 20 or more cups of orange juice

each day to lower cholesterol this way;

however, KGK Synergize has recently

developed a nutrition supplement containing

PMFs with a form of vitamin E that seems to

enhance the compounds' effect. It is

marketed as a cholesterol-lowering agent

under the trade name Sytrinol; the

supplement recently became available in the

United States.

The research findings were publish