A Nutty Answer for Cholesterol

Eating almonds may help curb high blood cholesterol. That’s what Dr. Gene A. Spiller, a noted researcher and director of the Health Research and Studies Center in California, has found.

In tests, he asked a group of men and women with fairly high blood cholesterol, averaging around 240 milligrams per deciliter, to eat 3 1/2 ounces of almonds a day for three to nine weeks. Other groups ate equal amounts of fat from cheese or olive oil. They all ate comparable amounts of grains, vegetables and fruits.

The almond-eaters’ cholesterol dropped from 10% to 15% compared to that of the cheese-eaters. The almonds also reduced cholesterol slightly better than olive oil did.

It makes sense, says Spiller, because most of the fat in almonds and olive oil is the same type--monounsaturated. If olive oil is good for the heart, as has been shown in much research, so is almond oil. There is a drawback. All fats are high in calories; 3 1/2 ounces of almonds has 636 calories.

Thus, Spiller does not advise eating that amount of almonds every day. His point is that it’s OK to eat almonds instead of meat and dairy fats to help cut back on cholesterol.

Many people with ulcerative colitis, a serious inflammatory bowel disease, got better after taking fish-oil capsules for four months. So found Dr. William F. Stenson, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

In a test, 21 sufferers of ulcerative colitis first took plain vegetable-oil capsules, then fish-oil capsules, each for four months. They also took their usual medications. Before and after each diet, doctors examined the patients. This included doing a sigmoidoscopy in which physicians look inside the colon.

The results: After taking fish oil, 15 patients improved, according to sigmoidoscopy scores. But two showed no changes, and four actually appeared worse. For all symptoms, doctors judged half of the patients improved, half the same and one worse.

Stenson explains that fish oil seems to work in some people by reducing blood levels of an inflammatory agent called leukotriene B4.

One caution, though. Consult a doctor before using fish-oil supplements to treat disease. You could unwittingly harm yourself with high doses.

Want to infuse your blood with compounds believed to help ward off cancer and other chronic diseases? Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

That’s what Dr. Phyllis Bowen at the University of Illinois at Chicago found when she and colleagues put women on a five-month experimental diet that included five fruits and/or vegetables a day, as recently recommended by a National Academy of Sciences Committee.

Bowen says it was a surprise. But within a month, the women’s blood levels of disease-fighting compounds called carotenoids (found in a variety of fruits and vegetables) had jumped dramatically.

Blood concentrations of one compound, lycopene, tripled; lycopene is a red pigment in tomatoes and strawberries, linked to lower cancer rates, notably pancreatic cancer. Lutein levels, another reputed anti-cancer compound rich in tomatoes, nearly doubled. Blood amounts of beta carotene, too, more than doubled. Beta carotene, in carrots and green leafy vegetables like spinach, is thought to slash the odds of lung cancer.

Clearly, said Bowen, most people don’t get enough of these anti-disease carotenoids--and one way to cure that quickly is by eating five fruits and vegetables a day.