Stay Healthy
Eating more frequent meals may lead to reduced cholesterol levels
People should consider not just what they eat but how often they eat: eating smaller amounts more frequently may have important health benefits. A recent study has shown that levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were shown to decrease according to the frequency with which meals were eaten. Researchers surveyed 14,666 men and women about how frequently they ate and measured their cholesterol levels. After adjustment for other variables, mean cholesterol concentrations were found to differ by about 0.15 mmol/l between those eating more than six times a day and those eating just once or twice a day. Other studies suggest that eating large meals after long stretches without eating leads to alterations in fat storage and increases insulin peaks. It was concluded that eating smaller amounts more frequently may lead to a decrease in LDL-cholesterol levels and therefore have a positive effect on the incidence of cardiovascular disease. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Diet & behaviour change lowers cholesterol in obese children Diet, exercise and behaviour modification together can help obese children to lose weight and induce lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, a study has shown. With over one-third of the US population considered clinically obese and one-third of all 1-5-year-olds in the western industrialised world being overweight, a large proportion of the world population is at high risk of cardiovascular disease. With this in mind, researchers aimed to determine the effect of weight loss on lipid levels. Fifty overweight children (median age 12.27 years) were put on a 1-year weight reduction programme including a behaviour modification programme, a protein-sparing diet, and a home exercise programme with an instructional video. Weight and height were measured weekly and body mass index was calculated. At the end of the study it was found that the girls had lower low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol than the boys and the high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol remained the same. Researchers concluded that a combined programme of diet, behaviour modification and exercise has a positive effect on childhood obesity and helps to lower total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which may lead to an increased cardiovascular protective effect. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Favourable effect of walnuts on cholesterol levels Nuts have been shown in research to be beneficial to general as well as coronary health. This study investigated walnuts, and suggests that they lower cholesterol through effecting favourable changes in lipid distribution. Eighteen people (five men, 13 post-menopausal women, average age 60 years) with high cholesterol and high triglyceride levels took part in the study. Over a period of 5.5 months, 4 diets were followed sequentially for 6 weeks: i) normal diet; ii) normal diet with walnuts; iii) low-fat diet; iv) low-fat diet with walnuts. Cholesterol and triglyceride levels were measured at the end of each 6 week period/diet. In diets with walnuts, beneficial changes were found in low-density lipoprotein levels.1
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