Today in the Journal of the American Medical Association David Jenkins MD and colleagues from Toronto, Ontario reported that certain dietary interventions really do help reduce cholesterol levels. Most patients believe, because we have told them, that improving their diets by eating less fat will significantly lower their cholesterol levels. According to a really well done study published in 1998, that is not true. Combining such a diet with exercise is helpful in reducing cholesterol, and probably also reduces many other bad health outcomes, such as diabetes, obesity and death. In Dr. Jenkins' study, however, patients were not told just to eat less fat, they were also instructed in what foods to add to their diets to reduce cholesterol. The study participants were instructed to eat a vegetarian diet and to add plant sterol containing margarine, soluble fiber (such as psyllium, oats or barley), soy protein products such as tofu and soy milk and peanuts or tree nuts. Simply being na...
The cost of health care in the US is higher than anywhere else in the world, and yet we are not healthier than our peer nations. In fact, in terms of such measures as infant mortality and life span, we don't measure up. Why is this? Many people involved in providing or receiving care have some pretty good ideas about what costs so much, and what we can do to reduce costs and improve quality. Sharing these stories is an important step in creating affordable universal health care.