Breaking news! Eating food can lower cholesterol!

A paper was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that foods can lower cholesterol levels; specifically... LDLs (the so-called "bad cholesterol").  The foods that were used in the experimental group were:

- margarine enriched with plant sterols

- viscous fibers such as oats and barley

- soy protein from soy milk, tofu or soy “meats”

- peanuts and nuts from trees

- peas, beans and lentils

That doesn't mean you should go out and stock your fridge with only these items.  In fact, any well balanced plant-based diet will do.  

For those of you who are regular readers, you know that I hate when pharmaceutical companies sponsor research that shows that their drugs are awesome.  Well, this particular study was partially funded by food companies.  And the 8 of the 20 authors received fees from these companies.  So I guess the pendulum swings both ways.  The food company Unilever provided funding (Bertolli pasta, Lipton teas, Slimfast, Hellman's mayonaisse) as did grain manufacturer Viterra.