Originally published December 1 2005
Johns Hopkins research claims unsaturated fats promote healthy hearts
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Lawrence Appel, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, led a trial study that demonstrated the heart benefits of exchanging daily carbohydrates for unsaturated fats, which the study claims play a role in reducing high blood pressure and lowering cholesterol.
Trading about 10 percent of carbohydrates in one's diet for beans and healthy fats, such as olive oil, can help control high blood pressure and improve blood cholesterol levels, according to a new study.
The findings likely are to alter the standard dietary advice for people at high risk of heart disease and underscore the benefits of plant-based proteins and foods rich in unsaturated fat, such as nuts, avocados, flaxseeds and olive oil.
Following a diet based on the findings could help people lower their blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels while taking fewer costly medications, which often carry significant risk of side-effects, the researchers said.
The results, presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association's annual meeting in Dallas, caught even some of the study's researchers by surprise.
"I thought that we were going to see a protein effect" on blood cholesterol and high blood pressure, said Lawrence Appel, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and lead author of the trial.
The low-sodium DASH diet is "a hallmark to prevent and treat hypertension," said Frank Sacks, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a co-investigator of the new study.
Trouble is that the DASH diet - which includes plenty of fruits and vegetables, moderate amounts of healthy fat, such as nuts, and low-fat dairy products, as well as high amounts of carbohydrates and lean cuts of meat, fish and poultry - produces mixed results when it comes to cholesterol levels.
"All three diets were healthy and had favorable effects.
But the current recommended DASH diet that is rich in carbohydrates can be further improved by partially replacing some of those carbohydrates with lean protein from plants and low-fat dairy products or with monounsaturated fats" such as olive oil or nuts.
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