Diet trials and cardiovascular disease

Here is a free full text review in the green journal.

Key points:

Diets that focus only on reduction of dietary cholesterol and saturated fats have been disappointing.

The addition of certain beneficial dietary constituents (e.g. the Mediterranean diet) has been shown to be more beneficial.

(This does not negate the cholesterol hypothesis. If dietary fat restriction is accompanied by increased carbohydrate intake the metabolic syndrome might be precipitated in susceptible patients. Non-statin LDL reduction has been shown to reduce coronary disease).

The Mediterranean and similar diets may produce benefits that rival those of statins.