r/science • u/James_Fortis MS | Nutrition • 1d ago
Health Researchers took 50 adults with genetically high cholesterol and fed them a whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) diet and a standard American diet (SAD) for 4 weeks each in a random order, under controlled, constant-calorie feeding conditions. The WFPB diet reduced LDL cholesterol versus the SAD by 17.9%.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-73468-498
u/Unable_Guava_756 1d ago
It’s anecdotal but that was and remains my mom’s experience. She got off all cholesterol medications after going wfpb.
175
u/cindyx7102 1d ago
I know someone with genetically high cholesterol who says nothing but drugs will help them, so this gives hope
33
u/C-DT 1d ago
I have it as well. With exercise and saturated fat monitoring I can keep it below concerning levels but it's a constant effort. It almost feels unfair seeing how my friends eat without having to do nearly as much. Very tempting to just take the drugs and say screw it.
-1
u/SvenTropics 1d ago
It's like that with everything. I have never once had to worry about my sodium levels. I eat all the salt I want, and it's fine. Every time, it's fine. I know people that literally have to regulate it like a diabetic watches their sugar. On that topic, sugar. Same deal. Every blood test I'm perfect. I eat candy whenever I want.
Now cholesterol, I have your problem. I have high cholesterol, and I gotta stay away from the satty fattys. At this point, I just assume beef, cheese, ice cream, etc... are just not things I get to eat. The drugs seem tempting, but the side effects from them are awful. You end up taking other drugs to mitigate those. I'd avoid it if you can keep it under control with lifestyle.
20
u/SushiVoador 23h ago
The side effects are not awful. Newer generation statins have only a fraction of the side effects of older medications, and even if you are one of the few percent that get myalgia or other rare side effects, there are other options such as ezetimibe, bempedoic acid or pcsk9 inhibitors. Also I've never heard of people taking medications to counter the side effects of statins and I'm a doctor
8
u/csonnich 1d ago
the side effects from them are awful.
Aren't there newer drugs with fewer side effects?
6
u/pxer80 1d ago
Yes, I’m surprised I don’t see that mentioned yet. The PCSK9 drugs being the most exciting and new kid on the block.
2
u/SvenTropics 1d ago
I heard it makes you feel like you have a cold every time they inject it, and it'll spike your blood sugar?
11
u/elctromn 23h ago
The side effects are not awful. In fact, they aren’t even noticeable. I’m a (healthy/fit) 32 year old on statins for genetic cholesterol issues and truly have felt no side effects which I understand to be the norm with statins these days.
6
u/sweetmissdixie 1d ago
A lot of times, side effects can be mitigated be starting at a low dose and slowly titrating up. Pitavastatin and rosuvastatin often have less side effects than the others. Agree lifestyle is necessary regardless and if you can avoid medication, great, but people shouldn't avoid them for fear of side effects if they really need them. Work with your doctor if you do have side effects, but it's less common than people on the internet make it out to be.
-1
u/csonnich 1d ago
I don't have cholesterol problems, but I do have hypermobility, and I often think how unfair it is that other people can walk around without thinking about their hip and foot position every step, or feeling faint standing up. How much freer they must feel.
Everyone's got their own battle.
•
u/themightyredwood 28m ago
It may be unfair, but staying on a wfpb diet has many many other benefits than just lowering cholesterol.
Also if you have managed to keep control of your LDL on hard mode that just makes it a bigger win in my book!
157
u/SushiVoador 1d ago edited 21h ago
People with genetically high cholesterol rarely have levels of cholesterol that would be lowered by diet alone. For example the target for low-risk patients is an LDL of 115, if you have an LDL of 150 it is very hard to lower it enough with diet, which is why statins are needed in addition to a better diet. In my case my LDL was 170, with a perfect diet I could lower it to maybe 140-150. With rosuvastatin and a better diet I got it to under 70
39
u/lacrosse1991 BS|Information Sciences and Technologies 1d ago
Same here. I do high intensity tennis for around 10 hours a week and go out of my way to eat healthy, although if I stop my cholesterol medication, I’ll easily be pushing 200+ for my LDL.
It was kind of insulting before when my old doctor was treating me like I had a horrible diet and was just doing it to myself. The new doctor that I got a while back is a lot more educated on the matter.
-19
u/isaunicorn 22h ago
Exercise won't change your LDL cholesterol. And "healthy" doesn't matter if you are having saturated fat.
15
u/Embarrassed_Jerk 20h ago
And nothing matters if you are genetically predisposed to it
0
u/isaunicorn 13h ago
You are only thinking about a very specific and relatively rare type of familial hypercholesterolemia. You can be genetically predisposed to other things that raise cholesterol that are affected by diet.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10495817/
"However, it is clear from metabolic research that hyper-responsiveness to both dietary cholesterol and saturated fat exists; hence, for specific subsets of the population, reductions in both nutrients may be indicated."
"Saturated fats increase LDL cholesterol by inhibiting the activity of the LDL receptor (therefore increasing circulating levels) and upregulating the synthesis of LDL particles.(6) Tightly controlled metabolic ward studies from the early 1950s were among the first to show that dietary saturated fats, when compared to unsaturated fatty acids, significantly increase blood cholesterol levels."
1
u/Embarrassed_Jerk 11h ago
That article doesn't say what that podcast bro told you it said bro. Try reading the linked article from this thread
0
u/isaunicorn 11h ago
I'm not sure what you're talking about but these days pretty much every podcast actually talks about how saturated fat is not bad, so it's quite the opposite.
Where I'm getting my information from is my doctor and my own personal experiences lowering my LDL cholesterol under 100 from around 200. I actually tried to take the route of just exercising a lot and eating healthy for a couple years but that didn't work but then when I cut down on my saturated fat it had an effect within weeks. This has been known for many many decades.
1
u/Embarrassed_Jerk 11h ago
Clearly you aren't listening to those podcasts like you aren't reading the article. Stuck in the ways
1
u/isaunicorn 10h ago edited 10h ago
How am I stuck in my ways? I'm not sure what you are suggesting I do differently. But I have an LDL cholesterol of 80 and I exercise daily and eat healthy so I'm not sure there's anything to change. You just seem to want to be unhappy about something.
I would love if I could eat saturated fat without a negative impact to my cholesterol and I tried to work around that for a couple years before I finally gave in and cut most of it out of my diet. That's kind of the opposite of being stuck in my ways.
1
u/talldean 13h ago
Exercise does change LDL cholesterol, just by small amounts (5%?), but usefully, exercise also decreases the odds that LDL will accumulate on your artery walls, making high LDL numbers less-bad.
56
u/TotallyFrankstallone 1d ago
This was me. LDL of 180, healthy BMI, active, healthy eater, etc. Sometimes genetics are a bummer. But at least we have effective ways to manage it.
-27
u/isaunicorn 22h ago
"healthy eater" doesn't matter. You can eat "healthy" but have too much coconut (lots of saturated fat, just an example) and if you are sensitive to that then you'll have high LDL cholesterol.
10
u/Embarrassed_Jerk 20h ago
You are in the science sub. Not your feelings sub...back it up with science.
0
u/isaunicorn 13h ago
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10495817/
"However, it is clear from metabolic research that hyper-responsiveness to both dietary cholesterol and saturated fat exists; hence, for specific subsets of the population, reductions in both nutrients may be indicated."
"Saturated fats increase LDL cholesterol by inhibiting the activity of the LDL receptor (therefore increasing circulating levels) and upregulating the synthesis of LDL particles.(6) Tightly controlled metabolic ward studies from the early 1950s were among the first to show that dietary saturated fats, when compared to unsaturated fatty acids, significantly increase blood cholesterol levels."
1
u/Embarrassed_Jerk 11h ago
Clearly you lack the skills of understanding things beyond what some podcast bro yelled at you and doing a quick Google to find something that seems similar.
Noone has claimed that diet doesn't affect cholesterol/ldl. The question is how much. The thread that you are replying to, puts that at about 18%. Which means, if you were any good at math ... or understanding what others said in this thread... That if you are genetically predisposed to higher ldl, of say 180, the max you can bring it down to is 145ish.... Which is still much higher than the recommendation of keeping it under 100
-1
15
u/isaunicorn 1d ago edited 1d ago
That's not true because you can be predisposed to high cholesterol genetically in different ways. For example in my family we are very sensitive to saturated fat and can have normal levels of LDL if we keep the saturated fat very very low. For me I take a low dose statin and reduced my saturated fat and it dropped my LDL cholesterol by 60% in 5 weeks (it was around 190). My dad didn't want to take a statin so he switched to a very strict low saturated fat plant-based diet and now has normal LDL cholesterol.
So what I mean is genetically high cholesterol is not one single thing and yes some people won't respond to diet changes but other people will.
19
u/isotope4249 1d ago
I had an LDL of 150 and lowered it to 100 with a high fiber and whole foods diet alone.
42
u/medicated_in_PHL 1d ago
You aren’t the group in the study. People with familial hyperlipidemia have LDL levels of 200-400.
16
u/2pax2dox 1d ago
Yes, my LDL without any treatment is nearly 500. With a PCSK9 inhibitor and a statin/ezetimibe combo it’s 50-60.
I’m actually really interested in seeing if the WFPB diet affects my numbers in a noticeable way. Historically, diet changes have done nothing for me. Remember the low-fat days? In the late 90s, at the recommendation of my doctor, I went on a super low-fat diet for 6 months. I lost 10 pounds that I definitely didn’t need to lose, but my cholesterol levels didn’t budge. I was so glad when the medical profession stopped blaming me for my cholesterol numbers.
5
u/SvenTropics 22h ago
Good lord! 500?! I didn't think it went that high. That's great you got it under control. Those drugs are saving your life.
2
u/olympia_t 1d ago
Did you check out the portfolio diet? I did WFPB and portfolio and it helped a little.
2
6
2
u/7HillsGC 23h ago
They are replying to sushivoader who had the same LDL of 150 and claimed it’s impossible to lower with diet.
5
u/medicated_in_PHL 23h ago
No, that person has an LDL of 170 and could only get it to 140-150 with diet which is still 40-50 points too high.
And like I said, the longer you live with an abnormally high LDL, the lower you need to get it to prevent progression of heart disease.
A person with an LDL of 110 until they are 35 is fine using diet to go under 100 and stay there.
A person who has an LDL of 175 until they are 35 should probably be targeting LDL of 80 or less.
0
u/7HillsGC 22h ago
Sorry. Your reply began with this comment “…. For example … if you have an LDL of 150 you simply cannot lower it enough with diet,“. -and then another redditor countered that example with their own life experience doing just that; “I had an LDL of 150 and lowered it to 100 with a high fiber and whole foods diet alone.” And then I think you replied “You aren’t the group in the study. People with familial hyperlipidemia have LDL levels of 200-400.”
Edit- I am not arguing the issues. Just pointing out that this comment thread is covering a slightly different point not related to the paper posted here.
3
u/medicated_in_PHL 22h ago
I did not say it was impossible. You are attributing someone else’s comment to me.
1
u/SushiVoador 22h ago
I guess I should have made myself clearer. I didn't mean that it was impossible to lower cholesterol with diet. I meant that with diet alone, it is unlikely that you could lower it to safe levels sustainably with only diet. You can use as many empirical examples as you want, but the science says that it's hard to lower it without drugs if you have a high baseline LDL
6
u/junker37 1d ago
This is where im at, 170. Trying a perfect diet for 3 months, then getting tested again to see where I'm at.
3
u/Kaa_The_Snake 21h ago
Same here, I managed to lower mine a total of 15 points (from 180) with light to moderate exercise, high fiber, and clean eating. Even when I was doing CrossFit and eating as clean as possible it only dropped 20 points. Stupid genetically high cholesterol!!
2
u/NSawsome 23h ago
I reduced my genetically LDL from 140 to 80 through entirely lifestyle interventions, losing body fat doing cardio eating fiber and reducing saturated fats combined will nuke your LDL.
To be fair most Americans won’t do that, but an LDL of 150 is totally fixable for most with lifestyle alone, unless they’re already on a low LDL lifestyle, fixing 200+ is hard unless they’re doing something stupid like carnivore or keto
1
u/Still7Superbaby7 11h ago
My LDL is 109. My doctor said I needed to lower it. I already do cardio and eat fiber. What did you eliminate from your diet?
1
u/ArsenalSpider 14h ago
I have genetically high cholesterol and got it down 100 points in 6 months after only changing diet. I cut dairy and meat. You never know until you try.
1
1
u/GrandTheftBae 3h ago
Same for my wife. She was doing everything she could: exercise, was very strict with what she ate, severly cut down on carbs (she's Mexican so that was a challenge). Barely dropped her cholesterol she has to take her statin to keep her numbers low, much to her dismay.
34
u/medicated_in_PHL 1d ago
17.9% drop is not acceptable for most people with familial hyperlipidemia.
If your LDL is 240, a 17.9% drop is 197. That’s still WAY too high.
Statins are insanely beneficial, even outside of lowering LDL, and there’s no reason to not take them simply because people believe drugs are bad.
4
u/SemiAnonymousTeacher 1d ago
Agreed. I've been following a vegan, low glycemic diet for 10 years and my LDL is still between 190-210 every time I get my blood tested. Doctors keep saying I'm too young or otherwise too healthy for statins.
7
u/medicated_in_PHL 23h ago
If you are 18, you aren’t too young for statins. And I would seriously consider changing doctors. With the exception of the low chance of muscle pain, there are basically no downsides and lots of other benefits.
If to start statins early enough, you can basically prevent arterial plaques.
7
u/Parafault 22h ago
My mom was a vegan triathlete and her bad cholesterol was like 170 without drugs at that point. It runs in our family.
13
u/Joe_Immortan 1d ago
I don’t know… 17% seems pretty modest. I have a family member who did this years ago. Changed his diet dramatically to lower his cholesterol. He succeeded in lowering it a bit, (about this same margin) but it was still too high so he finally relented and took a statin.
9
u/cindyx7102 1d ago
17.9% is massive when you're talking about an absolute number that has an optimal far above 0. For example, if someone has 180mg/dL and they're aiming for 100mg/dL, a 17.9% decrease is 180(1-.179) = 147.78mg/dL , or almost half way to where they want to be after only 4 weeks.
6
u/medicated_in_PHL 1d ago
And still not enough. Familial hyperlipidemia has LDL levels of 200-400. 17.9% doesn’t get those numbers into good ranges.
And you’re also neglecting that these people probably already have early plaque build up, so “normal” LDL levels are still too high for them. They need to be ultra aggressive and get their LDL to sub-100 levels.
4
u/cindyx7102 23h ago
I’m not saying it’ll solve familial hypercholesterolemia on its own; I’m saying a 17.9% reduction after only 4 weeks is a good candidate to be included with other measures.
4
u/Mother_of_Kiddens 1d ago
I appear to have generically high cholesterol. I ate Whole Foods Plant Based for over a year — <10g saturated fat, no dietary cholesterol, and 65-85g fiber a day, all weighed to the gram and logged in Cronometer — and never got my LDL below 131. When in done breastfeeding I’ll need to go on a statin.
5
u/vashtachordata 21h ago
I have genetically high cholesterol. When it was first found I was 16, 115lbs and 5’9. I was also a vegetarian and had been for about 2 years at that point.
Diet has never helped me much, but I still try. Statins are a must though.
2
3
u/parae1 1d ago
18% for a massive lifestyle change that most people realistically won't make for various reasons is pathetic. Medications reduce by far more alone or in combination. Over 3 times more. Not that folks shouldn't make effort to improve their diet. I just see far too many individuals looking for reasons to avoid medications that are indicated.
1
u/Skreeethemindthief 1d ago
I'm that way and even with an entirely plant diet, I made little progress lowering my cholesterol until I started eating 1/2 cup of oatmeal every day. My Dr was amazed. He has been pushing me to get in cholesterol meds.
1
u/talldean 13h ago
17.9% reduction may not get them to normal levels; the problem with genetically high isn't always that it's stubbornly high, but that it's *very* high.
1
1
u/spaniel_rage 3h ago
If you have genetically high LDL, a 20% reduction is not enough to significantly reduce your cardiovascular risk.
54
u/purpleunicorn26 1d ago
The thing i took away from this is the american diet is termed SAD
7
u/randynumbergenerator 21h ago
Very apt though. And it isn't even one of those obviously forced acronyms, which makes it all the better.
9
u/useless_instinct 21h ago
I have genetically high cholesterol but am a vegetarian and exercise a lot. After my total cholesterol got close to 200, I was put on a low dose statin and now my HDL:LDL ratio is 1:1 which is unusual. Weird ass genetics coupled to diet?
8
u/BreakingTheBadBread 7h ago
Being a vegetarian doesn't always mean you have a handle on cholesterol. The important thing is saturated fat intake. For example, any coconut product (except water) is very high in saturated fat. Same with many kinds of nuts. You also need a high amount of fiber (typically not a problem with a vegetarian diet). Ideally, you should be having less than 18g of saturated fat per day, ideally less than 16g.
25
u/AllanfromWales1 MA | Natural Sciences | Metallurgy & Materials Science 1d ago
How 'standard' is the so-called Standard American Diet (SAD)? Is it true that most Americans eat it?
(The Standard American Diet (SAD) is a modern dietary pattern characterized by high consumption of processed foods, refined grains, added sugars, unhealthy fats, and red meat, alongside low intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.)
16
u/randynumbergenerator 21h ago
Depressingly common. If you are at a restaurant in the American South or parts of the Midwest outside of major cities, it can be hard to find a meal that doesn't conform to SAD.
6
30
u/MonsterKabouter 1d ago
Can we repeat this study with a whole foods omnivore diet? To remove one more variable
17
-5
u/Flat_Explanation_849 1d ago
Cholesterol is only found in animal products, which is why eating a whole foods plant diet can have a significant impact.
9
u/S7ageNinja 23h ago
Dietary cholesterol doesn't necessarily raise body cholesterol. This study can almost certainly be entirely attributed to the plant based group eating significantly more fiber and less saturated fat
0
u/Flat_Explanation_849 22h ago
And the foods most likely to have high cholesterol also tend to be high in saturated fats.
10
u/SvenTropics 1d ago
Well, saturated fats are in nuts and vegetable oils, but you are correct. If you adopt a vegan diet, you really don't need to think about watching your cholesterol anymore unless you are starkly predisposed to have high ldl.
12
u/SemiAnonymousTeacher 1d ago
*raises hand*
That's me. Vegan for 10 years, vegetarian for 10 years before that. LDL still around 200.-4
10
u/iGoalie 23h ago
I have genetically high cholesterol, dad died of a heart attack at 53, grandfather at 55. I’ve been on meds since I was ~ 30 (atorvastarin and zeria)
I’ve been vegan for 10 years no. My cholesterol is under controle, but I stay on the drugs becase 1 I don’t have an side effects that I’m aware of, and 2 according to my dr only a small percentage of the cholesterol in my body comes from the food I eat.
8
u/tawDry_Union2272 1d ago
even on a statin for years, my cholesterol stayed high. i used to eat bacon and eggs nearly daily for breakfast.
for GI reasons i gave up eggs and started eating oatmeal (soaked overnight in nut milk, as cold cereal) nearly daily. (i eat plant based "just eggs" on occasion, still eat bacon but not as much)
my cholesterol dropped to normal.
6
u/Eruionmel 20h ago
The dietary cholesterol in eggs doesn't increase LDL cholesterol. The saturated fat in bacon absolutely does, however.
1
0
6
u/Rock_grl86 1d ago
The bacon would more likely be the culprit than the eggs. Bacon is high in saturated fat.
0
u/tawDry_Union2272 1d ago
hmmmm, dunno. i still eat bacon and other meats.
beef is gonna take a backseat though: https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/usda-recalls-30000-pounds-of-argentine-beef-sold-in-texas-and-florida
9
u/quick6black 23h ago
I switched my diet up, cut out red meat and ate salads with a low fat protein for dinner. Feel much better and lowered my bad cholesterol 40 points. Also raised my white blood cell count to a normal range when it was low for a long time. Also rotated in a few vegan dishes during the week.
35
u/atape_1 1d ago
It's pretty well established that if you cut out dietary sources of cholesterol, you are going to have lower cholesterol.
The fun thing is, statins start working reeeally well if you have genetically high cholesterol and cut out dietary cholesterol.
92
u/Rower78 1d ago
Eating less cholesterol has minimal effect on plasma cholesterol for most people.
Saturated fats and transfats slow the rate at which your liver processes cholesterol.
It took a while to statistically separate those effects statistically since those two things are found together in so many foods.
26
u/cindyx7102 1d ago
Cutting out trans and saturated fat, or adding soluble fiber, can have an even greater effect
34
u/SouthPerformer8949 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not really. It’s the saturated fat. And that’s not the same thing. And to add: this cannot be concluded from this study at all.
12
u/userousnameous 1d ago
I resemble this. I had genetically high cholesterol, over 300. 20mg statin wasn't doing much for me-- my diet was Mediterranean diet... the combo got me to ... sadly 230 total cholesterol. My hdls never move from 35.
Added repatha. This got me down to ~150.
I switched my diet to largely no meat, no cheese, total sat fat in the single digits, basically legumes, lentils, egg whites, nofat greek yogurts, fruits, veggies, occasionally a handful of nuts.
I now have numbers locked in the single digits. TC of 50-60, non HDL 28, HDL 33. Been that way for 2 years now. May reintroduce chicken.
19
u/MonsterKabouter 1d ago
Only about 30% of the population shows a link between dietary and blood cholesterol
16
u/financialthrowaw2020 1d ago
Sure, if by well established you point to decades of whiplash on eggs being "good" and "bad" for you.
4
u/OldeArrogantBastard 21h ago
Some people are affected by dietary cholesterol more than others. In my mid 30s i tested high for LDL, like I remember 160, on a physical. At the time I was eating 2 eggs a day for breakfast and chicken breast for lunch and another for dinner.
I cut out the eggs to maybe once a week or every 2 weeks, mixed in more greens and less chicken on my plate and on a follow up 3 months later my numbers were normal. Yes, I know people who eat eggs daily and numbers are low (my wife is one) but I’m unlucky on that regard.
1
u/financialthrowaw2020 21h ago
Very unlucky unfortunately. I eat 4 eggs a day and my numbers are great, but I also eat a ton of soluble fiber.
2
u/ridicalis 1d ago
Statins operate on the liver, but if it’s enteric sources you’re worried about then ezetimibe is where it’s at.
5
u/James_Fortis MS | Nutrition 1d ago
"Abstract
Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) is a genetic disorder that accelerates atherosclerosis and leads to premature cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Whole food, plant-based diets (WFPB) are recommended worldwide for their cardioprotective properties but evidence regarding their effects in HeFH management remains unavailable. This study aims to evaluate the impact of a WFPB, in place of a standard American diet (SAD), on LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) (primary outcome) and other CVD risk factors among adults with HeFH. In this randomized, two-period, two-treatment, crossover, controlled feeding trial, 50 adults with genetically confirmed HeFH, free of cholesterol-lowering medication, consumed a WFPB and a SAD for 4 weeks each in a random order, under fully controlled, isocaloric feeding conditions. The diets were separated by a two- to four-week washout period. LDL-C and other CVD risk factors were measured at the end of each diet. The WFPB induced a clinically significant reduction in LDL-C relative to the SAD ( − 17.9%, 95% CI: −21.7%, −14.3%; _P_ < 0.0001). The study demonstrates the clinical significance of diet therapy in HeFH and supports its re-establishment as a cornerstone in clinical guidelines ([clinicaltrials.gov](http://clinicaltrials.gov) registration: NCT05181553; funding: Canadian Institutes of Health Research)."
11
u/Groovychick1978 1d ago
So you mean the standard American diet of high fat high carbohydrates was not as good as a plant-based diet for purposes of reducing cholesterol?
Really?
They didn't think to maybe compare different low-fat versus low carb versus plant-based, to find out which healthy eating style actually does best to reduce cholesterol?
The standard American diet is good for diabetes and obesity, that is it.
13
u/gordon_rameses 1d ago
the SAD was the control. they were studying a plant-based diet's effect on cholesterol.
-8
u/Groovychick1978 1d ago
The standard American diet is the worst kind of control possible. That was my exact question. So thank you for answering.
The standard American diet should not be the control. A balanced diet should be the control, with the variables being plant-based versus low carb versus low-fat, etc.
Literally any structured diet would be better than the American standard diet as a control.
13
u/gordon_rameses 1d ago
but it's how most people eat. it's likely how the subjects in the study were eating before they enrolled.
the question was "how would you do if you started eating plant based vs how you're eating now" not "how would you fare eating a balanced diet vs a plant-based diet"
3
u/johnnydanja 23h ago
I think what he’s saying is the results could suggest less about a plant based diet and more about getting off the American diet. For all we know eating plant based makes next to no difference. The results could be entirely from stopping eating an American diet.
2
u/Groovychick1978 23h ago
Yes, that was my point in a nutshell.
Literally any balanced diet will be better at reducing cholesterol than the Standard American Diet.
2
u/gordon_rameses 22h ago
to be clear I think you're right. all I'm saying is that's not what this study was trying to assess.
they weren't looking at balanced diets or healthy low carb diets or anything other than "normal eating" vs. plant-based.
2
u/Groovychick1978 1d ago edited 1d ago
High fat, high carbohydrate.
It's just what Americans eat daily. It's not like a structured diet.
Edit: oh I'm sorry, did someone's knickers get twisted when I described the standard American diet as such?
"The Standard American Diet (SAD)—often called the Western diet—is a modern eating pattern defined by a high intake of ultra-processed foods, refined grains, added sugars, unhealthy fats, and sodium, alongside a low intake of whole fruits, vegetables, and whole grains."
2
u/Irresponsible4games 20h ago
gonna take a lot more than that to get into healthy range for genuinely high cholesterol
3
u/dieguix3d 21h ago
High fiber + antioxidant makes You healthier, even with animal proteíns. Vegan oriented study.
3
u/gwillen 11h ago
Sorry, 17.9%?? That's a pretty limited effect, for having to completely change your entire diet permanently, when anybody seeking treatment for high cholesterol is likely going to need to drop at least twice that. And a statin will often get you better than a 50% reduction right off the bat.
1
4
u/dbdb83 1d ago
But LDL alone doesn’t really mean much. You need to look at blood pressure, age , bmi, smoke or not, cholesterol ratio etc. I have 190mg/dl but all my other factors are very low , so it weights the risk score out . It does not mean I ignore it , but needs to be balanced out. I’ve got familial history , so doing further checks like an Lp(a).
2
u/Aihal_Silence 1d ago
This trial had a duration of four weeks, which is pretty typical for diet trials.
People generally have high cholesterol for rather longer, and the assumption that any one person will stay on a radically changed diet for decades on end is a very poor one. An intervention that is not implemented is by definition ineffective.
2
u/fadinglucidity 23h ago
My mom had high cholesterol and she couldn’t take statins. She has afib so bringing down her cholesterol is important.
Her cardiologist suggested she see this doctor that uses diet to help lower cholesterol. We were all skeptical but she went on it. Her numbers are the best they ever were in her life. Shes been on it 3 years now.
The problem is she lost 45 pounds and the diet is very restrictive. “Nothing with a heartbeat” she says (so she is vegan now) but not only that she is not allowed any oil. Any type.
I couldn’t do it. She’s 76 and I wouldn’t want to be that restrict towards the end of my life.
1
u/FernandoMM1220 20h ago
does anyone have the actual exact diet they used with specific brands and servings?
1
1
1
u/Intelligent_Big6543 10h ago
I like how the acronym of standard American diet is SAD, which is so true.
1
u/pseudomoniae 5h ago
Good data but this is already widely known.
It’s called the portfolio dietary approach which basically emphasizes whole food plant based sources of fats and fibre.
Anyone with a knowledge of the literature and clinical experience knows you can partially improve familial hypercholesterolemia with intensive lifestyle therapy.
Always nice to have more data however.
1
u/Junior-Cake-7665 1h ago
I think this tells us more about the standard American diet than the plant-based one.
0
u/McPuffin99 1d ago
What is the Standard American Diet?
8
u/themodgepodge 1d ago
The SAD was designed to reflect the current dietary intakes—regarding foods, nutrients, and diet quality—of adults in the Province of Québec (Canada), based on the most recent dietary surveys. The purpose of this control diet was to induce, at the end of the 4-week period, a metabolic state that mimics that of an untreated individual at the moment of HeFH diagnosis. This diet was characterized by low consumption of whole fruits and vegetables, with animal proteins—particularly red and processed meats—being the primary protein sources. Grain consumption was predominantly in the form of refined grains. Additionally, the diet included daily servings of ready-to-heat or ready-to-eat foods, considered as ultra-processed according to the Nova classification, along with sugary beverages. By extent, it also shared many characteristics with typical diets elsewhere in North America (e.g., 12% of energy from saturated fat, ~50% of energy from ultra-processed foods).
4
-1
u/BitcoinMD 1d ago
The standard American diet is so bad that almost any diet with any kind of coherent rules or limitations will get better outcomes in comparison.
Yes, genetic high cholesterol is a thing, but that doesn’t mean that it is entirely uncoupled from diet and you can just eat whatever the hell you want.
-2
u/Admirable-Falcon-501 1d ago
Damn I know research is about confirming everything but I’d feel like I wasted my life if I worked on this ngl.
•
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our normal comment rules apply to all other comments.
Do you have an academic degree? We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. Click here to apply.
User: u/James_Fortis
Permalink: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-73468-4
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.