For your info.
Nov 11, 2004 Strait Times
New Orleans - PEOPLE can add a fibre supplement to their diet and
get the same
effect as doubling the dose of powerful cholesterol-lowering
drugs.
Researchers say their findings offer an alternative to patients
worried about
the side-effects of statin drugs, which work powerfully to lower
cholesterol but
which can badly affect kidney and muscle function in some
patients.
The findings also support the advice that a healthy diet high in
natural fibre
is the first line of defence against cholesterol and heart
disease.
Three servings a day of Metamucil, a commercial fibre supplement,
lowered
low-density lipoprotein, or 'bad' cholesterol, by an average of 6
per cent in 68
patients over two months, Dr Abel Moreyra of Robert Wood Johnson
Medical School
in New Jersey found.
That was the same effect as doubling the dose of a statin drug, he
told a
meeting of the American Heart Association.
'The good thing about it is you are not increasing the
side-effects,' Dr
Moreyra said. 'I think many patients are concerned when we doctors
double the
dose of a statin - patients are afraid, are concerned about
side-effects.
'Therefore we think this is an alternative to escalating the dose
of a statin.'
-- REUTERS