Portfolio diet

Portfolio Diet is a therapeutic vegan diet created by Canadian researcher David J. Jenkins in 2003 to lower blood cholesterol. This diet emphasizes using a portfolio of foods or food components that have been found to associate with cholesterol lowering to enhance this effect. Viscous fiber, soy protein, plant sterols, and nuts are the four essential components of Portfolio diet. This diet is low in saturated fat, high in fibre. Researches have found it has comparable blood cholesterol effect to statin treatment.

Background

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.[1] Several risk factors have been identified as associated with cardiovascular disease. They include high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, being overweight or obese, and smoking.[2] The American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) suggested life style management to control risk factors in order to reduce cardiovascular risk. One of the strategies is to reduce dietary saturated fat, which should reduce low-density lipoprotein in the blood (LDL) which is considered “bad” blood cholesterol.[3] If dietary and life style management proves ineffective on its own, medication is added, such as statin, to reduce blood cholesterol levels. Soy protein, nuts, viscous fibre, and plant sterols have been found to have a cholesterol lowering effect. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a health claim for these foods. David Jenkins believes that inclusion of all these foods in the diet is more effective at lowering cholesterol.

Diet

A typical portfolio diet includes a daily intake of about 50 grams of nuts (such as walnuts, peanuts, and almonds), 2 grams of plant sterols, 10-25 grams of viscous fibre (from sources such as oats, barley, and psyllium), and 50 grams of soy protein.

Studies

The first Portfolio diet study was conducted in 2002. The study compared the effect of cholesterol lowering effect using the portfolio diet versus Lovastatin. This is a randomized control trial. 46 healthy individuals with high blood cholesterol levels were randomly assigned into one of three study groups: 1. Diet low in saturated fat (Control group) 2. Same diet as 1 plus statin 3. A diet high in plant sterols, soy protein, viscous fibre, almond (diet portfolio) for a month. LDL level was reduced significantly in both the statin group and the diet portfolio group. There is no significant difference in the efficacy between these two groups. It concluded that diet portfolio has comparable cholesterol-lowering effect to statin treatment.[4]

The second study occurred between 2007 and 2009. It examined the effect of adding monounsaturated fatty acid to dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods in hyperlipidemia. 24 hyperlipidemic females followed diet low in saturated fat for a month, then they were randomly placed into a dietary portfolio low or high in monounsaturated fatty for another month. They found patients who consumed the dietary portfolio high in monounsaturated fatty acid had lower LDL level and higher high- density lipoprotein (HDL) level. Patients who consumed the dietary portfolio low in monounsaturated fatty had no change in HDL level. It concluded that using dietary portfolio high in monounsaturated fatty acid is able to further reduce cardiovascular risk by increasing.[5]

The third study was a parallel-design study of 351 hyperlipidemic patients across Canada between 2007 and 2009 to 1 to 3 treatments lasting for 6 months. Patients received dietary advice on either a low saturated fat diet or a dietary portfolio including soy protein, nuts, viscous fibre, and plant sterols. Routine dietary portfolio group received 2 clinic visits and intense dietary portfolio group received 7 clinic visits in 6 months. They found LDL in two dietary portfolio groups were significantly lower than the control group (diet low in saturated fat) and there is no difference between the regular dietary portfolio group and intense group.[6]

See also

References
  1. Miniño, AM (2011). "Death in the United States, 2009". NCHS Data Brief, No 64. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.
  2. CDC (2011). "Million Hearts: Strategies to reduce the prevalence of leading cardiovascular disease risk factors—United States". MMWR. 60 (36): 1248–51.
  3. Eckel, RH; Jakicic, JM; Ard, JD; et al. (2013). "2013 AHA/ACC guideline on lifestyle management to reduce cardiovascular risk: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines". Circulation. 129 (25 suppl 2): S76–S99. doi:10.1161/01.cir.0000437740.48606.d1.
  4. Jenkins, DJ; Kendall, CW; Marchie, A; et al. (2003). "Effects of a dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods vs Lovastatin on serum lipids and C-reactive protein". JAMA. 290 (4): 502–510. doi:10.1001/jama.290.4.502. PMID 12876093.
  5. Jenkins, DJ; Chiavaroli, L; Wong, JMW; et al. (2010). "Adding monounsaturated fatty acids to a dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowerign foods in hypercholesterolemia". CMAJ. 182 (18): 1961–67. doi:10.1503/cmaj.092128. PMC 3001502. PMID 21041432.
  6. Jenkins, DJ; Jones, PJH; Lamarche, B; et al. (2011). ". Effect of a dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods given at 2 levels of intensity of dietary advice on serum lipids in hyperlipidemia". JAMA. 306 (8): 831–839. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1202. PMID 21862744.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.