![Heart-healthy Diet Helps Men Lower Bad Cholesterol, Says Study Heart-healthy Diet Helps Men Lower Bad Cholesterol, Says Study](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/diet-man.jpg)
For five weeks, the men followed a standard North American diet which is high in fats, carbohydrates, refined sugar and red meat.
For a second five weeks, they ate a Mediterranean-style diet, which is high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and low in red meat. It also included olive oil and moderate wine drinking.
The men then went on a 20-week weight-loss regime, then another five weeks of Mediterranean eating.
Regardless of whether patients lost weight, following the Mediterranean-style diet resulted in a 9 percent decrease in levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL) known as "bad" cholesterol.
Similarly, blood concentrations of the protein part of the lipoprotein, called apolipoproteinB, dropped 9 percent after eating Mediterranean-style.
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"The Mediterranean-style diet, or MedDiet, may be recommended for effective management of the metabolic syndrome and its related risk of cardiovascular disease," Caroline Richard, M.Sc., study lead author and a registered dietician and Ph.D. candidate in nutrition under the mentorship of Benoit Lamarche, Ph.D. at Laval University in Quebec, Canada said.
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