QUICK STUDY : A weekly digest of new research on major health topics

cholesterol

Eating a red or white grapefruit daily may lower lipid levels.

· THE QUESTION Fruits and vegetables top most lists of foods that may help keep cholesterol levels in line, with people advised to eat five servings a day of apples, broccoli, carrots and the like. What effect might grapefruit have?

· THIS STUDY involved 57 adults with heart disease and high cholesterol, despite having taken a cholesterol-lowering statin. They were randomly assigned to add one red grapefruit, one white grapefruit or no grapefruit each day to their normal diet. Based on blood tests, people who ate grapefruit for 30 days had lower total and low-density lipoprotein ("bad") cholesterol levels than before they added the citrus fruit to their diets. Those who ate red grapefruit also lowered their triglyceride levels. Lipid levels did not change for the group that did not eat grapefruit.

· WHO MAY BE AFFECTED BY THESE FINDINGS? People with heart disease and high cholesterol. An estimated 107 million Americans have elevated cholesterol.

· CAVEATS All participants had bypass surgery a year or more before starting the study; whether the same benefits would apply to others remains uncertain. Grapefruit has been shown to interact negatively with various prescription medications; including some statins. People considering adding grapefruit to their diet may want to consult a doctor.

· FIND THIS STUDY Feb. 3 online edition of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry; abstract available at http://pubs.acs.org/journals/jafcau (click "articles ASAP").

· LEARN MORE ABOUT cholesterol at http://www.americanheart.org . For more on grapefruit and drug interactions, go to http://www.druginteractioncenter.org .