Subject: cholesterol 

Subject: bloodletting/hyperlipidemia

   
   J Assoc Physicians India 1994 Jun;42(6):468-9
   
Repeated blood donation effective in treating hyperlipidemia.

    Kumar H
    
   Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology, Juhi Nursing Home.
   
   Effectiveness of repeated blood donation in lowering blood lipids has
   been studied. Ten patients of hyperlipidaemia who donated blood 300 ml
   every month for 3 months and received gemfibrozil 1200 mg/day (Group
   B) had nearly 2 fold greater fall in serum total cholesterol, LDL and
   triglyceride levels in comparison to 17 patients of group A who were
   treated with gemfibrozil alone in similar dose for the same period.
   HDL level remained almost unchanged. Thus, a non-pharmacological way
   of treating hyperlipidaemia has emerged from this study. Moreover
   donated blood will be available as by-product for use by others. This
   method may be especially suitable in obese persons.
   
   PMID: 7852232, UI: 95155221
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Subject: niacin/diabetes

JOURNAL SCAN 2(8)
Highlights include the effect of niacin on lipid and lipoprotein levels and
glycemic control in patients with diabetes and peripheral arterial disease,
and transdermal testosterone treatment in women with impaired sexual
function after oophorectomy.
Medscape, 2000. (C) 2000 Medscape, Inc.
http://www.medscape.com/29831.rhtml?srcmp=msmkt-111000
Read it
Here

Subject: phyticacid/disease


  ROLE OF PHYTIC ACID IN CANCER AND DISEASE PREVENTION
  
   by D. R. RAO and L. U. Thompson*
   Food Science Program, Department of Life Science, Alabama A&M
   University, Normal, AL 35762; *Department of Nutritional Science,
   University of Toronto, M5S1A8
   
   Animal model and cell culture studies provide convincing evidence for
   the anticarcinogenic properties of phytic acid (inositol
   hexaphosphate; InsP6). In several studies, dietary InsP6 has been
   shown to suppress colon, mammary, lung, liver and skin tumorigenesis
   and the growth of transplanted fibrosarcoma in rat or mouse models
   with at least one study showing a clear dose-response of colon tumors.
   InsP6 appears to be effective at both pre- and post-initiation stages
   of carcinogenesis. InsP6 also showed striking anticancer potential in
   several cell lines in vitro (erythroleukemia K562, HT-29, MCF 7, MDAMB
   231, PC-3, Fibroblasts and JB-6). Interestingly, InsP6 can
   dedifferentiate transformed cell lines and reverse the growth of
   tumors. Therefore, InsP6 has been suggested to possess both
   chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic activities against cancer. While
   the mechanism of anticarcinogenic action of InsP6 is unclear, recent
   studies point out to control mechanisms existing at cell division
   level. For example, InsP6 has been shown to: 1) inhibit the activation
   of activator protein 1 (a crucial tumor promotion step) by targeting
   phosphatidyl inositol-3' kinase in signal transduction path ways, and
   2) up-regulate the tumor suppressor gene P53 expression in HT-29 human
   colon carcinoma cells. Free radical sequestering activity of and
   induction of phase-2 enzymes by InsP6 may be equally important,
   especially when one considers the evidence from pre-initiation
   experiments. Direct epidemiological data on the antitumorigenic
   properties of InsP6, however, are lacking. Meta-analysis of existing
   data on antitumorigenic effect of dietary fiber with InsP6 as a
   covariable may yield some meaningful results.
   
   Animal studies have shown that dietary InsP6 supplementation results
   in significant reduction in serum cholesterol and triglycerides. The
   purported benefits of dietary InsP6 in preventing heart disease, and
   preventing formation of renal calculi also need further investigation.



Effect of a very-high-fiber vegetable, fruit, and nut diet on serum lipids 
and colonic function.

Jenkins DJ, Kendall CW, Popovich DG, Vidgen E, Mehling CC, Vuksan V, Ransom 
TP, Rao AV, Rosenberg-Zand R, Tariq N, Corey P, Jones PJ, Raeini M, Story JA, 
Furumoto EJ, Illingworth DR, Pappu AS, Connelly PW.

Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Center, Department of 
Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, St. Michael's Hospital, 
Toronto, Quebec, Canada.

We tested the effects of feeding a diet very high in fiber from fruit and 
vegetables. The levels fed were those, which had originally inspired the 
dietary fiber hypothesis related to colon cancer and heart disease prevention 
and also may have been eaten early in human evolution. 

Ten healthy volunteers each took 3 metabolic diets of 2 weeks duration. The 
diets were: high-vegetable, fruit, and nut (very-high-fiber, 55 g/1,000 
kcal); starch-based containing cereals and legumes (early agricultural diet); 
or low-fat (contemporary therapeutic diet). All diets were intended to be 
weight-maintaining (mean intake, 2,577 kcal/d). 

Compared with the starch-based and low-fat diets, the high-fiber vegetable 
diet resulted in the largest reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) 
cholesterol (33% +/- 4%, P <.001) and the greatest fecal bile acid output 
(1.13 +/- 0.30 g/d, P =.002), fecal bulk (906 +/- 130 g/d, P <.001), and 
fecal short-chain fatty acid outputs (78 +/- 13 mmol/d, P <.001). 
Nevertheless, due to the increase in fecal bulk, the actual concentrations of 
fecal bile acids were lowest on the vegetable diet (1.2 mg/g wet weight, P 
=.002).

 Maximum lipid reductions occurred within 1 week. Urinary mevalonic acid 
excretion increased (P =.036) on the high-vegetable diet reflecting large 
fecal steroid losses. We conclude that very high-vegetable fiber intakes 
reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and possibly colon cancer. 
Vegetable and fruit fibers therefore warrant further detailed investigation.  

Subject: cholesterol/tocopherol

   
   Qureshi AA Qureshi N Hasler-Rapacz JO Weber FE Chaudhary V Crenshaw TD
   Gapor A Ong AS Chong YH Peterson D et al
   
   Dietary tocotrienols reduce concentrations of plasma cholesterol,
   apolipoprotein B, thromboxane B2, and platelet factor 4 in pigs with
   inherited hyperlipidemias.
   
   In: Am J Clin Nutr (1991 Apr) 53(4 Suppl):1042S-1046S
   
   Normolipemic and genetically hypercholesterolemic pigs of defined
   lipoprotein genotype were fed a standard diet supplemented with 50
   micrograms/g tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) isolated from palm oil.
   Hypercholesterolemic pigs fed the TRF supplement showed a 44% decrease
   in total serum cholesterol, a 60% decrease in low-density- lipoprotein
   (LDL)-cholesterol, and significant decreases in levels of
   apolipoprotein B (26%), thromboxane-B2 (41%), and platelet factor 4
   (PF4; 29%). The declines in thromboxane B2 and PF4 suggest that TRF
   has a marked protective effect on the endothelium and platelet
   aggregation. The effect of the lipid-lowering diet persisted only in
   the hypercholesterolemic swine after 8 wk feeding of the control diet.
   These results support observations from previous studies on lowering
   plasma cholesterol in animals by tocotrienols, which are naturally
   occurring compounds in grain and palm oils and may have some effect on
   lowering plasma cholesterol in humans.
   
   Institutional address: Advanced Medical Research Madison WI 53719.
   
    
   
   Tan DT Khor HT Low WH Ali A Gapor A
   
   Effect of a palm-oil-vitamin E concentrate on the serum and
   lipoprotein lipids in humans.
   
   In: Am J Clin Nutr (1991 Apr) 53(4 Suppl):1027S-1030S
   
   The effect of a capsulated palm-oil-vitamin E concentrate (palmvitee)
   on human serum and lipoprotein lipids was assessed. Each palmvitee
   capsule contains approximately 18, approximately 42, and approximately
   240 mg of tocopherols, tocotrienols, and palm olein, respectively. All
   volunteers took one palmvitee capsule  (HOME) per day for 30 consecutive days.
   Overnight fasting blood was taken from each volunteer before and after
   the experiment. Serum lipids and lipoproteins were analyzed by using
   the enzymatic CHOD-PAP method. Our results showed that palmvitee
   lowered both serum total cholesterol (TC) and low-density-lipoprotein
   cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations in all the volunteers. The
   magnitude of reduction of serum TC ranged from 5.0% to 35.9% whereas
   the reduction of LDL-C values ranged from 0.9% to 37.0% when compared
   with their respective starting values. The effect of palmvitee on
   triglycerides (TGs) and HDL-C was not consistent. Our results show
   that the palmvitee has a hypocholesterolemic effect.
   
   Institutional address: Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia Bangi
   Selangor.
   

Subject: Re: niacin/cholesterol/diabetes


	The statement you quoted is not correct. I use a slow release preparation
in Canada probably similar to Niaspan for lowering cholesterol and it is as
good as standard niacin. Nor do I consider standard niacin dangerous.
William Parsons Junior in his book on lowering cholesterol and niacin makes
the point that elevation of liver function tests does not indicate
underlying pathology. The study you pointed out to me states that they are
now testing their product niaspan and that they are seeing equivalent
results. Inositol niacinate is pretty good but too expensive for many
patients. For some conditions ordinary niacin is best because it does
release histamine (which causes the flush) on a regular basis and this is
helpful for some cardiovascular conditions.

A. Hoffer 
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