Snacking to Lower Your LDL?

How this article gets published is beyond me. Here is the summary:

Cholesterol levels fell for people who were given snacks with specific food ingredients without changing the rest of their diets, a small randomized trial showed.

Yeah, maybe. “Among non-statin users, LDL cholesterol levels were on average 8.8% lower (116 vs 127 mg/dL, P<0.0001) during the study intervention phase compared with the control phase, in which they were given calorie-matched items from a grocery store, while total cholesterol levels were reduced by 5.08%.” Geez, how impressive is that?

“Based on the outcomes seen in our study, using this type of food as medicine approach expands the options for medical professionals and patients,” said Kopecky in a press release from Step One Foods, who provided the study snacks. “Many patients who are unwilling or unable to take statin drugs may be able to help manage their high cholesterol, or hyperlipidemia with a realistic food-based intervention.”

Here is the issue I have with this. The amount of carbs (the apple cinnamon bar has over 20 grams) is very high in these snacks. I can see patients using this “cholesterol lowering” recommendation to pound a ton of these snacks a day leading to more insulin resistance and diabetes.

Why?

No matter what medicine or recommendations you give most patients, they will dig down deep and find a way to outeat it.

It’s the American Way.