While most studies have focused on male heart patients, women can expect the potential for reversing heart disease as well. We now have the proof! In a trial lasting 26 months, Dr John Kane and his colleagues at the University of California at San Francisco studied 41 women and 31 men with dangerously high levels of the bad LDL cholesterol. At the start of the project, all patients had plaque clogging their coronary arteries.

The researchers encouraged the entire group to consume a low-fat low-cholesterol diet. Half the men and women got aggressive drug therapy to lower their blood cholesterol, while the others remained on diet alone. The doctors compared “before and after” angiograms of the patients’ coronary arteries.

Those who dramatically lowered their cholesterol levels were rewarded with regression of blockage, while those who did not saw a progression of the disease. Very importantly, women did just as well as men. The proof was published in the 19 December 1990 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol