In the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, patients who started out with high or borderline high LDL, or bad cholesterol, levels (anything above 158 mg/dL) were able to lower their LDL by 14% over six months by sticking with a diet rich in cholesterol-lowering foods.
《美国医学会杂志》发布的一篇研究称，高低密度脂蛋白、边缘高低密度脂蛋白患者，或重度高胆固醇患者（胆固醇水平高于158 mg/dL），如果坚持吃降胆固醇食物超过六个月，就能成功降低自身胆固醇水平达14%。
That diet cut participants' LDL three times more than a standard low-fat diet.
此种饮食方法减掉的低密度脂蛋白是标准低脂饮食的三倍！
So what foods were effective against artery-clogging fat? According to study leader Dr. David Jenkins, chair of nutrition, metabolism and vascular biology at the University of Toronto, there are four pillars of a cholesterol-lowering diet: plant oils or sterols such as margarine; viscous fibers including oats, barley and psyllium; nuts; and soy.
什么食物这么神奇，能够如此有效地清除那些堵塞血管的脂肪呢？主导研究员、多伦多大学营养、代谢及血管生物学主任大卫·詹金斯博士说，主要有四种降胆固醇食物：植物油或植物固醇，如人造奶油；粘性纤维，如燕麦、大麦、亚麻籽；坚果及大豆。
For most people, Jenkins says, it wouldn't require that much effort to boost consumption of these foods enough to achieve a cholesterol-reducing effect. In fact, he says, it would be sufficient to substitute oat bran or psyllium cereal in the morning in place of your regular breakfast, and to try soy milk products instead of dairy.
“对大多数人来说”，詹金斯博士说，“最困难的也许是如何摄入足量的降胆固醇食物，以达到预期目的。”“事实上，如果把早餐换成燕麦麸或亚麻籽谷物食品，喝豆浆而不是牛奶，就能够满足要求了。”
The six-month study was the first to look at the potential impact of a real-world diet on cholesterol levels. Rather than providing their 345 participants with foods to eat, researchers counseled them on how to shop for and incorporate more cholesterol-lowering products into their diet on their own. (The only food given to the study participants was plant sterol-based margarine, which was not permitted to be sold in Canada, the site of the study, at the time.) One group of participants received two nutritional counseling sessions of 40-60 mins each, while another group received a more intensive schedule of seven sessions over six months. The control group got advice on how to eat a low saturated fat diet.
为期六个月的实验首次检验了实际生活中饮食结构对人体胆固醇水平的影响。俗话说“授人以鱼不如授人以渔”，研究者并不是直接向345名参与者提供现成的降血脂食物，而是告诉他们如何采购降血脂食品并自发地将其融入到每天的饮食当中（唯一向研究参与者提供的食物是植物固醇人造奶油，因为彼时在研究地加拿大，不允许出售植物固醇人造奶油）。六个月中，一组参与者参加了两场40—60分钟的营养咨询课；另外一组参加了7场营养咨询课，强度高于第一组；控制组的参与者则得到关于低饱和脂肪的饮食建议。
At the end of the six months, the two intervention groups showed an average 25 mg/dL drop in their LDL levels, compared with an 8 mg/dL decline in the low-fat-diet group. Both groups that received counseling on cholesterol-lowering diets showed similar reductions, suggesting that people were able to change their diets after just two sessions of instruction.
六个月之后，两个干预组参与者的低密度脂蛋白水平平均下降了 25 mg/dL，与之相比，低脂饮食组参与者的低密度脂蛋白水平只下降了 8mg/dL。参加营养咨询课的两个干预组参与者，其低密度脂蛋白下降水平相似，说明只要参加两次营养咨询课，人们就能够改变自己的饮食习惯。
"The results show that we do have something worthwhile to add to the dietary formula," says Jenkins.“实验结果说明，为了改善我们的饮食结构，有些事确实值得去做。”詹金斯博士说。
He notes that the majority of people in the study were recruited through advertisements, which may have targeted people with a pre-existing interest in lowering their cholesterol levels, so they might have been particularly keen on adopting the necessary dietary changes to keep their lipid levels in check.
他指出，大多数参与者通过广告招募而来，这些人通常早已有降低胆固醇水平的意愿或目标，所以，为了达到健康的血脂水平，他们特别热心于饮食结构的调整与改善。
Jenkins suggests that the results could be even more impressive among people who aren't paying much attention to their diet at all and may therefore have more to gain. "The implication from our point of view is that if we take the couch potato, and they were to bite the bullet and adopt these changes, they could do much better in terms of reducing their cholesterol," he says.詹金斯认为，实验结果令那些不太关心自己饮食的人更加印象深刻，并因此得到更多收益。“也就是说，那些沙发土豆人如果能咬紧牙关坚持饮食上的这些改变，他们就能够比其他人减掉更多的胆固醇。”詹金斯博士说。
How much more tofu and oat bran would it take to make a difference? Based on an average 2,000-calorie daily diet, Jenkins said the study participants were instructed to aim for 2 g of plant sterol, nearly 20 g of fiber, and 40 g each of soy and nut products daily
那么，吃多少豆腐和燕麦麸才算有意义呢？以平均每日摄入2000卡路里为基准，詹金斯博士说，研究参与者每天的目标是吃下2克植物固醇，将近20克纤维，40克大豆和40克坚果。
Only about 40% of the volunteers reached this target, but Jenkins says anyone can easily start adding some of these foods into their diet gradually. "To eat more oats, for example, change your breakfast cereal and try some desserts made of oat bran with fruits and nuts," he says. He acknowledges that boosting soy intake could be a little more difficult, particularly among westerners who still aren't accustomed to the protein that's such a staple of Asian diets.只有40%的参与者达到了这个目标。但是詹金斯博士说，任何人都可以很容易地开始将这些食物加到自己的食谱中，并逐渐加量。“举例来说，为了摄入更多的燕麦，可以将早餐换成谷类食品，尝试一些水果燕麦甜点和坚果。”詹金斯博士承认，吃下大量的黄豆食品对于西方人来说确实困难了一些。虽然黄豆在东方人的饮食中十分重要，但西方人对其还是很陌生。
But the effort may be worth it, especially for those who aren't eager to start popping pills to lower their cholesterol, Jenkins says. In the first study his team did on these foods, in 2003, they showed that in a lab setting, when participants were provided with the adequate amounts of fiber, nuts, soy and plant sterols, they were able to lower their LDL levels by nearly 30% — with the reductions associated with early cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.
但是为此付出努力仍是值得的，特别是对那些不想依靠药物降低胆固醇的人们。詹金斯博士说，2003年他的团队首次在实验室环境中对这些食物进行研究，结果显示，当参与者摄入了足量的纤维、坚果、黄豆和植物固醇时，辅以早期降胆固醇的他汀类药物，他们的低密度脂蛋白水平下降近30%。
Jenkins says his next step is to follow-up with his diet-study patients to see whether the change in their eating habits translates to cleaner arteries and therefore to fewer heart events. He plans to conduct imaging studies of the major arteries to document any changes the diet may have on blood vessels.
詹金斯博士说，他下一步将要追踪调查那些参与饮食研究的患者，以验证饮食习惯的改变是否能够清洁动脉，并因此减少心脏患病率。他计划对人体主要血管进行影像扫描检查，以记录饮食改变带给血管的任何微小变化。
In the meantime, he says, "I don't think it's that difficult" to switch to a more powerful cholesterol-lowering diet. "You don't have to hold your nose, but just change as much as you can and look for substitutes for high-fat foods that often fill the gap very, very well."同时，詹金斯博士认为，养成多吃降胆固醇食物的饮食习惯“没有多难”。“你不用捏住你的鼻子，只需尽你所能，找到能够很好地替代那些经常作为零食塞进嘴巴的高脂肪食物就好。”
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