Well, I just got the following e-mail about the paper finally getting presented, which means the publication is finally going to be just a few months away! Here's what came in today:
Below is the abstract that was presented at the International Academy of
Cardiology meeting in Washington DC on Monday. For more information on the
meeting, go to www.cardiologyonline.com.
Rik will be talking about this abstract and the CM Plex study in the
Medical Symposium meeting at Conference.
You can't afford to miss this.
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FIBER-MULTIVITAMIN BLEND:
AN OVER-THE-COUNTER LDL LOWERING PRODUCT
Dennis L. Sprecher MD, 1 Gregory L. Pearce, 1 Anita M.Boddie RD, PhD, 2
Nader Fotouhi, PhD, 2 Vicki Horiatis RN1
1The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
2Rexall Sundown, Inc., Boca Raton, Florida
Background: A commonly used 90% soluble fiber-blend product (Bios Life 2)
has not been evaluated for lipid altering effect. Few data are available to
describe the influence of fiber on serum ApoB levels. Further, as a
fiber-vitamin combination agent, the potential claim of folate/B6 benefit in
the setting of fiber intake has not been examined.
Methods: Patients (n=119) were randomized to either a fiber blend treatment,
or placebo with 99 (50 treatment, 49 placebo) completing the study. Fasting
lipid profiles (including ApoB), and homocysteine concentrations were
obtained at weeks 4 and 8. Between group (Wilcoxon rank-sums test) and
within group (paired t-tests) comparisons were used to evaluate treatment
effect.
Results: Subjects in both groups showed similar baseline LDL levels
(159mg/dl vs. 158mg/dl). The treatment group showed a 7.9% +/- 11.0
reduction (p<0.001) over 8 weeks. Placebo patients showed a slight increase
in LDL over the same period (+2.4% +/- 11.7, p=0.16), for a 10.3%
difference between groups (p<0.001). ApoB measured in a subset (n=53)
revealed a 20% reduction with treatment (p=0.004). Treatment subjects
showed a reduction in homocysteine (9.8 mg/dl to 8.7 mg/dl, p=0.02), while
neither TG (p=0.95) nor HDL-c (p=0.54) changed.
Conclusions: Significant LDL and ApoB lowering effects are demonstrated. No
adverse effects on triglyceride or HDL-c levels were noted, and folate/B
vitamin derived benefits towards homocysteine reduction were preserved. This
combination product could be used to reduce the need for concomitant lipid
lowering prescription therapy, as well as for advancing self-styled primary
prevention strategies.
What is SO COOL about this, is that MOST doctors would prefer not to prescribe the "statin" drugs for cholesterol reduction, as they cause liver damage ... while we have had REAMS of "unofficial" evidence (which is made that much stronger by this study ... as the "field tests" of the thousands of medical professionals involved in RSI showed more dramatic improvements than what came out of this study ... largely due to the statistical effects of about 17% of the study participants dropping out ... and thereby being "zero-d"...before completion of the study) most MDs have been hesitant to switch their patients over to a natural fiber supplement rather than the drugs without having this sort of solid evidence.
I am almost dancing in my chair, I'm so excited about this. I guess I should get out more.
Speaking of getting out more ... next week I'll be down in Orlando for the inaugural Unicity Convention, which is where the Medical Symposium referred to in the note here is going to be held ... I can't wait! Anybody who wants more info on this can either check it out on the web at http://www.fiber4health.com or drop me a note and I'll pull together some info (probably when I get back from the convention ... I'll have new stuff then!) and send it out to you!