October 2008

Enough talk: time for action on cholesterol

October 5, 2008

The time for talking about diet and cholesterol has passed; urgent action to improve the national diet is now required to lower New Zealand’s high burden of heart disease. This is the challenge healthcare professionals will face at a symposium to be held on November 3rd in Auckland.

Hosted by the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation as part of the National Cholesterol Education Program of New Zealand, the symposium features keynote speakers Professor Rod Jackson from the University of Auckland and Professor Murray Skeaff from the University of Otago as well as leading international cholesterol expert, Professor Peter Jones from the University of Manitoba in Canada.
Professor Jones’ presentation will examine a food-based approach to lowering cholesterol., looking at the differing levels of benefit provided by food including plant sterols, soluble fibre and soy based foods. Professor Jones’ research has looked at how diets have deteriorated over the past thousand years, and the resulting importance of nutrient-enriched foods.
“The single most effective dietary tool for lowering cholesterol is plant sterol-enriched foods, which can lower LDL-cholesterol by 10-12 percent. Plant sterols are natural substances that block the absorption of cholesterol and so lower cholesterol levels,” Professor Jones said.
“Other key ways of lowering cholesterol include lowering saturated fat, which is particularly important in New Zealand, as well as increasing foods containing soluble fibre, such as oats, and soy protein, which may have a small benefit.
 “Importantly, adding these dietary changes together gives a greater cholesterol lowering effect than any single change alone. By making a few easy changes to their daily meals people can lower their ‘bad’ LDL-cholesterol by about 20 percent1,2. Maintained in the long-term, these changes reduce the risk for coronary heart disease by about 40 percent3 - which is significant,” Professor Jones said.
Professor Jackson says New Zealanders are putting their lives at risk unnecessarily. “The bottom line is that New Zealanders have higher cholesterol than most other countries because of the foods we eat. But lets stop endlessly describing the problem and start taking proven action to solve it,” he said.
 
References:
1.. Skeaff CM, Thoma C, Mann J, Chisholm A, Williams S, Richmond K. Isocaloric substitution of plant sterol-enriched fat spread for carbohydrate-rich foods in a low-fat, fibre-rich diet decreases plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and increases high-density lipoprotein concentrations. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2005;15:337-44.
2.Katan MB, Grundy SM, Jones P, Law M, Miettinen T, Paoletti R; Stresa Workshop Participants. Efficacy and safety of plant sterols in the management of blood cholesterol levels. Mayo Clinic Proc 2003;78:965-78.
3. Law MR, Wald NJ, Thompson SG. By how much and how quickly does reduction in serum cholesterol concentration lower risk of ischaemic heart disease? BMJ. 1994;308:367-372.
Interview opportunities prior to or at the symposium:
Professor Peter Jones, director of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, University of Manitoba, Canada
Professor Rod Jackson, Head of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Auckland University
Professor Murray Skeaff, Director of Human Nutrition, University of Otago
 
 
BIO’s:
 Professor Peter J. Jones, Ph.D.
Peter J. Jones, the recently named Canada Research Chair in Functional Foods and Nutrition joined the University of Manitoba on November 1, 2005 as Director of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals. Dr. Jones’ main appointment will be in the department of Food Science with a cross appointment in Human Nutritional Sciences. Before 2005 he was professor at McGill University serving as Director of the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition from 1994-1999.
Currently, Dr. Jones serves as President of the Danone Institute for Nutrition in Canada and immediate Past-President of the Canadian Society for Nutritional Sciences. He serves as Chairman of the Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals Board of the Vancouver-based Forbes Medi-tech group. Dr Jones also has sat on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Health Organization, and United Nations University (FAO/WHO/UNU) Expert consultant Panel for Energy and Protein Requirements in Human Nutrition.
Dr Jones' research interests cover cholesterol, fat and energy metabolism. He has applied novel stable isotope methodologies to examine the response of these areas of metabolism to dietary intervention. His research group has been active in exploring the dietary determinants which control cholesterol biosynthesis in humans, as well as how plant sterols act in functional foods as cholesterol-lowering agents. Other areas of research have included re-establishing energy needs in sub-groups of the Canadian population and exploring what fats confer optimal health during weight reducing diets. Dr Jones has published over 220 peer-reviewed research articles and reviews in international journals, as well as chapters in leading nutrition textbooks. Dr. Jones received the Young Investigator Award for Excellence in Nutrition Research in 1997.
Professor Rod Jackson
Rod Jackson is Professor of Epidemiology and Head of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the School of Population Health, University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is medically trained, has a PhD in Epidemiology and is a member of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine. He teaches epidemiology and evidence-based health care to undergraduates and postgraduates, both in New Zealand and internationally. His main research interest for over 25 years has been the epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases. He is one of the architects of New Zealand risk-based clinical guidelines for managing CVD risk and is currently leading the PREDICT programme which uses a web-based clinical decision support system to get evidence, about CVD risk and risk management, into and out of primary care practice simultaneously. He has published approximately 200 peer-reviewed papers.
Professor Murray Skeaff
Professor Murray Skeaff has been a member of the department of Human Nutrition at the University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand) since moving from Canada in 1988. His efforts to engage students in an inquiry and research-based approach to learning received recognition when he was presented with a National Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching (2004). One of his specialist fields in nutrition research includes the health effects of fats and oils on cardiovascular disease. In recent times, his work has diversified considerably with collaborative and multidisciplinary projects on topics ranging from cognitive function in older people, folate and neural tube defects, to assessing the vitamin D status of New Zealanders. He currently serves as a member of the New Zealand Heart Foundation’s Public Health Scientific Advisory Group and chairs its Food and Nutrition Working group.