Fiber boosts cholesterol drugs... safely!

New research shows that fiber can double the effectiveness of cholesterol drugs without increasing their side-effects...

From CNN.com:

Study: Fiber boosts effects of heart drugs

People can add a fiber supplement to their diet and get the same effect as doubling the dose of powerful cholesterol-lowering drugs, researchers said Tuesday.

They said their findings offer an alternative to patients worried about the side-effects of the statin drugs, which work powerfully to lower cholesterol but which can badly affect kidney and muscle function in some patients.

The findings also support the advice that a healthy diet high in natural fiber is the first line of defense against cholesterol and heart disease.

Three servings a day of Metamucil, a commercial fiber supplement, lowered low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol, an average of 6 percent in 68 patients over two months, Dr. Abel Moreyra of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey found.

That was the same effect as doubling the dose of a statin drug, he told a meeting of the American Heart Association.

"The good thing about it is you are not increasing the side effects," Moreyra told a news conference.

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