Cutting Cholesterol By Eating a Cookie

Can a chocolate-chip cookie lower cholesterol? In a junk-food addict's possible dream come true, a number of companies are selling processed foods that aim to lower cholesterol.

Physicians and nutritionists say evidence is good that the products -- including cookies, candy bars, orange juice and margarine-like spreads -- lower cholesterol, but beware of the calories. ...

In November, scientists at the University of California reported in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association that 32 subjects who consumed two Mars Inc. plant-sterol-fortified CocoaVia chocolate bars daily for six weeks had a 6% decline in bad cholesterol, compared with no change for a group who ate a control bar. October's Journal of Nutrition found plant-sterol and psyllium-fortified chocolate-chip cookies sold under the brand Right Direction cut bad cholesterol 10%. Levels of HDL, or good cholesterol, wasn't affected in either study.

These studies, and several others with positive results for margarines and orange juice, were funded in full or in part by the companies selling the products. Anne Carol Goldberg, an associate professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine says the evidence is convincing that the products can have a moderate effect on cholesterol. But if you add a candy bar or cookie to your daily diet you need to cut calories somewhere else. "You must constantly consider calories," she says. ...

•	Cutting Cholesterol By Eating a Cookie ACHES & CLAIMS The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007 Byline: Laura Johannes