Eating peanuts, chickpeas may lower cholesterol, improve BP
Washington, June 5: Eating a diet that includes peanuts, chickpeas, apples and a little amount of plant sterols may lower cholesterol and improve blood pressure, new research has found.
The diet is based on the "Portfolio Diet," which is a plant-based dietary pattern that emphasises a portfolio of four proven cholesterol-lowering foods.
"Previous clinical trials and observational studies have found strong evidence that a plant-based diet can improve heart health," said one of the study authors, Hana Kahleova, Director of Clinical Research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington DC.
"This study demonstrates that certain plant foods are especially effective for lowering cholesterol and boosting our overall cardiovascular health," Kahleova added.
The diet that the researchers found beneficial included 42 grams of nuts (tree nuts or peanuts), 50 grams of plant protein from soy products or dietary pulses (beans, peas, chickpeas, or lentils), 20 grams of viscous soluble fiber from oats, barley, psyllium, eggplant, okra, apples, oranges, or berries and two grams of plant sterols from supplements or plant-sterol enriched products per day.
The findings, published in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, are based on a new meta-analysis, a statistical procedure that integrates the results of several independent studies.
The results suggest that a diet that includes plant protein, fiber, nuts and plant sterols improves several markers for cardiovascular disease risk including reductions in cholesterol level and improvements in blood pressure.
Following the dietary pattern reduced LDL (low-density lipoprotein), the "bad" cholesterol by 17 per cent, while also reducing total cholesterol, triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and C-reactive protein.
It also helped reduce 10-year coronary heart disease risk by 13 per cent, the study said.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
