Hi, :)

Is there any scientific support to a claim that orange juice will give the HDL levels a boost?

I read a small study from 2000. In this Canadian study, 25 individuals were given 1, 2 or 3 cups (250ml) of OJ every day for a period of 4 weeks.

Those individuals who consumed 3cups of OJ had HDL levels higher by 21%, their LDL/HDL ratios decreased by 16%.

I then read an abstract from a larger study that used plant sterol fortified OJ. The results were a reduction in total cholesterol by 7.2% and a mean reduction in LDL by 12.4%

This info may be years old, but worth looking into. What do you think?
Flowergirl

Not sure orange juice is the way to go.

My understanding is that a high fat diet will boost your HDL too, but not sure that is a good idea either.

Eat a cube of butter everyday and your HDL will improve... but I'm not so sure this will positively improve your longevity... ;)

... My understanding is that a high fat diet will boost your HDL ... but I'm not so sure this will positively improve your longevity... ;)
Why not? I thought high HDL was supposed to be good. :confused:

Mark

It is good to have high HDL , he means if you eat a cube of butter you will ALSO raise the bad fats in your blood and sooner or later have a heart attack..

Oh well....750ml (3cups) of OJ a day adds up to the following (taken from the nutritional facts panel on the juice carton:

1410mg potassium
330% of RDA vitamin C
75 grams sugars

Frankly, I don't know anyone who drinks that much orange juice. I can stomach maybe a glass a week, if that. I suppose someone desperate enough might want to experiment with it to see if it really works. 'Never mind the potential effects of all that extra sugar, potassium and vitamin C over a longer period of time. Nothing was mentioned about that in the study. I guess one would have to watch one's daily potassium intake from other sources and not mind the extra calories too much. :)

Flowergirl

Flowergirl,

Your report was a bit confusing. Were the claims for that small study based on STEROL/STANOL fortified juice.
I do not believe that plain OJ will raise HDL at all much less by 21%.

Hoo boy, 3 cups of OJ is nearly 400 calories. I could never handle that even with my 2300 calorie diet.

Far better potassium sources im milligrams potasssium PER CALORIE are:
Beet greens 23.7
Chard, Swiss 22
Celery, raw 20
Bamboo shoots, 19.8
Radishes 19
Cress 18.9
Pickles, dill {sodium=130} 18.2 ...beware the salt
Spinach, raw 18.1
Chard, Swiss, boiled 18
Celery, boiled 17
Spinach, frozen 17
Parsley 16.5
Rhubarb 15.6
Watercress 14.8
Endive 14.7
Lettuce, looseleaf 14.7
Lettuce, crisphead 13.4

So I guess Popeye's dictum about spinach was right on target...and whoever called Iceberg lettuce a useless food obviously never considered his K+ needs.

It's the right time of year: a half cateloupe contains 825 mg. potasssium...yummm.

A cup of beans is good ranging from 600 for white beans to nearly 1,000 mg for soybeans.

Your report was a bit confusing. Were the claims for that small study based on STEROL/STANOL fortified juice.

As mentioned in the post, they were two different studies. The smaller one with awesome (????) results had only 25 participants. Regular orange juice was used.

The second study, which was a larger one, used sterol - fortified orange juice. I too don't believe that plain OJ can cause such a reduction/increase in
bad/good cholesterol. If it could, surely everyone would be drinking it by the gallon? :D I wonder who financed these studies.....the OJ manufacturers?

Flowergirl

And if you add to the fact that a decent study has half as controls on placebo that would mean about 13 people drinking the juice.
I guess it would be EXCEEDINGLY difficult to devise a convincing placebo for OJ.:jester:

Yeah, I would be embarassed to pen my name to any study's conclusions with 25 participants...however if Minute Maid or Tropicana kicked in a few $$$grand$$$...hmmm.;)

Hello,
I think that the reason the orange juice drinking is causing a stir is because of the Vitamin C and other minerals it contains. It has been proven, in men and women, that when they took 1,000 mgs. of Vitamin C daily for eight months most had an 7% increase in their HDL's (good cholesterol).
So, unless you're diabetic or have a sensitive tummy, I say drink up !

EasterBunny

Or just take 1000 mg of C, and skip the extra sugar and calories in the OJ... ;)

A thousand milligrams of Vitamin C is about 20 glassfuls of orange juice...and more than 2,000 calories.
I think you'd soon be dead from acidosis trying that.

I've never seen that HDL lowering claim from any reputable studies. (Claims from the wacky Linus Pauling Institute don't count because they think Vitamin C megadosing cures all known diseases including cancer and AIDS.)

lutheran, what on earth do you think you will have a heart attack by eating butter?

Butter = bad fats which clog your arteries and can contribute to a heart attack down the road is what I meant.

I think you might find that it is margarines and trans fats that clog up your arteries, not butter.

Framingham study found over half a century of study that saturated fats promoted atherogenesis. Saturated fat = Butterfat.

Though the Dairy COuncil might LIKE to blame margerine for all the heart aiments on Earth, butter still remains a food to eat very sparingly. Yes, trans fats are bad for our hearts...and saturated fat is bad for our hearts.