Diet and coronary heart disease

We might consider the use of diet in the therapy of hypercholesterolemia. Alteration of diet can produce a significant reduction of plasma cholesterol. Through the use of strict dietary alterations - decreasing saturated fats and cholesterol and increasing polyunsaturated fats - it should be possible to achieve a reduction in plasma cholesterol of about 30 to 40 mg/dl. In patients with mild hypercholesterolemia, say with a total cholesterol of 250 mg/dl, a decrease in plasma cholesterol of this magnitude would probably be adequate. On the other hand, if the plasma concentration is markedly elevated (e.g., over 300 mg/dl), dietary therapy alone is usually inadequate to reduce cholesterol satisfactorily, and strong consideration must be given to the use of drugs to achieve a normalization of the plasma cholesterol.