i got this info from a tropical newsgroup and couldn't post the link here, so forgive me if I cut and past the full text:
Israel: Pomelit cuts LDL cholesterol
An Israeli fruit called the pomelit appears to lower blood
cholesterol levels and increase blood antioxidant activity, making
it a useful food to protect heart health, according to a researcher.
Dr Shela Gorinstein from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem says the
fruit, a cross between a grapefruit and a pomelo, could help people
prevent blocked arteries and heart attacks. Other fruits being
studied for their heart health effects include the kiwi,
pomegranate, berries and grapes. Fruits could represent an easy
dietary strategy for cholesterol-lowering, considered a major factor
in heart disease.
Foods designed to help prevent heart disease are growing at an
annual compound rate of 7.6 per cent, according to Datamonitor,
predicted to reach sales of ₤145 million (212m) in 2007 in the UK
alone. Dr Gorinstein and colleagues gave 72 patients with
hypercholesterolemia, or elevated cholesterol levels, that had
undergone coronary bypass surgery daily supplements of pomelit juice
(known commercially in Israel as Jaffa Sweetie juice) for 30 days.
The patients, who ranged in age from 43 to 71, were divided into
three groups. One group received a daily supplement of 100
milliliters of the juice; a second received 200 milliliters; and a
third the control group received none.
The results showed definite lowering of LDL blood cholesterol and an
increase in blood antioxidant activity in patients from the two
groups who drank the juice as opposed to those who did not, write Dr
Gorinstein and colleagues in the 11 August issue of the Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry 52(16):5215-22.
The patients who consumed the highest daily supplement of juice
showed a significant increase in blood albumin and decrease in blood
fibrinogen levels, which enhance anticoagulant activity and could
prevent heart diseases. Other research groups at various
universities in Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Czech Republic and
Poland did similar tests and all gained positive results.
"Addition of fresh Sweetie juice to generally accepted diets may be
beneficial for hypercholesterolemic patients," conclude the
reserachers. The juice could also offer protection to those who have
had no symptoms of arterial occlusion or heart problems but would
like to benefit from the prophylactic benefits of the fruit, they
add.
