High-Soluble-Fiber Foods in Conjunction With a Telephone-Based, Personalized Behavior Change Support Service Result in Favorable Changes in Lipids and Lifestyles After 7 Weeks

Objective To evaluate whether an intervention of foods high in soluble fiber from psyllium and/or oats plus a telephone-based, personalized behavior change support service improves serum lipids and elicits cholesterol-managing lifestyle changes vs usual care. Design 7-week randomized, controlled intervention. Subjects/setting 150 moderately hypercholesterolemic men and women, age range 25 to 70 years. Intervention The intervention group consumed 4 servings/ day of high-fiber foods and had weekly telephone conversations with a personal coach who offered support and guidance in making lifestyle changes consistent with the National Cholesterol Education Program's (NCEP) cholesterol-lowering guidelines. The usual care group received a handout describing the NCEP Step-1 diet. Main outcome measures Serum lipids and lipoproteins and self-reported lifestyle changes. Statistical analyses For physiologic and dietary changes, mixed linear models for repeated measures were applied. Models were simplified using analysis of covariance where age in years was the covariate. Traditional general linear models were used to assess lifestyle changes. Results In the intervention group total cholesterol (TC) decreased 5.6%, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol 7.1%, LDL/high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio 5.6%, and triglycerides (TG) 14.2% ( P