If you need to lower your cholesterol, new research reveals that a diet combining soy, nuts, plant sterols, and fiber, known as the portfolio diet, may work better than a traditional low-fat diet.

The University of Canada study, announced August 23, found that people with high cholesterol who followed the portfolio diet lowered their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels by about 13 percent after six months on the diet. That is compared with a 3 percent LDL reduction among those who followed a diet low in saturated fat. The findings appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association.