The Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic researchers say people can benefit from following a simple diet that focuses on reducing cholesterol, especially among the elderly.
The Mayo study found that those with gallbladens were at a lower risk of dying.
It also showed that those who followed a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and low in animal products had lower risks of heart disease and cancer.
The researchers say those recommendations could also benefit the general population, especially those with lower levels of cholesterol, and they say they hope to conduct more research to further explore this potential benefit.
The Mayo Clinic says the findings were based on data from an extensive study of 1.3 million adults.
Researchers also analyzed data from 2.5 million people ages 70 and older, and their blood, urine and stool samples.
The study will be published in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The study looked at a simple formula that combines fruits and veggies, whole grains and low-fat dairy products with low-carbohydrate meals and exercise.
The participants were followed for four years.
“In terms of how well this diet was working, the results were very good,” said Dr. Daniel J. Miller, the Mayo Clinic’s chief of cardiovascular disease and chronic disease prevention.
Miller and his team of researchers looked at the diets of 1,200 people who were healthy and 4,000 people with gallstones.
About 40 percent of the participants had gallblasts, while the rest had diabetes, heart disease, cancer or kidney disease.
Participants in the study had to eat three meals a day and maintain a healthy weight, but the average participant was also eating about 1,300 calories per day, Miller said.
The researchers said the diet did not necessarily work for everyone.
But they say it can work for people with high cholesterol and heart disease or those who are already healthy.
“It’s important to remember that it is not possible to say, ‘OK, what if this diet worked for everyone?’
It is important that we focus on this population first, and we do need to do that,” Miller said in a news release.