Cardiovascular disease risk factors in free-living men: comparison of two prudent diets, one based on lactoovovegetarianism and the other allowing lean meat.

In general, vegetarians have lower serum lipids and blood pressures than omnivores have. We tested the blood pressure and serum lipid lowering effects of two fat-modified diets differing primarily in their source of protein. Twenty-six men were randomized in an incomplete block design to two of three diets: a high-fat diet, a fat-modified lactoovovegetarian diet (LOV) and a diet in which 60% of plant protein in the LOV was replaced with lean meat (LM). Compared with the high-fat diet both prudent diets significantly lowered blood pressure, serum total cholesterol (TC), and LDL cholesterol but significantly increased serum triglycerides. The LOV diet had a significantly greater cholesterol-lowering effect than did the LM diet (10% vs 5% decrease) but blood pressure reductions were similar. The partial substitution of lean meat for plant protein in a fat-modified diet did not negate the overall cardiovascular-risk lowering of the lactoovovegetarian diet.

Information management: emergence of a new deal. Roundtable on information management.

Is a new position in healthcare management--the chief information officer (CIO)--emerging? As yet, there is no clear answer. However, if such a management position were to emerge, it could be one that facilitates and coordinates the informational interests of the CEO, CFO, and others in the healthcare organization. This position and others on the management team could work together in a cooperative and mutually supportive relationship. In a roundtable discussion sponsored by HFMA, six individuals, part of a CIO advisory panel for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, met to discuss up-coming issues in information management. In this discussion, trends in information management, characteristics of the ideal CIO, and the relationship between the CFO and CIO were explored.