If you've ever received swell dietary advice from a doctor of friend about how to best eat (and keep that weight off), you most likely did have an improvement in high cholesterol and blood pressure markers according to a new study.

In the study, the nutrition habits of subjects in 38 different studies were looked at, and then correlated to whether dietary advice had been given to those individuals. The advice generally consisted of lessening salt and fat intake while eating more fruits, veggies and fiber-containing products.

It's heartening to hear that those who received and followed advice increased their fruit and vegetable consumption to 1 1/4 servings per day compared to those that did not receive any dietary advice. In addition, modest declines in LDL (bad) cholesterol were noted in those that heeded the dietary advice.