Vegetarian diet as good as medicine in helping cholesterol?

A couple of stories from a few years ago about this topic. One would think that even just reducing the amount of (not cutting out completely) meat you eat would help significantly.

Buzzle.com: “Animal-Free Diet Rivals Anti-Cholesterol Medication”

Recent research by nutrition experts at the University of Toronto in Canada has shown that a vegan diet - which contains no animal products - can reduce cholesterol levels as effectively as the latest and most expensive cholesterol-lowering medications.

BBC News | Health: “Vegetarian diet ‘cuts heart risk’”

Eating more vegetables and soya-based products may be as effective at reducing cholesterol as medication.

Researchers in Canada have developed a vegetarian combination diet which they say cuts cholesterol by almost a third in just one month.