High fat, low fat, no carb, more carb: when it comes to getting information on eating to manage high blood cholesterol, confusion reigns.
We checked the most recent research from trials that tested the impact of specific foods on blood cholesterol. The verdict? Good news first! Eating more nuts, legumes, plant sterols (molecules found in plants) and olive oil helps lower blood cholesterol.
The bad news? Discretionary foods (aka junk) raise blood cholesterol, especially bad cholesterol (called LDL). Eating less lowers it.
Do you know your blood cholesterol level? If you don’t, ask your GP to check it. Over a third of Australian adults .
1. Eat legumes
Legumes and pulses, including baked beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils and split peas, can help lower cholesterol levels. The most recent Australian Health Survey found on the day of the survey.
The (the gold standard of research trials), which included 1,037 people who had either normal or high cholesterol levels, were added together. The data showed LDL cholesterol was reduced by 5 per cent in response to eating 130 grams of pulses per day. This is equivalent to one small can or about a third of a 400 g (large) can of baked beans.
Beans and sausage make a hearty meal in these .
Traditionally cooked in an earthenware pot, gigantes (bean soup) was a favourite dish in the Mittas family. Source: Alan Benson
Pulses are high in vegetable protein and fibre. They lower blood cholesterol in a number of ways. The soluble and insoluble fibres assist with lowering cholesterol absorption in the gut, while they promote growth of beneficial gut bacteria in the large bowel.
compared to processed foods. This means you tend to eat less when they’re part of a meal.
why so good?
Raise your pulse
2. Eat plant sterols and spreads
, or phytosterols, are chemically similar to blood cholesterol and are found in some plant foods, including nuts. Plant sterols are concentrated from plant sources and then added to some commonly eaten foods such as margarines, spreads or milk.
Plant sterols for absorption from the gut: pre-made cholesterol, which is found in some foods like prawns, and cholesterol, which is made in your liver. This “competition” process lowers the total amount of cholesterol that eventually ends up in your blood.
A review that two grams of plant sterols a day leads to an 8-10 per cent reduction in LDL cholesterol.
The type of fat the plant sterols are mixed with is important. A , involving around 2100 people, found bigger reductions in (a mix of good and bad types) and LDL cholesterol when plant sterols were added to margarines or spreads derived from canola or rapeseed oil, rather than sunflower or soybean oil.
3. Eat nuts
Nuts are high in protein and fat, but the amounts of polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturated fat vary. In a review of , eating approximately 67g of nuts a day (about half a cup) led to a 5.1 per cent reduction in total cholesterol and 7.4 per cent for LDL.
It didn’t matter what type of nuts people ate; the more nuts, the bigger the cholesterol reduction. People with higher LDL cholesterol at baseline or who were not overweight had a bigger improvement. One caution is that half a cup of nuts contains about 400 calories (1600kJ), so you need to eat nuts instead of another food, or eat less each day but have them every day.
Eating half a cup of nuts a day can cut cholesterol by 5 per cent. Eat them raw or whip up a batch of .
Source: Feast magazine
4. Use olive oil
Olive oil is a major component of the and the predominant source of fat. Olive oil contains a high proportion of monounsaturated fat.
More than 80 per cent of olive oil’s (called phenolic compounds) are lost during the refining process, so less refined varieties, such as virgin olive oil, are a better choice.
A that included 350 people consuming high phenolic olive oil found medium effects on lowering blood pressure and small effects on lowering oxidised LDL (a type of LDL), with no significant effects on total or LDL cholesterol.
In contrast, randomly selected over 7400 men and women at high risk of heart disease to follow three diets: the Mediterranean diet plus extra-virgin olive oil, or Mediterranean diet plus nuts, or a control diet (low fat). After 4.8 years follow-up, those in both the olive oil and nut groups had a 30 per cent lower risk of heart attack, stroke or death from heart disease compared to controls.
In a recent trial, 47 men and women were randomised to intake of olive oil or butter for five weeks, and then crossed over to the other group for another five weeks. Researchers found total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels were significantly higher after consuming butter compared to olive oil.
The reduction was biggest in those who had high blood cholesterol to start with. Switching to a makes sense for those with high cholesterol.
5. Avoid junk food
In , we found people were able to make a number of smaller changes across a range of foods that lower blood cholesterol levels, including increasing nuts, soy foods and plant sterols.
But the biggest change people made was cutting back on energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods (junk foods) and eating a wider variety of healthy foods. The benefits of making these changes? They lowered their cholesterol, lost weight and lowered their blood pressure.
A big study examined in 29,000 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and 51, 000 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (1986-2010). After four years of follow-up, almost 11,000 people had a heart disease “event”.
Those who had the biggest improvement in their diet quality score had a 7-8 per cent lower risk. You can check your diet quality using our .
When it comes to heart disease risk factors, get your cholesterol and blood pressure checked next time you see your GP.
, Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, ; , Associate Professor Nutrition and Dietetics, , and , Research Associate, . This article was originally published on . Read the . lead image by via Flickr.
