Cholesterol. What a fear inducing word, when it really shouldn’t be. I know some of you out there would dread health check-ups or blood tests lest you happen to discover that your cholesterol levels are sky-high. You know that your GP will then tell you to reduce cholesterol levels by “watching your diet” and “avoiding fatty foods, eggs, and seafood”, or horrors of all horrors…“do more exercise”. This advice will then be finished off with a warning: “If not, I’m going to start you on some meds next time you come in!”
Darn it, I gotta start cutting out all my favourite foods, you think. Right?
Wrong. What if I told you, that there were foods that you can start eating more of to reduce your cholesterol levels? It’s not just about removing foods from your lives, my dear readers, it’s about adding some others in.
Now don’t say dietitians are the bringer of bad news. I’m telling you this straight out—YES, there are foods you can eat that will reduce your cholesterol levels. And this is not just based on research carried out on animals, or a single stand-alone trial on humans. These recommendations are based on reviews of multiple studies carried out on humans. Of course, because these studies vary in design, population, type, and amount of the food being investigated, there’s always a need for larger numbers of longer-term studies. However, I would say that the case for these foods being capable of reducing cholesterol levels, specifically LDL-cholesterol, is pretty strong.
Wait—What? What’s LDL-cholesterol?
Alright. First things first. Let’s clarify the basics of this topic.
What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a fatty substance that is transported around our body in our blood. Our body produces most of the cholesterol in our body, while the rest comes from the foods we consume. Contrary to what you may think, cholesterol plays important roles in our body and we cannot do without it. It is a part of our cell walls, and is involved in the formation of bile acids and hormones.
However, how cholesterol is packaged in our body plays a crucial role to our health. Cholesterol is carried around our body by lipoproteins (imagine them as vehicles in your bloodstream). They include low density lipoproteins (LDL) and high density lipoproteins (HDL), which makes LDL- and HDL-cholesterol, respectively!
LDL-cholesterol is known to be bad, because in excess, it accumulates and clogs up arteries, causing diseases like heart disease and stroke. On the other hand, HDL-cholesterol is known to be good as it prevents cholesterol build up within our arteries. Total cholesterol is a combination of both LDL- and HDL-cholesterols. At times, people get unnecessarily alarmed at a high total cholesterol reading, when it could be driven up by high HDL-cholesterol levels. Therefore, it’s always important to look at the cholesterol readings individually and focus on reducing LDL-cholesterol levels.
So remember, when doctors or dietitians talk about the need to “reduce cholesterol levels”, what we actually mean is reducing LDL-cholesterol levels.
Now, let’s move on to my top 5 foods that are scientifically proven to reduce cholesterol levels.