New to the anti-cholesterol diet!

You have too much cholesterol? The first step is to look at the side of your plate and put you on anti-cholesterol diet. Or it may not be as restrictive as it was. While it is based on limiting fats, a study suggests that the introduction of certain foods would just as effective in the fight against cholesterol.

When the anti-cholesterol diet is a must ...

People with high cholesterol levels should adopt a diet low in cholesterol to regain normal blood levels of cholesterol and thus reduce their cardiovascular risk.

Let us recall that too much cholesterol is bad for the arteries. Excess cholesterol tends to be deposited inside the artery walls, forming what are called atherosclerotic plaques. The latter reduces the diameter of the arteries and may clog, but they can also detach and migrate through the bloodstream into the brain, causing a stroke.

A support for reducing cholesterol levels is essential. If drug treatments are very effective (statins), they do not replace the anti-cholesterol diet, and are often prescribed as second line.

Relaxation of anti-cholesterol diet

The classic anti-cholesterol diet is to reduce its intake of lipids, particularly high cholesterol foods. However there are some food categories which are known to have anti-cholestérolémiantes properties. To test the effectiveness of these foods, the researchers designed a diet including regular consumption of these foods. Called Portfolio, it is to focus on the following foods:

soluble fiber (psyllium, oat ...)

plant sterols, particularly through margarine enriched with plant sterols,

soybean (soy milk, tofu, soy meat)

almonds and walnuts.

Some 300 volunteers with high cholesterol were assigned to follow either the classic anti-cholesterol diet or the Portfolio diet. Others have taken a cholesterol-lowering drug, a statin.

Their bad cholesterol (LDL) cholesterol was measured at the beginning and end of the study, 6 months later.

What result in reducing cholesterol?

We notice that the most effective diet is the Portfolio, with 13% reduction in LDL cholesterol, against 3% with the conventional system. As to the statin, it is twice as efficient as the Portfolio scheme, which also indicates that the Portfolio scheme has the effect of a half dose of statin! And that results in a theoretical 11% reduction in the risk of stroke with the Portfolio diet, while statins have demonstrated their ability to reduce mortality in many studies.

In conclusion, the "anti-cholesterol" diet should be considered in a much more comprehensive way. Limit fats and cholesterol-rich foods remains a basic setpoint, which it makes sense to integrate the consumption of foods that have the property of reducing cholesterol.