PREVENTIVE MEDECINE: WAYS TO LOWER BLOOD CHOLESTEROL LEVELS

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PREVENTIVE MEDECINE: WAYS TO LOWER BLOOD CHOLESTEROL LEVELS

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | 10:34 pm

• Eat less cholesterol. This is somewhat contentious because various studies conflict on whether or not it is worth while restricting the intake of such foods. Egg yolks, butter and liver are especially high sources. The NACNE report on healthy eating recommends no curtailing of cholesterol-rich foods but anyone eating a lot of any of these three and who has high blood cholesterol would probably do well to cut them down or out.

• Polyunsaturated oils used for cooking or as spreads also have an effect on blood cholesterol levels. In one study in Minneapolis twenty-four healthy volunteers were put on a high-cholesterol diet. When polyunsaturated fats were added both total cholesterol and the harmful LDL component fell. HDL remained high. Of the oils tested, un-hydrogenated soya oil and corn were best. Other studies have found that corn flour oil has similar effects.

• Yoghurt may be helpful. One researcher believes that the special bacteria used to ferment yoghurt also produce a substance which blocks cholesterol production in the liver. Eating yoghurt has been found to reduce cholesterol in the blood. Milk (even skimmed) raises blood cholesterol, however.

• Chromium has been found to lower cholesterol levels in rabbits fed on a cholesterol-enriched diet. The rabbits fed with chromium also had only half as many plaques on their coronary arteries as did rabbits in the control group. In humans, brewer’s yeast (a rich source of chromium) raised HDL levels in one study.

• Vitamins Ñ and E are valuable too. In a study of forty people with coronary artery disease carried out in India it was found that those whose diets were supplemented with 2 g of vitamin Ñ had an average drop of 12 per cent in their cholesterol levels. In a UK study vitamin Ñ was found to raise the helpful HDL cholesterol fraction. The researchers found that many heart-disease patients had both low vitamin Ñ and low HDL levels. A dose of 1 g vitamin Ñ a day brought both levels up towards normal.

Vitamin E also raises HDLs. A daily dose of 800 Ø increased the HDLs of forty-three volunteers and had the greatest effect in those whose HDLs were lowest to start with.

• Get plenty of exercise. When carrying out the vitamin E study the researchers noticed that joggers and long-distance runners in their sample had very high HDLs before supplementation with the vitamin. Several other studies have found that exercise helps keep cholesterol at normal levels. Even moderate exercise, such as a brisk walk, seems to be effective.

• Stop smoking. A Swedish team found that smokers tended to have low HDL levels. When a group of smokers gave up they all experienced ‘rapid and pronounced increases in HDL concentrations’. The levels rose by an average of 29 per cent within two weeks and remained high throughout the observation period.

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