A leading doctor has shared advice on reducing cholesterol levels without relying on statins, after a patient expressed concerns about the medication’s side effects.
The NHS says that high cholesterol is mainly triggered by consuming fatty foods, insufficient exercise, being overweight, smoking and drinking alcohol, though it can also run in families. They recommend lowering cholesterol through a balanced diet and increased physical activity.
Some people may also require medication such as statins. The health service adds: “Too much cholesterol can block your blood vessels.
“It makes you more likely to have heart problems or a stroke. High cholesterol does not usually cause symptoms. You can only find out if you have it from a blood test.”
Dr Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology, also suggested lifestyle changes – moving more and changing what you eat – and said: “When we exercise, HDL cholesterol is released into the bloodstream, where it sweeps up fatty plaque deposits in the blood vessels and transports them to the liver for disposal.”
Nutrition plays a key role with experts praising the portfolio diet. This includes soy products like tofu along with plant proteins including beans, lentils and chickpeas; high-fibre foods such as oats, barley, psyllium husk, berries, apples and citrus fruits; nuts and seeds; avocado; and healthy plant oils like rapeseed and olive oil – which may help lower cholesterol, according to Andrea Glenn, a nutrition researcher at New York University.
In a review of seven clinical trials featuring roughly 440 participants with raised cholesterol who didn’t need medication, researchers found that the portfolio diet helped reduce their LDL cholesterol by up to 30%.
This proves to be about as successful as the early forms of statin medications that were frequently prescribed in the ’90s, Dr. Glenn clarified.
In a study published in 2023, Dr Glenn and her team monitored around 210,000 American adults over a span of roughly 30 years. They found that participants who strictly followed this diet plan had a 14% lower risk of heart disease compared to those who ate fewer of these foods.
The portfolio diet works effectively because it combines various types of foods and nutrients that help lower cholesterol through different mechanisms, she explained.
Plant-based proteins such as beans, chickpeas and soya products can inhibit the production of apolipoprotein B, which usually aids your body in absorbing cholesterol from meals. Viscous fibre traps or binds cholesterol in the gut, making absorption more challenging.
Meanwhile, nuts are excellent sources of unsaturated fatty acids, plant sterols and fibre, all of which can decrease LDL cholesterol levels.
Simply adding or substituting a few foods – like sprinkling nuts on your morning granola or swapping red meat with chickpeas or tofu – can significantly improve your cholesterol levels, Dr Glenn expounded.
“There’s certainly no magic bullet,” declared Dr Hu. However, he emphasised that diet and physical activity can significantly help in reducing cholesterol levels.
He added: “We have to think about it from a holistic point of view.”