Unique nutritional strategies to
Reduce cholesterol naturally
Tired of the media onslaught
promoting statin drugs? What happened to a conversation
about nutritional strategies that reduce cholesterol?
There are indeed ways to significantly reduce cholesterol using common
foods and nutritional supplements. Reductions in LDL cholesterol of 25,
30, 50, even 100 mg/dl are possible—if you know what and how. Here’s the
Track Your Plaque guide to natural strategies to reduce LDL that
supplement, sometimes replace, your need for prescription medication.
In an age when statins dominate conventional heart
disease prevention, an important role remains for nutritional
approaches. Because statin drugs are principally LDL-reducing agents and
do not address other causes of heart disease, nutritional strategies add
real advantage. Nutritional approaches can be used to minimize and
sometimes eliminate use of statin drugs altogether. Perhaps it’d be
better to regard statin therapy as a solution only when natural,
nutritional means have been exhausted.
In the Track Your Plaque program, we aim to reduce LDL cholesterol to
≤60 mg/dl (though not below 50 mg/dl, since the long-term implications
of cholesterol this low remain unexplored). Even better, we aim for an
apoprotein B <70 mg/dl or LDL particle number <700 nmol/l, improvements
over the conventionally calculated LDL cholesterol. (Of course, always
discuss these issues with your doctor.)
Just adhering to a healthy diet is not enough in the majority of cases.
The American Heart Association’s diet, for instance, yields a 7% drop in
cholesterol. That’s too small to make any real difference (Pearson TA et
al 2002) and, by itself, virtually guarantees a future of heart disease!
The formerly popular ultra low-fat diets (≤10% of calories from fat)
yield variable drops in cholesterol, but HDL is also substantially
reduced and triglycerides increased (Krauss RM et al 1995). Our
experience with the ultra low-fat diets is that they yield disastrous
changes in lipoproteins. The net effect can be increased risk of heart
disease and diabetes.
While dietary restriction of total fat intake has only limited power to
reduce cholesterol, avoidance of saturated fat (e.g., in butter, greasy
meats, cured meats, fried foods) and hydrogenated fat (“trans fats” in
margarine, shortening, and many processed foods) remains a well-proven
means of reducing LDL cholesterol modestly. Replacing saturated fat
sources with healthy monounsaturated oils (olive, canola, flaxseed)
provides even greater benefits for cholesterol reduction, as well as
reduced triglycerides and VLDL (Gulesserian T et al 2002; Williams CM et
al 1999).
Weight loss (if you’re overweight) has broad effects on risk reduction:
reduction of cholesterol levels (total and LDL), increased HDL, reduced
triglycerides, and correction of small LDL, VLDL, and abnormal
postprandial (after-eating) fat clearance (Miller WM, 2005). Restriction
of processed carbohydrates is an effective way to lose weight and
thereby reduce cholesterol, particularly for people starting with lower
HDL and higher triglycerides. Reducing intake of flour products (pasta,
breads, bagels, pastries, cookies, cakes, pretzels, and other processed
foods) may, in fact, yields larger drops in cholesterol than now
outdated low-fat diets (Krauss RM et al 2006).
Beyond diet, nutritional supplements and foods (“functional foods”, or
foods that can be used to specific achieve specific goals) can pack real
power to reduce cholesterol (total and LDL). For most people, no one
supplement or food by itself will reduce LDL to your target. A
combination of several strategies usually yields the large drops that we
need to achieve dramatic LDL reduction.
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Copyright 2006, Track Your Plaque.