How to Reduce Cholesterol Naturally: What Foods Should Be Eaten & Avoided?

 

Eat Heart-healthy Foods

A large body of evidence shows there were once enormous swaths of the world where the coronary heart disease epidemic seemed to be almost non-existent, such as rural China and sub-Saharan Africa. It’s not genetics: When people move from low- to high-risk areas, their disease rates appear to skyrocket as they adopt the diet and lifestyle habits of their new homes. The extraordinarily low rates of heart disease in rural China and Africa have been attributed to the extraordinarily low cholesterol levels among these populations. Though Chinese and African diets are very different, they are both centered on plant-derived foods, such as grains and vegetables. By eating so much fiber and so little animal fat, their total cholesterol levels averaged under 150 mg/dL, similar to people eating contemporary strictly plant-based diets.

Calorie Restriction

In The Benefits of Calorie Restriction for Longevity I discuss the CALERIE study (the Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy). It was the first clinical trial to test the effects of caloric restriction. Hundreds of non-obese men and women were randomized to two years of 25 percent calorie restriction. They only ended up achieving half that but lost about 18 pounds and three inches off their waists, wiping out more than half of their visceral abdominal fat. That translated into significant improvements in cholesterol levels, triglycerides, insulin sensitivity, and blood pressures

 

What Foods Lower Your Cholesterol Fast?

 

1. Oats

The fiber in oatmeal can lower our blood cholesterol levels so less gets stuck in our arteries. There are also anti-inflammatory and antioxidant phytonutrients in oats that can help prevent atherosclerotic buildup and then help maintain arterial function. Check out my video Can Oatmeal Reverse Heart Disease? for more on this.

2. Barley

As I discuss in Whole Grains May Work as Well as Drugs, just a single serving a day of barley may lower your cholesterol.

3. Beans

In a randomized crossover trial, adding two servings a day of lentils, chickpeas, beans or split peas cut cholesterol levels so much that many participants moved below the range for which statin drugs are typically prescribed. Learn more about this in Beans, Beans, They’re Good for Your Heart.

4. Amla (Indian gooseberries)

As discussed in the video Amla vs. Drugs For Cholesterol, Inflammation, & Blood-Thinning, 500 milligrams (which is like a tenth of a teaspoon) of powdered amla works just as well as Zocor, a leading cholesterol-lowering drug. 

5. Brazil nuts

A single serving of Brazil nuts may bring cholesterol levels down faster than statin drugs and keep them down even a month after that single ingestion. I go into more detail on this in Four Nuts Once a Month. 

 

What Foods Should Be Avoided?

To drastically reduce LDL cholesterol levels, it appears we need to drastically reduce our intake of: 

1. trans fat, which comes from processed foods and naturally from meat and dairy
2. saturated fat, found mainly in animal products and junk foods
3. dietary cholesterol, found exclusively in animal-derived foods, especially eggs.

For those who have tried eating a whole food plant-based diet and still have high LDL, you should make sure you’re not eating plant sources of saturated fat, such as palm kernel oil, palm oil, coconut oil, and cocoa butter (found in chocolate). Of course if you were you wouldn’t be eating a whole food plant-based diet, but you’d be surprised how many people tell me they are and they’re like “Yeah, and I eat a spoonful of coconut oil a day.” I’d also cut out unfiltered coffee. Then once you have gotten rid of the things that increase your cholesterol you need to pack your diet with foods that actively lower your cholesterol. 

 

What About The “Cholesterol Myth”?

I wrote about the cholesterol “skeptics” in my book Carbophobia (now available free, full text online).

I think the issue was best summarized in a medical journal editorial entitled Cholesterol Myth Club on Par with Flat Earth Society that read: “as mixed up as Flat Earth Society members obviously are, at least you can laugh their dumb idea off, and if you want to believe the Earth is flat, this view is not going to cause serious problems like… coronary artery disease.”

 

Lastly, here are some of the best videos to help understand more about diet and cholesterol. Sometimes folks will ask questions like does cholesterol have a lower limit, or, what about the size of LDL particles does that matter? ​Thankfully Dr. Greger addresses this in his video: Does LDL size matter? and Cholesterol does not appear to have a lower limit. A few concerns with dietary cholesterol is that there’s a plateau effect issue and the postprandial (after eating) issue. These videos explain the issues further: When Low Risk Means High Risk and Eggs and Arterial Function. Find out what’s an Optimal Cholesterol Level to shoot for. 

Is Almond Milk Better Than the Moo?

 

Milk from Almonds vs. Milk from Cows

Almond milk is more healthful than dairy milk, which contains saturated animal fat, cholesterol, and hormones. Cows’ milk has been found to stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells in vitro, for instance, producing an average increase in cancer growth rate of more than 30 percent. In contrast, almond milk suppressed the growth of these cancer cells by more than 30 percent.

Sweetened vs. Unsweetened Almond Milk

The difference between these two types of almond milk is added sugar in the sweetened variety. In general, I favor cutting down on the intake of empty calories whenever possible. Since we get only about 2,000 in our calorie bank each day, why not make each one count? But, if the only way you’ll drink green tea is with sweetened almond milk, then, overall, it would be healthier for you to choose the variety with added sugar. (Your taste buds would likely adapt to the unsweetened kind, though, so give it a try for a couple weeks.)

Is Almond Vanilla Milk Good for You?

Many almond milks are fortified with calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin B12, which benefit us, but what about the vanilla? That’s an interesting question.

Given vanilla’s popularity, I was surprised to find that there isn’t much science published on the health effects of vanilla orchid fruit phytonutrients. There are two in vitro studies that suggest vanillin, one of the many aromatic compounds in vanilla, may be protective against colorectal and cervical cancers, but, to my knowledge, no clinical or epidemiological studies have been published.

The most unusual study on vanilla may be one that was published out of Germany in 1999. Researchers wanted to know if our olfactory memory goes back even further than our verbal memory. Do we subconsciously remember tastes and smells from our infancy before we could even put them into words? There was a time when certain German infant formulas were flavored with vanilla, so the researchers challenged a group of adults with a vanilla-containing food. Since they couldn’t just use a typical vanilla-flavored confection as it could introduce too many other new variables, they had to choose something no one would have ever associated with vanilla, so they concocted a vanilla-flavored ketchup. Their findings? Two-thirds of those who had been bottle-fed with vanilla-flavored formula as infants preferred the vanilla ketchup, whereas two-thirds of the those who hadn’t been exposed to vanilla at that early age chose the regular ketchup.

Are There Any Downsides to Almond Milk?

Many almond milks available to us in grocery stores often contain added salt and thickeners of questionable safety, such as carrageenan. (For more on that, see my video Is Carrageenan Safe?.)

Kids shouldn’t drink too much almond milk. There have been a few case reports of young children drinking four cups a day and running into problems with kidney stones due to almond milk’s relatively high oxalate content, which averages about five times more than soy milk.

Making Almond Milk at Home

It’s so easy to make your own almond milk. Simple add 2 tablespoons of smooth, raw almond butter and 2 cups of water in a high-speed blender, then blend until smooth. Transfer the almond milk to a glass bottle or jar with a tight-fitting lid, and chill until ready to serve. Shake well before using and enjoy.