How to Lower Cholesterol Naturally | Friendly Ideas

High cholesterol levels are often associated with some serious health problems, particularly like heart disease. Therefore, it is so important to keep your cholesterol levels in the range of safe levels! So, how to lower cholesterol naturally? Before talking about this hot issue, you may need to know first what actually cholesterol is?!

You might also like to know more detailed information about what is good cholesterol level, causes of high cholesterol, and how much cholesterol in egg yolk, before continuing!

Generally, the definition of cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that can be derived from certain foods (like meat, eggs, and dairy products) that you eat. In the body, this fat-like substance is usually made in the liver & other body’s cells!

Cholesterol is always tagged with bad thing or bad substance! However, some cholesterol is also needed by the body to function properly. There are some membranes or cell walls of the body that need some cholesterol to produce & make vitamin D, certain hormones, and ‘bile acids’ which have a significant contribution to digest fat.

In essence, your body needs some amounts of cholesterol to function properly -- but if the level of cholesterol is too over, then this can cause some health problems, like heart disease!

How to lower cholesterol naturally | dietary approaches?

One of popular ideas to naturally reduce the level of your cholesterol is by having the appropriately diet plan to what you should eat and what you should avoid!

Below are pieces of helpful information about dietary approaches to lower your LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol):

1. Phytosterols, like plant stanols and sterols! They are helpful compounds that can reduce LDL by interfering with the absorption of cholesterol in the intestinal. They can be found in certain foods (in small amounts), such as fresh fruits, vegetable, whole grains, etc. Talk more with a registered dietitian to get more advices on choosing the best foods that contain phytosterols that meet your body’s needs to properly lower your LDL.
2. Soybeans! Some studies found that soy protein may be helpful to prevent coronary heart disease by reducing triglycerides and LDL. Soy protein can be found in soy yogurt, soy nuts, tempeh, tofu or other food products that are made with soybeans.
3. Fiber! We all agree that fiber is one of the most important nutrients for our body. Having adequate intake of fiber can promote good health for the entire body, including helpful on reducing your cholesterol! Some common foods that can be high source of fiber are unrefined grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes.
4. Omega-3 fatty acids! They are also one of common options to lower cholesterol.  They can help decline the rate at which the liver makes triglycerides and LDL. But before taking omega-3 fatty acids, you should discuss first with your doctor to make sure that this option is right for you, particularly if you also have blood-thinning medication!

How to decrease cholesterol naturally with nutritional (herbal) supplements?

Some people believe that herbal supplements are relative friendlier for one of their ways to lower cholesterol naturally. However, for better result and to be safe -- It is so important to talk and discuss first with your doctor before taking any herbal supplement.

The following are pieces of helpful information about some herbal supplements that are believed may help to reduce the level of cholesterol:

1. Policosanol! In several trials, policosanol that is made from sugar cane was effective in decreasing LDL. And there is also a kind of policosanol that is extracted from beeswax -- but, there is still no adequate evidence for this type to lower cholesterol.
2. Guggulipid! It is a natural mixture of resin & gum (gum resin) of the mukul myrrh tree. Some studies in India found that it can help lower cholesterol, but then a clinical study in the U.S found negative results of Guggulipid on reducing cholesterol. More studies may be needed to confirm the efficacy & safety of Guggulipid!
3. Red yeast rice! It was popularized for the first time by a supplement what we call as Cholestin. But the FDA took this supplement off the shelf (in 2001) because it also had lovastatin (a kind of compound that can be found in Mevacor (cholesterol prescription medication)). And today there are also available some supplements that has lovastatin (in very small amounts). Unfortunately, their efficacy is still questionable!
4. Garlic! Some studies found that garlic may help lower the blood levels of total cholesterol -- in a few percentage points! But there are also other studies found that garlic may also give significant interactions /side-effects with certain medications. So, before taking garlic supplements, make sure discuss with your doctor first.

What else you need to know?

1. Dietary phytosterols, soybeans and fiber have different mechanism on reducing cholesterol! For better result, you can combine dietary intake of these foods and limiting the intake of saturated fats! Talk with a professional dietitian for more detailed information
2. If dietary approaches (including with low-fat diet) and other herbal supplements are not effective to lower your cholesterol, you may need to combine these options with cholesterol-lowering medications! But once again don’t forget to talk with your healthcare provider to make sure any option that you choose is right for you and safe!

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Reference: WebMD and science.howstuffworks.com
Image credit to ‘shutterstock’ for illustration