The term cholesterol is probably no longer new to people. High cholesterol can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and diabetes, and a host of other health risks.
Of course, if your cholesterol is too high, you can lower it by taking medication. However, there is a common saying: there are three poisons in a medicine, meaning that any medicine has its side effects.
If you eat the “right” food, can you also reduce cholesterol to a healthy level?
According to a study by Dr. David Jenkins of the University of Toronto, Canada, it is possible to do so by eating certain food combinations.
These foods include: oats, green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and soy milk. Because these foods are characterized by high fiber, low saturated fat, low calories, etc..
Jenkins also called this diet a variety of combination diet (Portfolio Diet).
Usually, doctors recommend that people with high cholesterol eat a low-fat, low-cholesterol and high-fiber diet. Although this does lower cholesterol, the effect is limited.
So, can Jenkins’ combination diet to lower cholesterol really solve the problem of high cholesterol?
Good cholesterol and bad cholesterol
First, let’s briefly explain the concept of cholesterol. Cholesterol is found in many organs in our body and plays an important role in the human body. It is a wax-like substance found in the blood.
Cholesterol is an important compound that is closely related to the phenomenon of life. It is not only involved in the formation of cell membranes, but is also the raw material for the synthesis of bile acids, vitamin D, and steroid hormones.
There are two main sources of cholesterol in the human body: the human liver is responsible for the production of cholesterol needed in the body; at the same time, the body also gets some cholesterol from the food it eats, especially in animal products and full-fat dairy products.
Cholesterol is also divided into good cholesterol, high-density cholesterol (abbreviated as HDL), and bad cholesterol, low-density cholesterol (LDL).
Too much bad cholesterol is likely to form hard plaques on the walls of the body’s arteries, which can then block blood vessels and cause angina, stroke or heart disease.
At the same time, good cholesterol has a protective effect on the heart. It can carry the excess cholesterol in the body back to the liver and excreted out of the body.
Usually, when people say lowering cholesterol, they mean reducing the excessive LDL.
Cholesterol-lowering diet
Dr. Jenkins’ diet requires people to keep their daily calorie intake at or below 2,000. Also, it must be low in salt, low in fat and high in fiber, including plenty of fruits and vegetables.
At the same time, to eat the following four food combinations. If you eat only one of them although also can play a cholesterol-lowering effect, but if the four at the same time to eat the effect is very significant.
Oats
Oats contain a variety of soluble fiber, including beta-glucan. They can adhere to bile acids, thus preventing the body from absorbing cholesterol and excreting it from the body. To achieve this effect, you need 3 grams of beta-glucan per day. 30 grams of oats can provide 0.75 grams of beta-glucan. So, you can calculate the amount of oats needed.
Foods that are also rich in soluble fiber include barley, apples, strawberries and eggplants.
Almonds
Almonds have been chosen as one of the world’s most nutritious ingredients. They contain monounsaturated fats that maintain good cholesterol levels while reducing bad cholesterol. Almonds contain antioxidants that help prevent cholesterol from oxidizing and adhering to the arteries.
Nuts with similar effects to almonds include peanuts, pistachios, walnuts, etc. Studies have found that eating 45 grams of almonds per day can greatly reduce cholesterol.
Phytosterols
Green leafy vegetables, vegetable oils, nuts and seeds are rich in phytosterols (plant stanols). They allow the stomach to absorb them by mimicking cholesterol and competing with real cholesterol. This means that the amount of cholesterol and bile acids in your body is actually decreasing. But in the process of breaking down food fat, your body needs to use more cholesterol to produce bile acids. This lowers the amount of cholesterol in your blood.
But the problem is that it is almost impossible for people to get enough sterols and stanols from their diet alone. However, some yogurts, beverages, and margarines have added sterol extracts. To lower cholesterol, people need about 2 grams of sterols and sterol-enhanced foods per day.
However, if your own cholesterol levels are within a healthy range, you do not need to eat these fortified foods.
Soy protein
Studies have shown that the proteins in soy and other beans can help reduce the amount of cholesterol produced by the body’s liver. Soy protein is low in saturated fat, making it an ideal protein substitute for red meat.
Eating 25 grams of soy protein per day (equivalent to 300 grams of tofu or 600 ml of soy milk) can reduce cholesterol by 5-6%.
The current recommended amount of vegetable protein is 50 grams per day. Lentils, chickpeas, and other beans are the best choices for plant protein.
Fats and Energy
Fat is an important source of energy for the body. However, medical professionals recommend that fat should not account for one-third of total energy. Specifically, women should not consume more than 70 grams of fat per day, and men should consume up to 90 grams per day.
Among them, women should not exceed 20 grams of saturated fat per day, preferably for men, 30 grams.
Generally speaking, animal foods, such as red meat, dairy products and cakes, chocolate, biscuits and other foods contain more saturated fat. Some plants also contain some saturated fats, for example, in coconut and palm oil.
People can eat more non-saturated fat foods to get the fat they need. These foods include nuts, seeds, olive oil, salmon and mackerel.
These diets can help improve blood pressure and reduce the risk of inflammation and heart attacks.
Of course, if your cholesterol is too high and these diets do not work for you, you should still take your medication according to your doctor’s instructions. Because, Jenkins’ comprehensive diet trial does not include those who are already taking cholesterol-lowering drugs. Therefore, there is no way to know whether such a diet will have the same cholesterol-lowering effect on them.
Recommended reading:
Healthy living: Five dietary habits to help protect your heart
