The biggest culprit of high cholesterol is undoubtedly our daily diet. A diet high in saturated fat is a sure fire way to increase LDL cholesterol and put ourselves at risk for heart disease, clots, stroke and, left untreated, even death.

It is essential that you not only learn how to lower LDL cholesterol, but you incorporate what you learn into your daily life.

Modifying your daily diet to reduce foods high in saturated fats, like dairy products and red meats, will definitely help lower cholesterol. Biscuits, cakes, cheese, spreads, pork, beef, lamb etc., when overused, contribute to high cholesterol.

Adding more fruits, vegetables and foods like peas, beans and oat bran, which are rich in dietary fibre, will all answer the how to lower LDL cholesterol question.

Adding or increasing physical exercise is another natural way to lower bad cholesterol. Start off slowly, especially if you have not exercised for a while. The worse thing you can do is go off all guns blazing on some mad exercise routine! For one, you will never sustain this, and two, you will probably injure yourself.

Our bodies need nutrients, and what with all the health scares we have had, bird flu, swine flu, mad cow disease, to name but a few, we are no longer certain of what nutrients we are really getting in our daily diet.

To this end, when I carried out my in depth research on how to lower LDL cholesterol, as a long time sufferer of high cholesterol, I specifically looked into what natural supplements were available to aid this process and sustain it long term.

Any natural supplement used to lower cholesterol, absolutely, without doubt, must have the best of the best of proven nutrients. This is absolutely imperative. There are so many gimmicky supplements out there on the marketplace, which fail to deliver on how to lower LDL cholesterol, and in some cases, cause adverse side effects in other areas of our bodies.

LDL cholesterol is not something to be messed around with or ignored. It is serious. The question is, how serious are you about dealing with it?

Countries with very high cholesterol levels, such as Finland, have very high rates of coronary heart disease. However, some populations with similar total cholesterol levels have very different heart disease rates, suggesting that other factors also influence risk for coronary heart disease. High cholesterol is more common in men younger than 55 years and in women older than 55 years. The risk for high cholesterol is known to increases with age.

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat like substance that your body needs to function normally. Cholesterol is naturally present in cell walls or membranes everywhere in the body, including the brain, nerves, muscles, skin, liver, intestines, and heart.

Your body uses cholesterol to produce many hormones, vitamin D, and the bile acids that help to digest fat. It takes only a small amount of cholesterol in the blood to meet these needs. If you have too much cholesterol in your bloodstream, the excess may be deposited in arteries, including the coronary (heart) arteries, where it contributes to the narrowing and blockages that cause the signs and symptoms of heart disease.

Too many Americans have high levels of total cholesterol and LDL (the bad cholesterol). A diet high in saturated fat (a type of fat found mostly in foods that come from animals and certain oils) raises LDL levels more than anything else in your diet. You also eat cholesterol in your diet, although the effect of saturated fat in the diet is greater than the effect of dietary cholesterol.

Trans-fatty acids (seen in processed foods and many “fast foods”) can also increase LDL levels. Dietary cholesterol is found only in foods from animal products. Genetic factors combined with eating too much saturated fat and cholesterol are the main reasons for high levels of cholesterol that lead to heart attacks. Reducing the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol you eat is an important step in reducing your blood cholesterol levels.

The government has reset the standard for LDL levels so that more Americans are included in the risk group. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is caused by cholesterol and fat being deposited in the walls of the arteries that supply nutrients and oxygen to your heart. Like any muscle, the heart needs a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients, which are carried to it by the blood in the coronary arteries.

Fixed narrowing that is often calcified (hardened) usually cause angina (chest pain). Less severe narrowing may contain unstable blockages called atherosclerotic or fatty plaque. Unstable atherosclerotic plaque can rupture, resulting in clot formation, no blood flow, and a heart attack.

If enough oxygen-carrying blood is blocked from reaching your heart, you may experience a type of chest pain called angina. If the blood supply to a portion of the heart is completely cut off by total blockage of a coronary artery, the result is a heart attack. This is usually due to a sudden closure of the artery from a blood clot forming on top of unstable plaque.

A simple blood test checks for high cholesterol. Simply knowing your total cholesterol level is not enough. A complete lipid profile measures your LDL (low-density lipoprotein [the bad cholesterol]), total cholesterol, HDL (high-density lipoprotein [the good cholesterol]), and triglycerides another fatty substance in the blood. Government guidelines say healthy adults should have this analysis every 5 years.

A desirable total cholesterol level is 200 mg/dL or lower. A desirable LDL is 100 mg/dL (130-159 is borderline high; 160 is high; 190 is very high). HDL, the “good cholesterol,” should be around 40 mg/dL or greater. With HDL, the higher the number, the better, and 60 mg/dL is protective against heart disease.

Recent studies have shown that lowering cholesterol in people without heart disease greatly reduces their risk for developing heart disease in the first place. This is true for those with high cholesterol levels and for those with average cholesterol levels.

The Framingham Heart Study established that high blood cholesterol is a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). Results of the Framingham study showed that the higher your cholesterol level, the greater your risk. Several studies have confirmed a direct link between high blood cholesterol and CHD. The Lipid Research Clinics-Coronary Primary Prevention Trial (LRC-CPPT) first showed that lowering total and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels significantly reduces coronary heart disease.

A series of more recent trials of cholesterol-lowering using statin drugs have conclusively demonstrated that lowering total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol reduces your chance of having a heart attack, needing bypass surgery or angioplasty, and dying of CHD-related causes.

In 1994, the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S) was the first study to show that people who took the cholesterol-lowering class of drugs called statins (in this case, simvastatin) reduced their risk for major CHD events (such as a heart attack) by 34%, CHD deaths by 42%, and all deaths by 30% in people with known coronary heart disease and high blood cholesterol levels, compared with people who were given a placebo (a dummy pill that looks exactly like the medication being tested).

This has been called “secondary prevention,” or prevention of a second heart attack, because the study involved people with known heart disease, many of whom had already had at least one heart attack.

The Heart Protection Study, published in 2002, examined men and women of all ages at high risk for heart disease irrespective of their cholesterol levels. Simvastatin treatment reduced CHD events by 24%. This study has caused some experts to suggest that everyone at high risk for CHD would benefit from statin therapy, regardless of their blood cholesterol levels.

Finally, The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES III), carried out from 1988-1991, discovered that 26% of American adults had high blood cholesterol concentrations, and 49% had desirable values.

What is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a substance that is soft and waxy and can be seen in the cells of your body.

Our bodies make use of cholesterol to function efficiently. The body also makes use of cholesterol in making other valuable substances such as Vitamin D and hormones that help to properly digest food.

Understanding Normal Cholesterol Levels

Doctors use a specially graded chart to determine whether or not yours can be considered normal cholesterol level or whether your cholesterol level is too high.

If you have lower than 200 mg/dL, it means your cholesterol level is under control. If the chart shows that your level is higher than 200 mg/dL but lower than 239 mg/dL, then it is not bad but you still need to be careful. If your cholesterol level is in excess of 240 mg/dL, then you have high cholesterol.

You can find many natural means that you can use to reduce cholesterol if you find that your level of cholesterol is on the higher side. However, not all cholesterol is bad. HDL cholesterol is beneficial to you. LDL cholesterol is the one that is considered harmful.

Ways of Lowering LDL Cholesterol

Low density lipoprotein, also called LDL, is the cholesterol that is considered bad for health. It carries cholesterol to the body tissues that use it to function. When you regularly consume excessive amounts of cholesterol your body often struggles to utilize it all. At this time LDL releases the surplus into the blood stream. This can be problematic as the extra cholesterol that is released keeps building up in the arteries. This constant build up leads to formation of plaque.

It is important to know how to lower ldl cholesterol by making dietary changes. It is best to avoid eating high cholesterol foods. You can easily find foods that help to lower cholesterol levels. Whole grains and oatmeal are some of the best.

How to lower Cholesterol Naturally

If you have been told that you have high cholesterol, but do not wish to take any kind of cholesterol medication, there are many alternative ways that you could use to reduce your levels of cholesterol naturally. One of the most valuable thing you can do is to eat plenty of foods that will reduce cholesterol levels and avoid those foods that are confirmed to be loaded with cholesterol. Some amount of exercise is a good option but it is best if used in conjunction with a diet that excludes high cholesterol foods.

Reducing your cholesterol by natural means will not happen overnight. But if you are determined, it is just a matter of time that you will see those cholesterol readings falling.

Lowering cholesterol naturally is not as effective for all. Many individuals would be advised to take medication. It is good to know though that you can reduce your cholesterol with medication and combine it with natural lowering methods as well. It is best to get your doctor’s advice before you embark upon any program for lowering your cholesterol using natural methods or with the prescribed medication

Cholesterol testing, along with HDL, LDL and triglyceride testing is called the lipoprotein profile.

Cholesterol testing is done several times a year for individuals who are on a prescribed diet and for those who are taking cholesterol lowering medications.

Usually blood samples are drawn from the arm. Sometimes blood samples are taken from the fingertip. The samples are analyzed by a cholesterol testing device. Cholesterol tests are used to monitor the progress in lowering the cholesterol level.

Test results are grouped in three types:

• Desirable – the cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL below is regarded to be desirable because it has a low risk of heart disease.
• Borderline high – a total cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL to 240 mg/dL is at fair risk of having heart disease. Your doctor may decide to give you have a lipid profile in order to determine which cholesterol level is high.
• High Risk – a 240 mg/dL cholesterol level is considered to be at high risk of heart disease. Expect a lipid profiling if your cholesterol level is this high. It is more likely that you will be given a cholesterol lowering medication along with a low cholesterol diet.

Cholesterol tests are usually given when the individual is healthy because the blood cholesterol level of an individual who has an acute illness, (after a heart attack or after surgery or accident) is likely to be low. Individuals are advised to wait at least six weeks after any illness before taking cholesterol tests. Pregnant women are also advised to wait six weeks before having their cholesterol level measured.

A Brief Explanation of Cholesterol Ratios:

Cholesterol ratios consist of total cholesterol. Total cholesterol includes low level lipoprotein cholesterol levels (LDL cholesterol), triglycerides and high density lipoprotein cholesterol level (HDL cholesterol).

Cholesterol is measured by milligrams of cholesterol per deciliter of blood (mg/dL). Usually, only the total cholesterol amount is given when a person is tested for cholesterol. Sometimes you are given the HDL cholesterol and the total cholesterol results.

The desirable total cholesterol level is 200mg/dL and the beneficial amount of HDL is more than 40mg/dL.

There are two important cholesterol ratios. These they are LDL/HDL cholesterol ratios and total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratios.

In the latter cholesterol ratios, your cholesterol result is given by the total cholesterol divided by the HDL cholesterol. According to the American Heart Association, the desirable amount should be below 5:1 with the optimal amount of 3.5:1 or 3.5 to 1.

The LDL/HDL is done by dividing LDL cholesterol by the HDL cholesterol. The desirable amount in this ratio should be 3.5 below. The American Heart Association recommended that physicians must use complete numbers for total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol in determining the appropriate treatment.

A normal cholesterol level as suggested by the National Institute of Health:

• total cholesterol – 200mg/dL
• LDL – 100mg/dL
• HDL (man) – 40mg/dL above
• HDL (woman) – 50mg/dL above
• Triglycerides – 150mg/dL

It is important to remember to fast the night before, prior to taking a lipid profile test (a test that profiles the HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and total cholesterol) the next day.

One of the best things that you can to do lower cholesterol is to quit smoking and decrease the amount of fatty foods in your diet. For most people, the best way to lower cholesterol is to reduce their intake of saturated fats and to increase physical activity.

The Hypercet Blood Pressure Formula is a proprietary blend of five essential elements for healthy blood pressure. The Hypercet Cholesterol Formula is designed to help maintain healthy cholesterol levels and to assist normal body functions for optimum health. “Often the only treatment needed to lower cholesterol is thyroid medication.

Diet and exercise are imperative

To lower cholesterol naturally, diet and exercise are imperative. Diets rich in beans, peas, rice bran, barley, oat bran, whole grains, citrus fruits and apple pulp can help lower cholesterol levels, especially when additionally cutting back on animal products and fats. Diet can be a very effective tool for lowering blood pressure.

To keep your cholesterol low, your total fat intake shouldn’t be more than 25% to 33% of your diet –and most of those fats should be the good kind, like vegetable fats(mono unsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats), and omega-3 fatty acids, foundmostly in fish. He began including steel-cut oatmeal, eggplant, roasted soybeans, whole-wheat pasta and Brussels sprouts in his diet. Even better, the story includes a link to two favorite recipes from his cholesterol-lowering diet.

Exercise decreases the bad LDL-cholesterol

Surely, you’ve already asked you these questions: Those higher cholesterol is treating with herbs, good food, exercises or drugs. Exercise decreases the bad LDL-cholesterol and increases the”good” HDL-cholesterol.

Exercise, not smoking and a high-fiber diet low in cholesterol and fat will improve your cholesterol count. Exercise itself doesn’t directly lower cholesterol, but will strengthen the heart and entire circulatory system. Exercise can apparently help keep a fat person healthy and maintain lower cholesterol levels, keep bad cholesterol levels down, without massive dietary changes, nor having to lose weight.

Simply out of habit, not caring what foods to eat that lower your cholesterol and not giving your body regular easy-going exercises, the accumulation reaches a point where undesirable consequences as symptoms begin to show up.

Healthy Lifestyle

Healthy lifestyle and diet is key to prevention of high cholesterol levels. Lower cholesterol is important to living a long and healthy life, one that is free from heart disease or stroke. You should also maintain a healthy lifestyle through diet, exercise, and weight maintenance.

As you know, there are populations that have lived healthy lives on all meat diets and populations that have lived healthy lives on all vegetable diets. Some people’s bodies are simply genetically predisposed to make a lot of cholesterol; it doesn’t matter whether they eat a perfect diet or are a healthy weight.

Just as you wouldn’t bet all your money on a single stock, Jenkins says you shouldn’t bet your health on a single kind of healthy food.

Natural way to lower cholesterol

Natural way to lower cholesterol is to have low cholesterol diet and exercise regularly. Or you can choose a natural means where the only side effect is better health. And since your cholesterol naturally rises as you get older, it seems to sneak up on you without warning.

The good news is, you can lower you cholesterol naturally by taking responsibility over your body and your health and award yourself with a complete lifestyle makeover. There are natural herbs, vitamins and minerals that can help lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol in the body.

Supplements lower cholesterol naturally

Research also shows that improvement results can be dramatic if you were to strongly consider the combined use of regular exercises and the regular use of nutritional supplements, which are clinically proven to lower cholesterol naturally with no side effects.

Remember that the approach with drugs and / or dietary supplements is to supplement and not to replace a healthy diet and exercise. The most effective way to lower cholesterol when all of this does not work sufficiently, is with drugs and / or herbal dietary supplements. However, there are quite a number of supplements that have been clinically proven to lower cholesterol.

Conclusion

To lower cholesterol is one of your greatest health challenges, cholesterol induced strokes are not a pretty sight. A significant way to lower cholesterol is to include adequate amounts of healthy fiber in your diet.

Another important element to a persons lifestyle that can be enhanced when wondering how to lower cholesterol is by establishing an exercise program or increasing an exercise program. As such one way to lower cholesterol is to avoid foods that contain high cholesterol or at least minimize their consumption, that is animal and dairy products. The most popular and well known food that can actually lower cholesterol is eating adequate amounts of oatmeal every day.
To Find Out More…

Cholesterol is more abundant in tissues which either synthesize more or have more abundant densely-packed membranes, for example, the liver, spinal cord and brain.
The liver is the main processing center for cholesterol. When we eat animal fats, the liver returns the cholesterol it can not use to our bloodstream and when there is too much cholesterol circulating in our bloodstream, it can build up into fatty deposits. These deposits cause the arteries to narrow and can eventually block the arteries completely, leading to heart disease and stroke.

Cholesterol is produced by the liver and it is also made by most cells in the body. It is carried around in the blood by lipoproteins. We need blood cholesterol because the body uses it to build the structure of cell membranes, to produce hormones like testosterone, adrenaline and estrogen and to aid the metabolism.

Types of Cholesterol
There are two types of cholesterol, good and bad, the difference between them is:

• Low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol called the bad cholesterol because it goes into the bloodstream and clogs up your arteries.
• High density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol called the good cholesterol because it helps to take the bad cholesterol out of the bloodstream.

Cholesterol is transported towards peripheral tissues by the lipoproteins chylomicrons, very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL).
Risks associated with high triglycerides.

According to the lipid hypothesis, abnormally high cholesterol levels (hypercholesterolemia), or more correctly, higher concentrations of LDL and lower concentrations of functional HDL are strongly associated with cardiovascular disease because these promote atheroma development in arteries (atherosclerosis). High cholesterol has also been linked to diabetes and high blood pressure.

Both heredity and diet have a significant influence on a person’s LDL, HDL and total cholesterol levels. Evidence strongly indicates that high cholesterol levels can cause narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis), heart attacks, and strokes.

Cholesterol in the bile can crystallize to form gall stones that may block the bile ducts. Cholesterol count also rises during pregnancy.

However, in recent years, scientists have come to realise that to decide whether an individual’s cholesterol levels are dangerous, these levels need to be considered in the light of the person’s overall risk of heart disease.The higher the risk of heart disease (for example, a male smoker with high blood pressure and diabetes), the greater the need to get cholesterol levels down.

Cholesterol tests
Cholesterol testing is recommended as a screening test to be done on all adults at least once every five years.

Foods that contain cholesterol
The cholesterol in your diet comes mainly from the saturated fats found in animal products. All foods from animals contain some cholesterol. Foods from plants do not contain cholesterol. Other sources of dietary cholesterol are full fat dairy foods, eggs and some seafood.

Safe blood cholesterol levels
Health authorities recommend that cholesterol levels should be no higher than 5.5mmols per liter. Approximately 50 per cent of adult Australians have a blood cholesterol level above 5mmols per liter. This makes high blood cholesterol a major health concern in Australia.

How to lower high cholesterol
The best way to maintain healthy levels of cholesterol in your diet is to limit foods high in saturated fats. Try to avoid: Fatty meats , full fat dairy products, processed meats like salami and sausages, snack foods like chips, most takeaway foods, especially deep fried foods, cakes, biscuits and pastries.

However the most important thing you can do to reduce your cholesterol level is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. You should try to:

• Limit the amount of cholesterol-rich foods you eat.
• Increase the amount and variety of fresh fruit, vegetables and wholegrain foods you have each day.
• Choose low or reduced fat milk, yoghurt and other dairy products or have added calcium soy drinks.
• Choose lean meat (meat trimmed of fat or labeled as heart smart).
• Limit fatty meats, including sausages and salami, and choose leaner sandwich meats like turkey breast or cooked lean chicken.
• Have fish (fresh or canned) at least twice a week. Replace butter and dairy blends with polyunsaturated margarines.
• Include foods in your diet that are rich in soluble fiber and healthy fats, such as nuts, legumes and seeds.
• Limit cheese and ice cream to twice a week

Some studies have suggested that eating oats and legumes may lower LDL cholesterol. Food components like saponins (found in chickpeas, alfalfa sprouts and other foods) and sulphur compounds (like allicin found in garlic and onions) may also have a positive effect on cholesterol levels.

Plant sterols can lower cholesterol levels,these are found naturally in plant foods including sunflower and canola seeds, vegetable oils and (in smaller amounts) in nuts, legumes, cereals, fruit and vegetables. Some margarine has concentrated plant sterols added to it. Plant sterol enriched margarines may help to lower LDL cholesterol.

Treatment for high cholesterol
Treatment of high cholesterol is aimed at lowering the low-density lipoproteins (LDL) or bad cholesterol, lowering triglyceride levels, and increasing the high-density lipoproteins (HDL) or good cholesterol.

Treatment will be most effective if it also includes appropriate diet, weight loss (if necessary) and physical activity.

The first steps in treating high cholesterol levels are: Regular physical activity and healthy eating.

There are also some foods that may help to lower cholesterol levels, particularly garlic, soya, oats, corn and selenium-enriched cereals.

Cholesterol-lowering foods are not suitable for children under five years or for pregnant or breastfeeding mothers.

Medication :Statin drugs work by interfering with the cholesterol-producing mechanisms of the liver and by increasing the capacity of the liver to remove cholesterol from circulating blood. Statins can lower LDL cholesterol by as much as 60 percent, depending on the drug and dosage.

In only one month, volunteers following the plan reduced their cholesterol levels by 15 percent to 20 percent and dropped blood pressure 2 points. That’s a big, fast change.

Most studies of diet and heart disease show it takes more time, up to 12 weeks, to see the full effect on cholesterol and blood pressure.

And unlike the traditional meat-based Atkins diet, which increased dangerous LDL cholesterol in previous studies, the Eco-Atkins diet reduced LDL.

The Eco-Atkins diet scores better from an environmental perspective, too. High-protein diets emphasizing red meat, dairy and eggs are not environmentally friendly, said Dr. David Jenkins, a physician at St. Michael’s Hospital and University of Toronto in Canada and one of the researchers.

That’s because it takes more energy and produces more greenhouse gases to raise beef and poultry than it does to grow grains, beans, fruits or vegetables.

A Vegan Twist
Jenkins and colleagues recruited 50 overweight, middle-aged people from Toronto for their study. Half the volunteers received the Eco-Atkins diet: ready-made meals of low-carbohydrate, high-protein foods.

The twist: the meals were strictly vegan – no meat, poultry, fish or dairy products. (The original Atkins was low-carb and high-protein, but with lots of meat.)

If a vegan diet sounds extreme to you, keep reading. There are simple ways to incorporate some vegan meals into your diet, and non-vegan vegetarian meals can be helpful, too.

Jenkins and his colleagues picked a vegan diet because they thought it “would be the most ecologically, environmentally and other-species friendly diet that we could mount,” Jenkins said.

“But we didn’t set it up against a diet that was ecologically catastrophic,” such as the traditional Atkins diet.

Instead, the remaining volunteers followed a vegetarian diet including low-fat dairy products and egg substitutes so it would be a fair match, equally low in cholesterol as the Eco-Atkins diet.

Both groups of volunteers reported feeling satisfied and full, although they ate only 1,500 calories a day and lost about 8 pounds in the month.

As expected with any weight loss experience, both groups had improvements in cholesterol and blood pressure. But the Eco-Atkins group had bigger changes–an 8 percent greater drop in cholesterol.

As a dietitian, I don’t recommend vegan diets for everyone. Without serious planning and dedication, vegan plans can be inadequate. However, we can all reap benefits from moving toward a more plant-based diet.

Even having a few vegan meals a week can be helpful. Vegan foods are useful because they have less artery-clogging fats than meats. And they can be simple to prepare–bet you didn’t realize a peanut butter sandwich was vegan!

Lots of Fiber
The eating plans in the study were very different. The Eco-Atkins diet provided only 130 grams of carbohydrates per day, the minimum level currently recommended by scientists.

It eliminated common starchy foods such as baked goods, potatoes and rice. Instead of wheat bread, the plan included flour-less high-protein bread made from ground almonds, ground hazelnuts and wheat gluten.

Eco-Atkins menus emphasized foods rich in soluble fiber, which is known to lower cholesterol. Such foods include oats, barley, okra and eggplant, along with other fruits and vegetables.

The plan also included wheat protein, known as seitan, and soy protein in veggie burgers, veggie bacon, veggie deli slices, veggie breakfast sausages, tofu and soy drinks.

Also, the eco-friendly plan featured heart-healthy fats, such as that found in almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, vegetable oils and avocados.

To make up for nutrients found in dairy products not allowed on the Eco-Atkins diet, people received supplements of vitamin B-12, vitamin D, calcium and magnesium.

Like the Eco-Atkins plan, the comparison plan – a more traditional vegetarian diet–was meat-free. But it included low-fat milk, yogurt and cheese, as well as egg whites. The more traditional diet had twice as many carbohydrates as the high-protein Eco-Atkins diet.

Not All-or-Nothing
Even if the Eco-Atkins plan is too dramatic a change for most people, Jenkins encourages people to move toward a more plant-based diet.

You don’t have to take an all-or-nothing approach.

As a dietitian, I agree that switching to plant proteins like beans, peas and lentils instead of meat is better for your heart and your waistline. Legumes are lower in calories and saturated fat than meat and better for the environment. You might start by eating one vegetarian meal a week.

Jenkins’ crew used many vegetarian versions of meat. If you don’t enjoy faux foods or feel they are too costly, try traditional vegetarian treats.

Some of my favorites are:

• Cajun red beans and rice
• Bean chili with corn bread
• Split-pea soup with whole-grain crackers
• Curried lentils with vegetables and rice
• Take-out Chinese bean curd with broccoli, rice and garlic sauce.

Beans do have more carbohydrates than the modern meat substitutes used in the Eco-Atkins plan. However, beans are still a good source of protein, and arguably even more eco-friendly because they are less processed.

The list of yummy vegetarian foods is nearly endless.

Jennifer Motl welcomes reader questions via her Web site, brighteating.com, or mailed to Nutrition, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401.

Because previous research had shown that reducing LDL cholesterol is significant in lowering coronary disease risks, the researchers said their findings could be clinically significant.

“Health practitioners should feel comfortable recommending barley to their patients to help reduce total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol concentrations,” they said.

Barley contains ß-glucan, an insoluble fibre which has already been shown to lower cholesterol in people who eat oats. But the effects indicated by eating barley have not received as much attention, the researchers said.

The researchers analyzed eight randomized controlled trials totalling 391 participants and evaluated the lipid-lowering effects of barley. Each study consisted of relatively few people (median 30), and had a short time duration (median four weeks).

The meta-analysis indicated that the participants who consumed barley regularly had significantly greater reductions in total cholesterol (-13 mg/dL), LDL cholesterol (-10 mg/dL), and triglycerides (-12 mg/dL) than the controls who did not eat any barley.

They found that the reduction in total and LDL cholesterol wass in line with the findings for oat-derived ß-glucan, which was expected – as both grains have similar concentrations of the fiber, at 3.5% to 5.9% of total dry matter.

However, there was no observed effect for HDL cholesterol — only a nonsignificant increase of 1 mg/dL.

The researchers could not establish a dose-response as only six of the eight studies reported the ß-glucan dose, meaning there wasn’t enough statistical data to draw any conclusions.

However, the few studies that did report doses had a range of 3 g to 10 g of ß-glucan per day.

The cholesterol-lowering effects of barley observed in this study are in line with the FDA recommendations of 3 g or more of soluble fiber daily to reduce the risk of heart disease, the researchers said.

They said the findings are also important as reductions were seen regardless of whether participants made substitutions in their diet. For example, if they replaced eggs with barley, it would be difficult to tell whether improvements in cholesterol resulted from a healthier diet or from barley.

“That significant reductions in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol were seen regardless of whether diet modifications were mandated equally in both study groups helps guard against the issue of dietary substitution and strengthens the effects of barley use,” the researchers said.

The findings “support the routine use of soluble fibers in the diets of adult patients with and without hypercholesterolemia.”

Rice and wheat do not contain ß-glucan, but oats, psyllium, pectin, and guar gum do contain the soluble fiber.

The researchers said future studies should include larger trials to assess the dose-response relationship of barley ß-glucan.

Cholesterol in the human body comes from two major sources. About three-quarters of the body’s total cholesterol is produced within the body, while only one-quarter comes from cholesterol in food.

Higher concentrations of cholesterol are present in body tissues which have more densely packed membranes – i.e. the liver, spinal cord, brain, atheroma, adrenal glands and reproductive organs.

The liver is the most important site of cholesterol biosynthesis. It is secreted from the liver in the form of an acidic secretion known as ‘bile’.

Diets rich in animal fats, meat, poultry, fish, oils, egg yolks and dairy products are a rich source of dietary cholesterol. Organ meats, such as liver and kidney, are extremely rich in cholesterol content, but foods of plant origin contain no cholesterol.

High cholesterol levels in the bloodstream can influence the pathogenesis of certain conditions. Recent studies have revealed that the abundance of protein complexes called lipoproteins, are responsible for the cholesterol build-up in the blood vessels.

elevated levels of it are associated with an increased risk of coronary heart diseaseCholesterol gets attached to these lipoproteins. The high-density lipoprotein (HDL) carries cholesterol out of the bloodstream for excretion, while the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) carries it back into the system for use by various body cells.

LDL cholesterol is called bad cholesterol, because elevated levels of it are associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease. LDL deposits cholesterol on the artery walls which leads to the formation of a hard, thick substance called cholesterol plaque. Over time, cholesterol plaque causes thickening of the artery walls and narrowing of the arteries, a process called atherosclerosis.

The levels of both HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol may also determine risk for heart disease; however current medical opinion is that the ratio of HDL cholesterol to LDL cholesterol is much more important than the level of cholesterol.

Methods to control your cholesterol levels:
Lower your consumption of foods containing saturated fats – fried fast foods, butter, cream, cheese, and fat on meat – to help reduce cholesterol. Add more plant foods to your diet – vegetable oils, nuts, legumes, breads, cereal grains, fruits and vegetables. A low cholesterol diet, combined with regular exercise is the best way to lower cholesterol levels.

Medications can also help lower cholesterol levels. HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, ‘Statins’, such as lovastatin (Mevacor) and atorvastatin (Lipitor) are the most effective and widely used medications to lower LDL cholesterol. Other medications include nicotinic acid (niacin), fibrates such as gemfibrozil (Lopid), resins such as cholestyramine (Questran), and ezetimibe, Zetia. These medications should be taken after consulting the experts.