High cholesterol: The tasty snacks that can ‘rapidly’ lower high levels in weeks – study

High cholesterol: Nutritionist reveals top prevention tips

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Characterised by the absence of symptoms, high cholesterol can be difficult to spot. However, too much of this fatty substance can boost your risk of heart disease and stroke. Here’s how you can “rapidly” lower your high cholesterol.

Poor lifestyle choices are the key contributors to high cholesterol.

Eating too much food high in saturated fats is one culprit.

Once the levels are too high, some people have to start taking medications known as statins.

But what about those that can’t or won’t take the cholesterol-lowering medicine? New research shares the snacks that could offer an answer.

Research published in the Journal of Nutrition reports that healthy snacks containing cholesterol-lowering bioactive compounds can “rapidly” lower LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol.

This is especially meaningful for those “unable or unwilling to take statin drugs”.

In case you’re not familiar, LDL cholesterol, also known as “bad” cholesterol, is the one increasing your risk of severe health problems.

The tasty snacks in question comprised of healthy bars and smoothies.

The snacks were produced by a healthy food brand using ingredients like nuts, seeds and berries.

The research looked at 18 men and 36 women in total.

These volunteers were instructed to eat a variety of healthy snacks twice a day in a place of something they were already eating.

They were also told not to make any other significant changes in their lifestyles.

The researchers also used control products bought from a general grocery store to monitor the results.

After four weeks of following this healthy snack regimen, the “bad” cholesterol levels dropped by nine percent on average.

However, four of the participants experienced a whopping 30-percent decrease.

The healthy snacks in the study contained between 110 to 190 calories per serving and a minimum of five grams of fibre.

Fibre plays an important role in managing cholesterol as some types can help slash levels.

It can help block some of the cholesterol in your intestines from getting absorbed into your bloodstream, Heart UK explains.

In general, fruits and vegetables are good sources of fibre.

This new study concluded that healthy snacks like these could offer a good option for those who can’t or won’t take statins.

The snacks for the study were provided by the US company Step One Foods.

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