High cholesterol: Nutritionist reveals top prevention tips
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High cholesterol, similarly to high blood pressure, doesn’t cause many symptoms. However, having too much cholesterol can boost your risk of heart disease and other health problems. Eating too much food high in saturated fats can raise your cholesterol while doing the opposite can pose as an antidote. Here’s one breakfast food that could help lower high levels.
Poor diet is one of the key factors contributing to high cholesterol levels.
Having too much saturated fat can raise your levels of “bad” cholesterol, leading to various health problems.
However, fibre is one food component that is able to flush out high levels of cholesterol out of your body.
Breakfast food, rich in fibre, which could lower your levels is oats, according to Heart UK.
Oats are packed with a type of fibre called beta glucan, linked to a 16 percent drop in cholesterol, the National Library of Medicine reports.
After you eat beta glucan, it forms a gel that binds to the fatty substance in your body.
This ability of beta glucans helps to lower the amount of cholesterol that is absorbed from your gut into your blood.
This causes your liver to take more cholesterol out of your blood to produce more bile, which subsequently lowers your blood cholesterol, Heart UK explains.
The heart charity recommends eating about three grams of beta glucans daily to see the results.
Opting for breakfast cereal or oatmeal provides this exact amount of fibre, the Mayo Clinic explains.
To optimise the cholesterol-lowering benefits of this breakfast meal, the health portal recommends adding bananas or berries to get even more fibre in a serving.
However, one important aspect to consider when shopping for oats is the amount of processing and sugar packed in one box.
According to the National Library of Medicine, oats need to be processed in order to be safe for eating but the extent of processing might make them lose some nutritional value.
One popular version of breakfast oats is granola. However, some versions of this popular food contain high levels of sugar and saturated fat.
This makes certain types of granolas an undesirable option for lowering high cholesterol levels.
This breakfast cereal can contain oil which can add to the amount of saturated fat in your diet.
So, when you are picking up your next box of this breakfast food, opt for an option without trans fat.
Trans fat is considered the worst type of fat, causing a spike in your “bad” cholesterol and a decrease in your “good cholesterol”, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Don’t let this put you off as thanks to fibre-packed oats, granola can be a nutritious and healthy breakfast when chosen carefully.
Choosing granola sweetened with honey could also be beneficial as this specific sweetener has been linked to lowering cholesterol levels, according to the National Library of Medicine.
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