Other Lowering Cholesterol Principles

Other lowering cholesterol principles include lowering your consumption of alcohol and increasing your consumption of foods containing plant sterols.

Other lowering cholesterol principles are drinking alcohol in moderation.

Saxelby in her book writes that "people who drink moderately suffer fewer heart attacks than total abstainers or people who have three or more drinks a day"^[1]

Recent work just published in the British Journal of Nutrition studied the effect of a glass (375 ml) of red wine daily consumption amongst 23 healthy volunteers. They then measured the amount of anti-oxidants as well as monitoring homocysteine levels in the blood. The results of the study found that the level of high density lipoproteins were increased with the moderate red wine consumption.^[2] These findings are supported by many other studies supporting the moderate intake of red wine.^[3]

The polyphenols contained within red wine have been implicated in reducing the oxidations of LDL and the alcohol content in Any drink to increase the HDL cholesterol which has been seen to be protective against heart disease.^[1]

Increasing the intake of foods containing plant sterols also plays a major role in lowering cholesterol principles.

Sterols themselves are a form of cholesterol. Barasia defines sterols chemically as ringed structures containing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.^[4] The most obvious example found in animals is cholesterol. Sterols originating from plants behave differently and in turn the body reacts differently when plant sterols are consumed. Plant sterols have been shown to reduce both plasma total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels. A serving of 1 gram of phytosterols need to be consumed for any cholesterol lowering effect to be seen.^[5] Plant sterols are present in oils, but also can be obtained in some margarines.

References:

1. Saxelby, C (2002) Nutrition for Life Hardie Grant Books P. 142

2. Tsang C, Higgins S, Duthie GG, Duthie SJ, Howie M, Mullen W, Lean ME, Crozier A. The influence of moderate red wine consumption on antioxidant status and indices of oxidative stress associated with CHD in healthy volunteers. Br J Nutr. 2005 Feb;93(2):233-40.

3. Auger C, Teissedre PL, Gerain P, Lequeux N, Bornet A, Serisier S, Besancon P, Caporiccio B, Cristol JP, Rouanet JM. Dietary wine phenolics catechin, quercetin, and resveratrol efficiently protect hypercholesterolemic hamsters against aortic fatty streak accumulation. J Agric Food Chem. 2005 Mar 23;53(6):2015-21.

4. Barasi, M (1997) Human Nutrition: A Health Perspective Oxford University Press, p. 80

5. Wahlqvist (2002) Food and Nutrition Allen and Unwin Pty. Ltd. P. 122

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