Cholesterol and Heart Disease

What’s the nation’s No. 1 killer? Heart disease. It causes one death every 35 seconds. So protect your heart with these 10 tips to reduce cholesterol from Janet Bond Brill, a registered dietitian and author of Cholesterol Down (Three Rivers Press). Plus, test your heart attack risk...

What’s cholesterol? It’s a type of lipid or fat. In our bodies, it travels through our blood stream in particles called lipo-proteins. Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) are bad cholesterol because they can lead to a buildup of plaque in arteries.

A mass of plaque can narrow your arteries and restrict blood flow – much like trying to sip juice through a clogged straw. Eventually, the plaque ruptures and a blood clot forms, cutting off the flow of blood, oxygen and nutrients to the brain.

Hello, heart attack and stroke!

High-density lipoproteins (HDL), on the other hand, are good cholesterol because they pick up the LDL clogging your arteries and take it to the liver, where it’s processed and eventually excreted.

Chow Down
“Lowering your cholesterol reduces your risk of contracting heart disease and dying from a heart attack,” Brill says.

What you eat can affect the amounts of HDL and LDL flowing through your bloodstream, and Brill has a cholesterol-lowering eating plan that’s tasty and effective.

“My diet is about what you can eat – not what you can’t” she says.

What’s on her list? Try these 8 super-foods:

(Aim to eat all eight daily, and heed the two bonus tips as well. If you follow only half the steps, you’ll only get half the benefits.)

1. Oatmeal
Oats are rich in beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that acts like a sponge to soak up cholesterol.

How to sneak it in: Add cinnamon or dried cranberries to your morning oatmeal for a flavor boost. Oat-bran is a highly concentrated source of beta-glucan, and it’s easy to mix into homemade bread, muffin and pancake batter.

Brill’s daily Rx: 3 grams of beta-glucan, found in a half cup of dry oatmeal or oat bran.

2. Almonds
Almonds contain two powerful antioxidants – vitamin E and flavonoids – which prevent the oxidation of LDL, a precursor to plaque buildup.

How to sneak it in: Eat almonds with their skins, which pack a hefty dose of flavonoids. Stir a handful into yogurt or spread two tablespoons of almond butter on whole-wheat bread.

Brill’s daily Rx: One ounce of dry-roasted, unsalted almonds.

3. Flaxseeds
Flaxseeds contain lignan and soluble fiber, which block the production of LDL and increase your body’s ability to get rid of cholesterol.

How to sneak it in: Eat ground flaxseeds rather than whole ones, because your body can better absorb its nutrients. Brill likes to sprinkle them in her morning bowl of oatmeal.

Brill’s daily Rx: 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds.

4. Garlic
Garlic impedes the liver’s ability to make cholesterol.

How to sneak it in: Chop garlic into small pieces to release its flavor. Sauté it with steamed spinach, add it to sauces and soups or purée roasted garlic with cooked potatoes and olive oil for a heart-healthy version of everybody’s favorite: mashed potatoes.

Brill’s daily Rx: One clove and one Kyolic One Per Day Cardiovascular aged garlic extract supplement.

5. Phytosterol-Containing Foods
Phytosterols are a fat found in plant foods such as fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetable oils. They interfere with cholesterol absorption by blocking it from your intestinal cells.

How to sneak it in: Even a vegetarian diet provides no more than 300 to 400 mg of plant sterols a day, well below Brill’s recommendation. Supplement this with foods containing added phytosterols – chocolate bars, margarine, cheese, granola bars and cookies, to name a few – but keep an eye on saturated fat and trans-fat content.

Brill’s daily Rx: 2 to 3 grams of phytosterols a day spread over two meals.

6. Apples
Apples, particularly the skin and outer flesh, are rich in polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that help prevent plaque buildup.

How to sneak it in: Chop, slice or dice ’em, but leave the peel on for maximum health benefits.

Brill’s daily Rx: One apple a day – to keep the doctor away, of course.

7. Beans
Beans contain a special type of soluble fiber that’s fermented in the colon. Healthy bacteria eat the fiber and bean sugars to form short-chain fatty acids, which travel to the liver and hinder LDL cholesterol production.

How to sneak it in: Brill loves Adzuki beans, which are used in Japan to make sweet red bean paste. She also recommends cannelloni beans (try them in Tuscan soups, a type of Italian bean-based soup) and kidney beans, perfect in Southwestern chili.

Brill’s daily Rx: 1/2 cup of legumes (beans, peas or lentils).

8. Soy Protein
Soy protein contains phytoestrogens – compounds that increase the number and effectiveness of LDL cholesterol receptors, improving the liver’s ability to get rid of cholesterol in your bloodstream.

How to sneak it in: Order a soy latte at your favorite coffeehouse, throw tofu into a fruit smoothie, use soy flour when baking, or mix a handful of roasted soy nuts with dried fruit for an energy-boosting trail mix.

Brill’s daily Rx: 20–25 grams.

Diet isn’t your only defense against cholesterol.

“Every step works to lower cholesterol in a specific way,” Brill says. “By combining them all, you get an extremely powerful LDL-lowering multi-pronged approach.”

Here are two of her favorite non-food-related tips:

9. Take Metamucil (Psyllium Husk)
Metamucil contains psyllium husk, a fiber that blocks cholesterol from entering your intestinal cells. It’s “the most powerful LDL-lowering viscous soluble fiber in existence,” Brill says. This fiber soaks up cholesterol so you excrete it rather than absorb it into your intestinal cells.

How to sneak it in: Adults should consume 10 to 25 grams of soluble fiber a day, advises the National Cholesterol Education Program, but most get only 3 to 4 grams.

Brill says you should get half your fiber from a supplement and the rest from food. Take half your daily dose of Metamucil before breakfast and half after dinner to avoid overloading your body on fiber, which can cause gas, constipation or even diarrhea.

Brill’s daily Rx: Work up to 12 capsules a day, for a total of 6 grams of psyllium husk.

Or use the powdered version, which you can mix into water. It varies by product, but most Metamucil powders contain 3.4 grams of psyllium husk per serving.

10. Work Up a Sweat
Brisk exercise speeds up blood flow in your arteries, reducing your chances of inflammation and clogging (two precursors to hardening of your arteries).

How to sneak it in: You don’t have to hit the gym to get some exercise. Clip on a pedometer while you run errands and aim for 10,000 steps a day.

Brill’s daily Rx: 30 minutes of exercise.

Each of the foods and tips mentioned play a crucial role in lowering your cholesterol and keeping your body healthy.

For more on their benefits, and for delicious recipes and meal plans (you'll love the walnut-crusted salmon), get a copy of Cholesterol Down and check out CholesterolDownBook.com.

For more information on cholesterol, visit our Heart Disease Health Center.

Are You on the Road to a Heart Attack?
Every 20 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a heart attack. Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in this country and contributes to the 1.5 million heart attacks that strike each year. Will you become a statistic? Find out if your ticker is a time bomb with this heart attack quiz.

Lorraine here: I had intended to write about my happiness because this is the first day of Spring!! I'm so "ready" for sunshine, blue skies, green trees, colorful flowers.... Instead this message caught my attention among the many incoming e-mail messages. Despite, IMHO, sensible eating habits, I have to be vigilant about controlling my cholesterol. I differ slightly on several points but, overall, I think the "points" have merit.