To help lower cholesterol, get more of this nutrient in your meals, dietitians say
When you’re trying to get a handle on your cholesterol, what you eat can play a major role.
Experts generally recommend opting for a diet rich in lean protein, lots of plant foods and whole grains with minimal saturated fat, like you’ll find in the Mediterranean diet.
But there’s one unsung hero of cholesterol health that’s worth getting more of in your meals, especially because so few of us manage to eat the recommended daily amount of this nutrient, dietitians say.
Dietitian tip of the day: If you’re managing cholesterol, get more fiber in your meals
The top nutrient to look for when managing your cholesterol is fiber, according to both dietitians and cardiologists.
You’ll find fiber in a lot of healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables as well as whole grains and beans, which are frequently recommended to support heart health.
And in addition to those benefits, dietitians tell TODAY.com that there’s a unique quality to fiber that helps it act directly to lower your “bad” LDL cholesterol over time.
Why it matters
Fiber has benefits for your gut health and digestion, but it also directly supports healthy cholesterol levels.
Specifically, it’s soluble fiber that has this important job.
“Soluble fiber will swell in water, and will make the meal move more slowly through the intestines,” Whitney Linsenmeyer, Ph.D., assistant professor at Saint Louis University and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told TODAY.com previously.
This type of fiber forms a kind of gel that literally traps cholesterol, which then gets excreted in a bowel movement rather than making its way to your bloodstream, registered dietitian Lisa Young explained previously.
Lena Beal, a cardiovascular dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, calls soluble fiber “sticky fiber” for this reason, she told TODAY.com previously.
In this way, soluble fiber “really has a very big role in heart health because it lowers your LDL cholesterol,” Young added.
The other type of fiber, insoluble fiber, is important for digestion and overall health. But it’s soluble fiber’s gel powers that make it such a benefit for cholesterol and heart health.
How to get started
Lots of healthy foods contain fiber naturally.
And plant foods typically contain both soluble and insoluble fiber, so you don’t need to go out of your way to find foods specifically high in soluble fiber to get the cholesterol-balancing benefits. Simply eating a varied diet that’s rich in plant foods will net you lots of heart-healthy fiber.
But if you want to start adding more soluble fiber to your diet, try starting with some of these foods that are particularly high in soluble fiber:
- Beans
- Brussels sprouts
- Sweet potato
- Avocado
- Pears
- Figs
- Apricots
- Oranges
- Oats
And cardiologists agree that soluble fiber is a great way to support healthy cholesterol levels. Many of them recommend eating oatmeal with fresh fruit, seeds and nuts for breakfast to get some protein, fiber and antioxidants at your first meal of the day.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
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