Beans (dried)
Beans or legumes are one of the fastest-acting and safest cholesterol lowering foods. Studies show that they consistently help lower cholesterol. According to James Anderson, M.D., of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, eating 170 grams of cooked dried beans a day generally reduces bad cholesterol by about 20 per cent. The result can be expected in about three weeks.
All types of bean are valuable in this respect. About 170 grams of dried or 340 grams of baked beans a day also raise good type HDL cholesterol by about nine per cent. This does not happen immediately, but usually after a year or two. According to one test, beans improve the HDL-LDL cholesterol ratio by 17 per cent. Dr. Anderson advises an intake of 85 grams of beans each at lunch and dinner to obtain best results. Beans contain at least six cholesterol-reducing compounds, the most important of which is soluble fibre.
Carrot
This vegetable helps lower bad LDL cholesterol and raise good HDL cholesterol. According to Dr. Philip Pfeffer, Ph. D., and Peter Hoagland, Ph.D., scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Eastern Regional Research Centre, carrots contain high anti-cholesterol soluble fibre including pectin. Dr. Pfeffer calculates that the fibre in a couple of carrots a day can lower cholesterol by 10-20 per cent, which would bring many people with moderately high cholesterol into the normal range. After he started eating a couple of carrots a day, his own blood cholesterol came down by about 20 per cent.
A test carried out in Canada discovered that men who ate about two and a half carrots every day found that their cholesterol level came down by 11 per cent on an average. According to a German study, the amount of beta-carotene in one or two carrots also raised good HDL cholesterol significantly. The carrot fibre continues to have medicinal properties whether the vegetable is eaten raw, cooked, frozen, canned or in liquid form says Dr. Pfeffer.
Coriander Seeds (dried)
The seeds of coriander are a popular spice used extensively in Indian cooking. The seeds are dried when they are ripe. They have an aromatic odour and agreeable spicy taste. These seeds possess cholesterol lowering property. Their use has thus been found beneficial in the treatment of high blood cholesterol. A decoction should be prepared by boiling two tablespoons of dry seeds in a glass of water. It should be cooled and strained. This decoction should be taken twice daily for few months to bring down blood cholesterol level.
Fenugreek Seeds
The scientists all over the world are discovering the medicinal benefits of Fenugreek seeds. Daniel Mowrey of the American Phytotherapy Research Laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, firmly believes that they reduce cholesterol. The seeds also help reduce sugar levels in non-insulin dependent diabetics.
Indian researchers have done significant work on Fenugreek and its medicinal properties. According to research studies conducted at National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, fenugreek seeds were given in varying doses of 25 grams to 100 grams daily, to diabetes patients. Besides reducing their levels of glucose, the seeds also reduced serum cholesterol and tryglycerides in them. The seeds can be used as an infusion, or in the form of tea.
Israeli scientists at Hebrew University of Jerusalem also have shown that fenugreek seeds can lower blood sugar and cholesterol in both diabetics and healthy people. Additionally, they have identified an active ingredient in fenugreek seeds. It is a gel-like soluble fibre called galacto-mannan. In animal studies, the fenugreek gel binds up bile acids, lowering cholesterol, much the same way as common drugs do.
Garlic
Garlic is of great value as a cholesterol lowering food. The use of garlic has been found highly beneficial in treatment of high blood cholesterol. About 20 published human tests show that fresh garlic and some garlic preparations reduce cholesterol substantially. According to Robert Lin, Ph.D., Chairman of a recent international conference on the health aspects of garlic, three fresh garlic cloves a day can lower cholesterol by 10 per cent on an average and up to 15 per cent in some cases. It does not matter whether the garlic is cooked or raw, he says. It is effective both ways. Six compounds in garlic have been identified that lower cholesterol by reducing liver’s synthesis of cholesterol.of cholesterol.
In a recent test, at L.T.M Medical College in Bombay, 50 persons ate three raw garlic cloves every morning for two months. Their cholesterol came down by 15 per cent from an average 5.54 to 4.68. Their blood clotting factors also improved dramatically. In another study, at Bastyr College in Seattle, a daily dose of garlic oil from three fresh garlic cloves brought cholesterol down seven per cent in a month, but, more important, raised good-type HDL by 23 per cent.
The researchers, Dr. Christopher Silagy and Dr. Andrew Neil of Oxford University, also conducted trials about garlic’s power in lowering cholesterol. They found on an average, a 12 per cent reduction in cholesterol, evident after one month. Best results were obtained from the trials lasting at least three months. The typical dose was an equivalent of 600 to 900mg of garlic powder. Garlic powder, fresh garlic, garlic extract and garlic oil were all used in the various trials.