The National Cholesterol Education Program has created objectives for people to follow in order to lower their risk of coronary heart disease by lowering cholesterol. One objective is to increase awareness of how diet plays a critical roles in reducing high cholesterol levels. NCEP explains that lowering low density lipoproteins or LDL's is the single most important factor in decreasing risk for heart disease.
Cholesterol Definitions
Blood cholesterol refers to the amount of cholesterol traveling in the blood. Dietary cholesterol is a type of fat found in dietary sources such as dairy products, animal meats and egg yolks. Your body does not need any cholesterol from dietary sources since it synthesizes what it needs on its own. Therefore, you should not worry about getting enough, but rather be careful to not over consume cholesterol in the diet. The recommendation for cholesterol from the diet is less than 200 mg per day, explains the NCEP. Total blood cholesterol levels should be less than 200 mg/dL, LDL cholesterol less than 100 mg/dL, HDL cholesterol should be 60 mg/dL or greater.
Fat and Cholesterol
The National Cholesterol Education Program's Therapeutic Lifestyle Change diet has developed guidelines for reducing cholesterol levels. Its recommendations for lowering high cholesterol focus on consuming less than 7 percent of calories from saturated fat and less than 200 mg each day from cholesterol food sources. The TLC diet also recommends 10 percent of total calories to come from healthy fats like polyunsaturated fats and 20 percent of total calories to come monounsaturated fats. Examples to include on your cholesterol-lowering diet include corn, soy, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed oils, walnuts, almonds, olive oil, cold water Alaskan salmon, herring, tuna, trout and avocados.
Fiber
Fiber has shown benefit in research studies for cholesterol reduction, according to "Today's Dietitian." The recommendation is 10 to 25 g per day of soluble fiber and the remaining fiber coming from insoluble sources totaling 20 to 30 g of fiber each day. For your cholesterol-lowering diet choose high fiber foods such as oatmeal, oat bran, nuts, seeds, beans, apples, pears, blueberries, quinoa, buckwheat, brown rice, whole wheat bread and pastas, barley, bulgur, carrots and zuchinni. "Today's Dietitian" encourages label reading and to look for a minimum of 1 g of soluble fiber per serving or 3 g of total fiber per serving.
Plant Stanols and Sterols
Plant stanols and sterols are naturally occurring substances which are found in plants such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and cereals. The NCEP therapeutic lifestyle diet or TLC recommends 2 g per day of plant stanols or sterols. If a physician encourages more than 2 g, consider over the counter spreads such as, Take Control or Benecol since they include plant sterols and stanols in their ingredients. A supplement with beta-sitosterol, which is a plant sterol, at a dose of 700 mg to 1 g before each meal three times daily is recommended by the University of Wisconsin School Medicine and Publich Health.
References
- Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III) Final Report
- University of Wisconsin: School of Medicine and Public Health: Cholesterol: Overview for Clinicians
- "Today's Dietitian"; Quieting a Cholesterol Boom; Maggie Moon, MS, RD
