What you eat is the most important thing you can do to help keep your cholesterol levels in the healthy range. While your diet is the chief component in this effort, it's also true that some dietary supplements can play a role in your circulatory health. Metamucil, a popular supplement intended to improve digestive regularity, may be one such supplement.
Metamucil Basics
Metamucil is a brand-name product with psyllium fiber as its active ingredient. It's intended to cure constipation by absorbing liquid in the intestines and forming bulky, easily passed stool. Generic brands of the product are available, also with psyllium fiber as the active ingredient. Psyllium fiber is one kind of dietary fiber, which is how Metamucil interacts with your blood cholesterol.
LDL Cholesterol
There are several kinds of cholesterol. Low density lipoprotein is the bad cholesterol people have known about for decades. Although vital to some body functions, LDL also clumps in your bloodstream. This makes your heart work harder, and increases your risk for circulatory problems. MayoClinic.com reports that dietary fiber like that found in Metamucil helps your body's natural cleansing systems remove LDL from your blood more efficiently.
Triglycerides
Triglycerides, although not technically a cholesterol, affect your bloodstream in the same way as LDL and are counted when the lab measures your cholesterol levels. High-fiber foods can slow your body's absorption of sugar -- the substance that stimulates your body to produce triglyceride. Since your total cholesterol count includes both LDL and triglycerides, this feature of Metamucil can have a noticeable impact on your cholesterol levels.
Related Benefits
Dietary fiber in your diet also reduces inflammation in your blood vessels and can reduce high blood pressure, reports MayoClinic.com. This means that Metamucil and similar dietary supplements not only address your cholesterol levels, but can also alleviate some of the most common symptoms caused by high cholesterol.
