Cholesterol and other lipids, including triglycerides, can clog your arteries. The buildup forms plaque, hardening your arteries and leading to a condition called atherosclerosis. This puts you at added risk for suffering heart attacks and strokes. It makes sense to take steps to clean out your arteries and protect yourself against cardiovascular disease. But taking lecithin supplements probably won't help. Lecithin may cause severe, life-threatening allergic reactions, so talk to your doctor before trying it in supplement form.
Lecithin and Heart Health
Your liver creates lecithin, crucial to your body's cell function, every day. Your body probably makes all you need, but you can also obtain lecithin from foods such as soy, peanuts, organ meats and eggs. Lecithin supplements provide extra lecithin, but little evidence supports the theory that extra lecithin helps clean out your arteries or protect you against cardiovascular disease, according to Donal O'Mathuna, a bioethicist and herbal researcher who examined lecithin studies for The Irish Times. The American Heart Association, the University of Maryland Medical Center and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, among reliable sources for health information, do not include lecithin among possible remedies for cleaning out your arteries.
Limited Research
Two foods that contain lecithin -- soy and peanuts -- contain healthy oils that show some success in lowering cholesterol, according to the National Center For Complementary and Alternative Medicine and MayoClinic.com. But organ meats and eggs both contain high amounts of cholesterol -- a single serving contains more dietary cholesterol than you should consume in a day. So eating foods high in lecithin might help or harm your efforts to clean your arteries. Lecithin supplements -- extracted from soy and eggs -- show little ability to remove plaque from your arteries, according to O'Mathuna's research. Lecithin is an antioxidant, likely to benefit your overall health, but the few lecithin studies involving humans did not consistently show a correlation between increased lecithin intake and decreased cholesterol levels, O'Mathuna said in his March 2009 article.
Traditional Treatment
If you want to clear cholesterol from your arteries, other methods get stronger scientific support than taking lecithin supplements. Simple measures include losing excess weight, exercising regularly and following a low-fat, low-sugar diet. You can reduce triglycerides by 50 percent if you limit saturated fat, trans fat and sugar in your diet and exercise moderately at least 150 minutes a week, according to a scientific statement released in April 2011 by the American Heart Association. Diet and exercise also help lower LDL cholesterol, but it proves more resistant than triglycerides. If changes in your diet and lifestyle do not help lower your LDL cholesterol, your doctor may prescribe medication.
Risks
If you decide to try lecithin supplements, understand the potential risks. If you're allergic to soy or eggs, read product labels to see if the supplement contains these ingredients. Contact your doctor immediately if you experience itching, hives, difficulty breathing and swelling of your face, lips, throat and hands. Talk to your doctor before taking lecithin supplements for any reason. When making an inquiry, let your doctor know whether you are taking other herbal remedies or vitamins or if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
References
- "The Irish Times"; Forget About Taking Lecithin For Your Memory; Donal O'Mathuna; Mar. 17, 2009
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Lecithin
- American Heart Association;Atherosclerosis and Stroke; April 21, 1011
- National Center For Complementary and Alternative Medicine; Soy; June 2010
- MayoClinic.com; Cholesterol: Top Five Foods to Lower Your Numbers; May 7. 2010
- University of California San Francisco Medical Center; Cholesterol Content of Foods; Feb. 2, 2011
