cholesterol lowering drinks

[barge]

can anyone tell me which of the drinks to lower colestral are the bestie benecol i know some have got sugar in but my colestral has gone up a bit

 

[hanadr]

As far as I know, it's dietary carbs which produce cholesterol
I'm not sure I believe the pseudoscience i see on the probiotic drinks ads.

 

[Spiral]

Olive oil also reduces cholesterol, as do other monounsaturated fats eg rapeseed oil, avocado and some nuts.

I find nuts and avocado with a nice dressing much more pleasant than those terribly sweet and powdery textured drinks.

 

[sugarless sue]

25gm of almonds a day is also supposed to be good for reducing cholesterol.

 

[stuartanstis]

There are also cholesterol lowering foods, check: http://www.lipisite.com/articles/low-cholesterol-cooking.html

 

[Talos]

From what I understand none of the cholesterol foods or drinks state how much must be consumed to have any effect, altho apparently proved to work, you must eat or drink masses of the stuff.

 

[noblehead]

From what I understand none of the cholesterol foods or drinks state how much must be consumed to have any effect, altho apparently proved to work, you must eat or drink masses of the stuff.

I am sure it will say on the packaging how much is safe to consume. I can't see any harm in taking one alongside a sensible diet of fresh fruit and vegetables.

barge,

My wife assures me there are sugar-free versions of these cholesterol drinks in most supermarkets, so look around for the best option.

Nigel

 

[lovinglife]

1 bottle of benacol is the daily requirement - not sure about the spread though - the drink contains a lot of plant sterol and you MUST NOT drink it if you are on statins - I use the light it has 4g carbs of which all are sugars - but you take them with your largest meal of the day so they don't do much to my BS - the ordinary one has about 5.5g carb I think

I had only been using them for a short while on and off but my cholesterol went from 5.6 to 5.1 - have been using them religiously for a good few weeks now so will see if it has lowered anymore in my July bloods

 

[Talos]

From what I understand none of the cholesterol foods or drinks state how much must be consumed to have any effect, altho apparently proved to work, you must eat or drink masses of the stuff.

I am sure it will say on the packaging how much is safe to consume. I can't see any harm in taking one alongside a sensible diet of fresh fruit and vegetables.

barge,

My wife assures me there are sugar-free versions of these cholesterol drinks in most supermarkets, so look around for the best option.

Nigel

I dont say there is any "harm" in them, but I do think the sensible diet may be more effective.
But I stress this only my opinion, to my mind they are a waste of money, but if they work for you thats great

 

[ShyGirl]

I was thinking about these products recently as I like to see proof before spending money. I came across this and it's from the NHS so worth listening to..maybe. I'm going to try some soon anyway

http://www.poole.nhs.uk/documents/leafl ... terols.pdf

 

[cugila]

I was thinking about these products recently as I like to see proof before spending money. I came across this and it's from the NHS so worth listening to..maybe. I'm going to try some soon anyway

http://www.poole.nhs.uk/documents/leafl ... terols.pdf

That was from 2006. In 2008 this was published......
http://www.foodanddrinkeurope.com/Publi ... nt-sterols

The UK National Health Service (NHS) has published guidelines advising doctors not to recommend omega-3 food supplements and plant stanol and sterol functional foods to patients who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

I wonder what they say now..... :?

Ken

 

[phoenix]

Apparently people vary in their response to them, meta-analyses have found that '2g per day of stanols and sterols reduce LDL cholesterol by about 10%, or 0.3 to 0.5 mmol/L.' but there are some caveats including the quality of the research .
This patient plus NHS leaflet gives more detail (complements the one linked by Shygirl)
2g per day of stanols and sterols reduce LDL cholesterol by about 10%, or 0.3 to 0.5 mmol/L.

edit in the light of Kens post.
I get the feeling that the writer of the NHS review is more favourable towards the idea that they may show benefits than the NICE advice which is quoted at the bottom of the leaflet.

NICE recommend that patients should not routinely be advised to take plant sterols and stanols for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. This is based on the grounds that there are as yet no randomised controlled trials examining the effect of these substances on primary and secondary prevention with respect to cardiovascular outcomes. This recommendation may be subject to revision once the necessary data becomes available.

 

[bonerp]

my cholesterol reduced from 5.7 to 4.3 using these drinks for a few months. I was given a box of statins but if I can reduce it a more natural way then its all good to me.

I will see what this years levels are at in a couple of weeks.....

 

[candyfloss]

spreads such as Benecol reduced my cholesterol to normal levels and meant I could do without statins. I am not sure if the drinks would work out cheaper and have the same effect but I intend to do my own research.

 

[noblehead]

my cholesterol reduced from 5.7 to 4.3 using these drinks for a few months. I was given a box of statins but if I can reduce it a more natural way then its all good to me.

I will see what this years levels are at in a couple of weeks.....

That's a good reduction bonerp, was this solely down to the cholesterol drinks or did you change/adjust your diet also?(i.e cut back on saturated fat)

Nigel

 

[cugila]

I wondered that too Nigel. I tried all these spreads/drinks etc. Result ! Not on your life, had to change diet AND go on Meds to get the numbers down to acceptable levels. For me, they were a total waste of time.........

 

[lovinglife]

whilst I am not saying the drinks work - they do seemed to have worked for me - after all the things diet and exercise etc I could do my cholesterol was still at 5.7 - I didn't change my diet - there was nothing left to change :lol: - but I persuaded my nurse to give me 3 more months to get it down before I agreed to statins - now about 8 months later my cholesterol is at 4.2 - now whether its the drinks or not I really can't say - I am still a bit of a sceptic even now - but to be honest I can't put it down to anything else?

 

[bonerp]

I have not really changed anything else tbh. Maybe eat lower carb bread occassionally (don't eat bread much at home anyway). Have only recently started eating sweet spuds instead of normal ones for baked potatoes so it nothing to do with that. My diet otherwise remains the same as always. Bit of fruit, veg, plenty of coffee, some fibre ...

I have found that it worked for me and will continue to use these instead of popping pills to do the same job. Was never happy taking statins. Had a bit of aching from them so stopped soon after starting them.

 

[bonerp]

btw I used tescos own brand which is a fair bit cheaper than benecol. However now that I have moved and rip off Sainsburys is my local swindlermarket, I am now using benecol as Sainsburys don't do their own.

 

[catherinecherub]

My cholesterol levels were high at the beginning. Statins were crippling me and so they were stopped and I started using Benecol and eating almonds/walnuts and still have porridge and also eat quite a few beans. These are all meant to lower cholesterol and have worked for me.
I think it is worth considering if you cannot tolerate statins.