Dieseases Cause From Bad Nutrienal Diets

A Good Diet Helps Lower Bad Cholesterol

With one in four adults over the age of 45 in the United States needing to take cholesterol-lowering drugs, also known as statin medications, it’s apparent that bad cholesterol (also referred to as low-density lipoprotein or LDL cholesterol) is almost an epidemic. 

Those with cholesterol of over 160mg/dL are considered to have High Cholesterol . 

Dr David Jenkins from the University of Toronto says, “There’s no question that statins have made a major difference in term of cardiovascular disease control… [but] we can only get so far with statins.”

Jenkins and his team of researchers wanted to see if something else could lower bad cholesterol, such as changing one’s diet. 

To perform the study, 351 Canadian participants who had high cholesterol were randomly split into three different groups.  One of the groups received nutrition counseling which helped promote a low-saturated fat diet for 6 months.

The other two participating groups received help from dieticians.  The dieticians would help the participants include more cholesterol-lowering foods into their diet, such as nuts, peas, soy milk, tofu, and beans, into their diet.  Some of the participants met up with the dietician twice throughout the study, and some up to seven times.  Each of the diets in provided were vegetarian.

Participants who were in the cholesterol-lowering group had been encouraged to include approximately one gram of plant sterols in an enriched margarine for every 1000 calories of food they consumed.  They were also asked to add 10g of fiber to their diets (in the form of barley, oats and psyllium), 22.5g of soy protein and 22.5 grams of nuts per every 1000 calories.

Six months later, those who participated in the low-saturated fat group saw an average drop in bad cholesterol by 8mg per dL, or deciliter.  That was then compared to the 24mg/dL and 26mg/dL decreases in those participants who had the cholesterol-lowering diets.

Apples and the Healthy Heart | Healthy Heart Diet

In the United States, heart disease is considered to be the leading cause of death, killing one person every 37 seconds, and it continues to kill more and more people all over the world. This could be frightening, but the good news is, heart disease can be prevented through diet and exercise. Maintaining a healthy weight and quitting bad habits such as smoking can also help avoid cardiovascular diseases.  Apples are one of the fresh fruits that provide many benefits to the body, particularly to the heart. Adding apples to your daily food intake may indeed help keep the doctor away. Apples may be low in calories but it is a good source of vitamin C. At the same time, apples are also rich in vitamin K, dietary fiber, flavonoids, and phytochemicals.  Researchers have revealed that an increased intake of apples has been associated with lessening the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The powerful phytochemicals found in apples help in reducing the risk of many diseases, including heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure. Moreover, apples contain antioxidants that delay oxidation, thereby preventing free radical damage to the body.  Furthermore, eating apples reduce the probability of metabolic syndrome by 26%. Metabolic syndrome is a group of health conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), researchers found that adults who consumed apples, apple juice, applesauce, and other apple products had 30% to 36% less probability of high blood pressure.  Apples contain pectin, a natural fiber that acts as an anti-oxidant against low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, commonly known as bad cholesterol in the blood stream, thereby decreasing bad cholesterol.  Studies show that munching two apples each day results in lowering a person’s cholesterol level by almost 16%.

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