High Cholesterol? Bring it Down Now!
2022-03-28 
2022-03-28 Article by: Hari Yellina
Heart disease is a critical illness that causes disability and death all around the world. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the largest cause of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). CVDs claimed the lives of 17.9 million individuals worldwide in 2019, accounting for 32% of all deaths. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) became the world’s biggest cause of death around the turn of the century. In 2016, CVD prevalence was projected to be 54.5 million people. CVDs, including ischemic heart disease and stroke, now account for one out of every four deaths.
Cholesterol-induced blockages in blood vessels, which obstruct the heart’s normal function, are the leading cause of heart disease. Our bodies manufacture cholesterol, which is a waxy (sticky) and light material. Our bodies require some cholesterol, but not excessive amounts. Joy Bauer, a well-known US dietitian, talked about foods that can assist your heart, highlighting items like apples, lentils, and avocados that can help lower your cholesterol. “When we eat junk food diets high in saturated fats, trans fats, and sugar, our livers are stimulated to manufacture way too much cholesterol,” Joy Bauer explains. This cholesterol then travels throughout the body, collecting various inflammatory compounds before depositing them on the inner walls of our arteries as plaque.
Changing your diet can help you decrease your cholesterol and facilitate the flow of lipids in your bloodstream. You don’t have to worry about artery-clogging atherosclerosis if you consume a low-cholesterol diet. Cholesterol is reduced in a variety of ways by various meals. Some contain soluble fibre, which binds cholesterol and its precursors in the digestive tract and pulls them out of the body before they reach the bloodstream. Some provide polyunsaturated fats, which help to decrease LDL cholesterol. According to Harvard specialists, some contain plant sterols and stanols, which prevent the body from absorbing cholesterol.
According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, eating two whole apples per day can help lower blood cholesterol and prevent heart attacks and strokes. Participants in the study who ate two fresh apples per day had lower blood cholesterol than those who drank apple juice. Clearly, the fibre in whole apples that is retained when the fruit is not juiced is the essential aspect here, and it appears to play a potential role in heart health promotion. The pectin buried in the apple peel is a carbohydrate called pectin. When the unabsorbed substances are pushed out of the body, pectin clings to the LDL cholesterol and tugs it out. Pectin is found in apples, oranges, carrots, peaches, grapes, strawberries, and citrus fruits, and it decreases LDL cholesterol.
Beans are particularly high in soluble fibre, whether they are farm-fresh green or sun-dried. They also take longer for the body to digest, so you’ll feel fuller for longer after eating them. Beans are a good food for those of us who are attempting to reduce weight because of this. When it comes to the numerous types of beans available, you are truly spoiled for choice: navy beans, kidney beans, lentils, garbanzos, and black-eyed peas are just a few of the options, and you can cook them in any way that suits your taste buds.
The nightshade family Solanaceae includes eggplant, aubergine, and brinjal. The effect of eggplant on endothelium-dependent relaxation and plasma lipids in hypercholesterolemic rabbits was studied at the Faculdades de Ciências Médicas, UNICAMP, Campinas, Portugal. 13 male rabbits were divided into three groups (n = 10): control (C), hypercholesterolemic (H), and eggplant (E). For four weeks, the H and E rabbits were fed a diet enriched with cholesterol (0.5%) and coconut oil (10%). The E group rabbits had significantly reduced weight, plasma cholesterol, LDL, triglyceride, and aortic cholesterol content after 4 weeks than the H group (p 0.05).