Just like fried foods, many processed meats are typically high in saturated fats, and Vickers particularly suggests keeping bacon to a minimum. “You should limit how much you eat,” he says. “Only eat it occasionally, in small quantities and grilled not fried. But if you already have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or you’re at risk of cardiovascular disease, you should consider avoiding eating it completely.”
And what to consume with caution…
Who doesn’t enjoy a morning croissant? The problem though, according to Jess Willow, a registered dietitian at Willow Nutrition, is that such delicacies tend to be high in trans fats. Artificial trans fats are thought to be even worse than saturated fat for raising cholesterol levels with research showing that they increase the risk of heart disease.
“We typically find trans fats in pastries and baked goods, so limiting things like croissants and other pastry type foods, cakes and biscuits is a good idea,” she says.
Other saturated-fat rich foods that can have a potent effect on cholesterol, include red meats and butter. Hence experts suggest eating these in moderation.
The high cholesterol foods that are actually good for you
There are many foods which are naturally high in cholesterol, but rather than shying away from them, they’re actually good for us. This might sound counterintuitive, and as the dietitian Duane Mellor explains, it once led to some dubious nutrition advice.
However, we now know that it isn’t the cholesterol within food that causes us problems, but the excess fructose, saturated and artificial fats that our body then uses to make LDL cholesterol which ends up in our blood vessels.
“Eggs containing cholesterol previously led to them being discouraged for people with a higher risk of heart disease,” says Mellor. “But they are a great source of protein and not that high in saturated fats, so the cholesterol is not a problem.
Shellfish, unless dipped in batter and fried, are generally low in fat, and the cholesterol they contain is chemically different and has very little effect on our own cholesterol levels.”
Research has since found that while foods like full-fat yoghurt and milk contain their own cholesterol, they might actually reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases because they contain different fats called odd chain fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid which are thought to be protective. “Many studies suggest that people who eat more unflavoured yoghurts have a reduced risk of these diseases,” says Mellor.
How to improve your cholesterol levels with diet?
Stephenson describes overall diet quality and particularly fibre intake as crucial to reducing and maintaining healthy cholesterol levels.
“An overall dietary pattern that is lacking in fibre, with regular or heavy alcohol consumption, red and processed meats, and higher in added sugar, will likely be troublesome if cholesterol is a concern,” she says.
Mellor recommends trying to include aspects of the so-called Portfolio Diet, which was developed at the University of Toronto as a way of improving cholesterol levels. The four main recommendations of the Portfolio Diet are:
- Include soy: The plant chemicals known as phytoestrogens within soy can help reduce cholesterol levels. Sources of soy include tofu, tempeh or soy milk.
- Eat nuts and seeds daily: Mellor suggests adding them to salads, cereals, yoghurt or consuming them as snacks.
- Eat more fibre: Generally increasing the amount of fibre in your diet through a variety of vegetables and fruits as well as the sticky fibre found in oats, lentils, beans, okra and aubergine is good.
- Eat plant sterols and stanols: These are natural compounds that have a similar chemical structure to cholesterol and are found within nuts, beans and peas as well as some supplements and fortified foods. They reduce the absorption of cholesterol in the gut so ensuring that more is excreted in your poo, rather than being absorbed back into the bloodstream.