Low Cholesterol Diet

Adopting a low cholesterol diet can be simple with just a small guidance which can be offered by this article. Blood cholesterol can be a fairly complicated issue and in most cases, people prefer using natural means to lower its levels like a low cholesterol diet. We know that heart disease risk increases when LDL levels are high, especially above 200. There are a few things that people basically agree on when it comes to ways to decrease these numbers. Some useful information is listed below.

High cholesterol causes

High cholesterol can be genetic and this should be one of the things that you should know. People’s livers process cholesterol different from other people, so it is normal for some people to be more sensitive to fast increases in cholesterol levels. Also, conditions such as hypothyroidism and diabetes can exacerbate high cholesterol levels. Diseases we are genetically predisposed to can be influenced by diet. When it comes to this subject, more and more experts agree by the day.

Cholesterol and obesity go hand in hand. To consume a healthy, low cholesterol diet is very important to individuals that have high levels of cholesterol. Individuals can reduce their cholesterol levels through the help of a low fat diet such as a vegetarian diet or a Pritikin diet.

What is a low cholesterol diet?

Well, first of all it might be useful to know what cholesterol is. Cholesterol is a fatty substance that is produced by the liver, but is also present in many foods we eat such as animal products. Your body can be led to producing more cholesterol than is necessary by eating too many foods that are high in saturated fats such as palm oil and eating too many animal based foods. In order to be healthy, everyone needs some cholesterol in his or her body. However, when those cholesterol levels become too high, it can become problematic.

Excess amounts of LDL or low-density lipoprotein ends up as plaque on artery walls. LDL carries cholesterol from the liver to the rest of the body. The risk of heart disease is increased by the formation of plaque. HDL carries the cholesterol away from the arteries. This substance is also known as high density lipoprotein or “good” cholesterol. Next to these two abbreviations, you will see numbers when you have a lipid profile done. When you have this lipid profile done, the results are good if the LDL level is lower than 200 and the HDL levels are higher than 45.

Chinese Teas May Help Lower Your Cholesterol Levels

For thousands of years the Chinese have claimed many health benefits can be gained from drinking teas. In fact, many international, Canadian and U.S. based tea drinkers agree that Chinese teas should be the beverage of choice. In fact, during a recent survey conducted by the Canadian Tea Council, over 40% of Canadians agreed that they drank tea for its “health benefits” and others stated that it “tasted great, had no calories or fat and can help you take better care of yourself.”

Only in recent years has the medical community jumped on the Chinese tea bandwagon. Now, researchers are conducting numerous studies on the viability of Chinese tea extracts in the treatment and prevention of many diseases and conditions. The most common types of Chinese teas are:

• Green tea
• Red tea
• White tea
• Black tea
• Oolong tea
• Pu-erh tea
• Flower tea
• Yellow tea
• Pressed tea
• Iron Buddha
• Kudin tea

However, of these eleven types, scientists seem most concerned with learning about green, red, white, and black tea. Here’s a little background about these teas:

Each of them come from the same plant Camellia sinensis but are merely picked at different stages of development and fermented or oxidized for different periods of time. The differences in oxidation and development allow for more or less of a certain kind of antioxidants in them often called catechins. Antioxidants have been shown to help protect the body from all kinds of damage.

Lucky for us, some of the claimed benefits look like they really exist. For instance, Chinese teas may help lower and maintain your cholesterol levels. A recent study looked at the possibility that the antioxidants in Chinese teas, specifically called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) could affect diet induced Hypercholesterolemia in rats.

Hypercholesterolemia is high levels of LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol in the blood. This in of itself isn’t a disease but it can cause heart diseases, such as Atherosclerosis or ‘hardening of the arteries.’

In the study, laboratory rats were divided into four groups. These groups were all given a diet high in cholesterol and fat along with no EGCG, 0.2 grams EGCG, 0.4 grams EGCG and 0.7 grams EGCG per group on a daily basis. The rats were given the same diet for four weeks. After this time it was found that the levels of bad cholesterol in the rats given 0.7 grams EGCG was significantly reduced compared to the levels of bad cholesterol in the control group of rats given no EGCG at all.

In addition, the rats were given a sample liquid meal high in cholesterol and it was observed that cholesterol absorption in the intestines in the group of rats given the most EGCG was significantly reduced (62.7%) compared to the control group with no EGCG (79.3%). In essence, the study demonstrated that the cholesterol in the food the EGCG rats were given wasn’t being absorbed into their bodies as readily it normally would be, thus preventing it from getting into the bloodstream.

Researchers speculated that the EGCG interfered with the solubility of the cholesterol in the digestive tract so that it couldn’t be absorbed.

Another study of laboratory rats had similar results. This study used the extracts from Green tea, Jasmine, Iron Buddha, Oolong and Pu-erh teas in examining their effects on hypercholesterolemia in rats. Jasmine tea is made from a mixture of Jasmine flowers and Oolong or black tea leaves. Oolong tea is fermented or oxidized to a level between green tea and black tea in taste.

Pu-erh is a tea made from tea leaves that are fermented and then aged for as many as 50 years. Iron Buddha tea is an Oolong tea noted for a particularly fine flavor.

This group of rats was given a high cholesterol diet for one week before receiving the different tea extracts in their respective groups along with a continued high cholesterol diet for eight weeks. All the teas were found to lower the atherogenic index and increase the total ‘good’ vs. ‘bad’ cholesterol ratio in the rats.

The green tea and the Jasmine tea extracts contained higher levels of EGCG than the other extracts and it was found that they had significantly lowered the cholesterol levels in the rats compared to the other tea extracts. The teas also worked to reduce the average increase in liver size of the rats due to lipid disposition while they were on their high cholesterol diets.

Jon M. Stout is the Chairman of the Golden Moon Tea Company. Golden Moon Tea carefully selects the finest rare and orthodox teas, which are processed slowly and handcrafted with extreme care. At their website, you can learn more about their current http://www.goldenmoontea.com/ offerings, including their exceptional green tea