Foods Fortified with Plant Sterols, Stanols Can Lower Cholesterol (press release)

Email this article to a friend

Printable Version

Articles Related to This Article: • The Honest Food Guide empowers consumers with independent information about foods and health • A Conversation With Larry Trivieri Jr, Co-Author of The Acid-Alkaline Food Guide • The Acid-Alkaline Food Guide: Interview with the Author Sign the Health Revolution Petition Join the call for genuine health freedom in America. End FDA tyranny and Big Pharma corruption. Watch the video and sign the petition here.

Plant sterols and stanols, substances that can lower cholesterol, are now being added to foods ranging from granola bars to chocolate. The catch is that you need to eat about 2 grams worth of added sterols or stanols every day to put a dent in your cholesterol, reports the Harvard Heart Letter.

When eaten, sterols and stanols gum up the body’s system for absorbing cholesterol from food. Since the liver needs cholesterol for digestion, it grabs LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream while leaving HDL cholesterol alone. Eating 2 grams per day can lower levels of LDL cholesterol by about 10%, which could translate into a 20% lower risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

If a food you eat every day is now being made with extra sterols or stanols, switching to the fortified version makes sense, says the Harvard Heart Letter. If not, adding these foods to your diet is a high-calorie way to modestly reduce cholesterol. You’ll need to eliminate the added calories somewhere else in your diet, or the resulting weight gain will counteract the cholesterol-lowering effect.

Trying to juggle a daily intake from different foods containing plant sterols and stanols could get complicated and lead to higher-than-recommended doses. Exceeding the 2-gram target doesn’t offer any extra benefit. What’s more, no one knows the long-term effects of getting too much.

The bottom line: Plant sterols and stanols can’t counteract unhealthy choices like smoking or a high-fat diet, so use them as part of a package of healthy choices.

Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • The Honest Food Guide empowers consumers with independent information about foods and health • A Conversation With Larry Trivieri Jr, Co-Author of The Acid-Alkaline Food Guide • The Acid-Alkaline Food Guide: Interview with the Author	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/020077_foods_plant_sterols_lower_cholesterol.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/020077_foods_plant_sterols_lower_cholesterol.html">Foods Fortified with Plant Sterols, Stanols Can Lower Cholesterol (press release)</a>