High blood cholesterol is a serious health condition that increases the risk of heart disease, the number one killer of Americans, in both women and men.
The higher your blood cholesterol level, the greater your risk.
To help people manage the condition, scientist from NIH have developed a “TLC Program” for reducing high blood cholesterol.
TLC stands for Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes, a three-part program that uses diet, physical activity, and weight management.
Researchers suggest that a healthy diet could help cut blood cholesterol levels, mainly the low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, which also is called the “bad” cholesterol.
This diet has a low level of saturated fat, which only contributes to less than 7% of daily calories. This can help reduce LDL by 8-10%.
The diet also has low dietary cholesterol, which is less than 200 mg/day. This can help cut LDL by about 3-5%.
On the other hand, the diet is rich in soluble fiber, which is about 5–10 grams/day. This may decrease LDL by 3-5%.
Finally, the diet is high in plant sterols/stanols, which is about 2 grams/day. This can decrease LDL by about 5-15%.
For people who are overweight or obese, losing 10 pounds may help further reduce LDL 5-8%.
Researchers say that the amount of LDL reduction from the TLC diet compares well with many of the cholesterol-lowering drugs.
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