Jonathan: We've discussed cholesterol before on this show, but if you're like me, you find it all a bit complicated and about 10 minutes after Sarah explains it, you forget the whole thing. Can you just start again and remind us what is cholesterol? So cholesterol is made in our liver and our body's actually needed to produce things like vitamin D, bile acids, hormones and also create all the new cells in our body. And I know we discussed on a previous podcast that you can go and listen to if you're interested,. That there is also cholesterol in some of the foods we eat and we call that dietary cholesterol because it's cholesterol we get from our diet.
More than half of us have high cholesterol — and new research suggests that having even slightly raised levels in our 30s could significantly increase our chances of developing heart disease.
Medication is a common fix, but it comes with side effects. So, today we’re looking at how much changing our diets can help.
In this short (ish) episode of ZOE Science & Nutrition, Jonathan and Sarah ask: Can we lower our cholesterol by changing our diets?
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Studies referenced in the episode:
- ‘Association between Carbohydrate Intake and Serum Lipids’ from the Journal of the American Nutrition Association here
- ‘The Mediterranean Diet And Cardioprotection: Historical Overview And Current Research from the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare here
- ‘Direct comparison of dietary portfolio vs statin on C-reactive protein’ from the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition here
This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.