High Cholesterol and Plant Based Diet
Updated: Jun 29, 2021
About 50% of Malaysian adults have high cholesterol.
- Ministry of Health, Malaysia
High cholesterol is one of the main risk factors for heart disease, a leading cause of death among Malaysians.
“After 4 weeks, the participants eating the plant-based diet, reduced their LDL (bad) cholesterol significantly more than the participants consuming a standard low-fat diet.”
From Effects of a Plant-Based Diet on Plasma Lipids, Stanford School of Medicine, USA
“Plant-based diets are associated with decreased total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.”
From Association between Plant-Based Diets and Plasma Lipids, Nutrition Review, 2017
Know the facts
Cholesterol is a wax-like substance produced by the liver. Our bodies produce sufficient cholesterol to meet our needs, so we don’t need to consume extra cholesterol through our diets.
The ideal blood cholesterol level is below 5.2mmol/L. At that level, heart disease is considered unlikely.
Unfortunately, nearly half of Malaysian adults have cholesterol levels that are greater than 5.2mmol/L.
People can reduce their cholesterol levels dramatically by following plant-based diets - drastically reducing saturated fats, trans fats.
Plants are very low in saturated fat and free of cholesterol. They are also rich in soluble fiber, which helps lower cholesterol.