Scientist says common superfood can reduce cholesterol 'in just 10 days'

A health expert has shared straightforward advice for slashing cholesterol levels in just 10 days - and warned people off low-fat eating plans. And she said one particular food could be capable of cutting cholesterol by 10 per cent.

During an appearance on the Zoe podcast, Dr Sarah Berry, a professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King's College London and Chief Scientist at ZOE revealed encouraging news for those battling high cholesterol - a condition that can trigger heart complications. Dr Berry explained that individuals can achieve dramatic improvements rapidly through straightforward dietary adjustments.

She emphasised that people should examine the types of fats they consume - but stressed they must absolutely not adopt a low-fat eating plan. Crucial modifications include consuming more nuts and seeds - with nuts potentially delivering a swift 10 per cent reduction in cholesterol levels when substituting 'harmful' fats, reports Gloucestershire Live.

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Dr Berry addressed the matter of combating cholesterol through nutrition. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is a type of lipoprotein that transports cholesterol throughout the bloodstream and is occasionally referred to as "bad" cholesterol.

Speaking on the Zoe Podcast, she said previously: "You can do a lot. And the great news is that there is so much evidence for just how beneficial diet can be in lowering your cholesterol and lowering your LDL your in B levels. So what I would start with is I would start by thinking about the type of fat we're eating. And so this is where I would caution anyone to change to a low fat diet because they have high cholesterol.

"Don't do that, and I think that's radical for lots of people. I just want to say this really clearly. If you have high cholesterol, should you switch to a low fat diet? However, you need to make sure you're eating the right types of fat. This is really important. So whilst I think that people should follow a moderate-fat diet, I don't think people should go to a low fat diet. I think what's really important to say is it has to be from the right types of fat. It has to be from poly and monounsaturated fat sources, not from saturated fat sources."

She revealed that consuming seeds was an excellent method of incorporating polyunsaturated fatty acids into your meals and added: "These are the kind of fats that are found in seed oils and are found in many different plant-based products. Many different nuts and seeds, for example, actually have a huge impact on lowering our LDL cholesterol, so just by increasing your intake of polyunsaturated fatty, you can reduce your LD cholesterol.

"If you add nuts to someone's diet, you can significantly reduce cholesterol by 5 to 10% just by adding nuts into the diet. " She explained this was based on people swapping unhealthy fats for nuts.

Regarding animal fats, she warned people must cut back on red meat as this contains saturated fats which increases cholesterol levels. She added: "Saturated fat is one of the most potent factors in our diet that raises cholesterol."

On the topic of dairy, she defended certain products, particularly fermented ones like cheese and yoghurt, stating they don't raise saturated fat levels and have been unfairly demonised.

Dr Berry clarified: "But actually fermented dairy, which is the cheeses, which is the yoghurt, actually doesn't have a cholesterol-raising effect. I'm not saying that we should gorge on cheese. But it's not the primary thing that you're worrying about."

She advised cutting down on refined carbs such as white rice, bread, sugar, explaining: "The kind of carbohydrates you get in these very heavily processed types of foods that we're eating far too much of. Now. What happens is is they're delivered to the liver, and then if you're eating them in excess IE, your body doesn't need them at that immediate point in time for energy.

"They're converted then in the liver, into triglycerides which are released."

On the subject of normal carbohydrates, Dr Berry emphasised: "While we talk about carbohydrates, it's really important not to demonise all of them because we know that wholegrain carbohydrates... So if we think of whole grain bread, for example, we know that whole grains actually do have a beneficial effect in terms of our cholesterol. So whilst I'm very pro increasing the types of healthy fats in our diet, we shouldn't do it at the expense of whole grains. We must do it at the expense of these refined kind of white carbohydrates."