Introduction
Oatmeal is a nutritious and delicious breakfast option that can help you maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Eating oatmeal can help reduce your LDL (bad) cholesterol and increase your HDL (good) cholesterol. Oatmeal is high in soluble fiber, which helps to reduce cholesterol levels by binding to cholesterol in the digestive tract and preventing it from being absorbed into the bloodstream. Additionally, oatmeal is a good source of plant sterols, which can also help reduce cholesterol levels. Eating oatmeal regularly can help you maintain healthy cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of heart disease.
What Happens to Your Cholesterol When You Eat Oatmeal — Eat This Not That
Oatmeal is a nutritious breakfast food that can help lower cholesterol levels. It is high in soluble fiber, which helps reduce the absorption of cholesterol in the bloodstream. Oatmeal also contains plant sterols, which are compounds that block the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines. Eating oatmeal regularly can help reduce total cholesterol levels and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.
How Oatmeal Lowers Cholesterol
Oatmeal is a great source of soluble fiber, which helps reduce cholesterol levels. Soluble fiber binds to cholesterol in the intestines and prevents it from being absorbed into the bloodstream. This helps reduce total cholesterol levels and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. Oatmeal also contains plant sterols, which are compounds that block the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines. Eating oatmeal regularly can help reduce total cholesterol levels and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.
Other Benefits of Eating Oatmeal
In addition to helping lower cholesterol levels, oatmeal has many other health benefits. It is a good source of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. It is also high in fiber, which helps keep you feeling full longer and can help with weight management. Oatmeal is also a good source of complex carbohydrates, which provide energy and help regulate blood sugar levels.
Conclusion
Eating oatmeal is a great way to help lower cholesterol levels. It is high in soluble fiber and plant sterols, which help reduce the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines. Oatmeal also has many other health benefits, including providing vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. Eating oatmeal regularly can help reduce total cholesterol levels and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.
Oatmeal is notoriously touted as a natural way to reduce your cholesterol. This is true! However, it’s a little more complex when you consider all the changes that happen to different types of cholesterol in your body.
When you get your cholesterol lab work drawn, you will receive four different numbers: LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides.
These numbers all tell a different story. LDL is often dubbed “bad” cholesterol because it can be elevated in individuals with heart disease. Conversely, HDL is “good cholesterol” because it helps “clean up” the cholesterol in the body. Total cholesterol is a combined number of all types of cholesterol in the body. Lastly, triglycerides are a type of fat found in the body that is often grouped into the cholesterol lab work results.
We’ve got you covered with a complete breakdown of how oatmeal impacts different cholesterol levels. Then, for more oatmeal tips, check out these 5 Best Oatmeal Habits to Lower Cholesterol.
High cholesterol actually begins in your gut. When we consume a diet rich in whole grains, like oats, a certain amount of cholesterol is bound during digestion.
Thus, this process lowers cholesterol because it gets excreted instead of absorbed. Oats contain a significant source of soluble fiber that helps excrete cholesterol via digestion.
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Soluble fiber acts as a “binder” to prevent “bad” cholesterol from being absorbed and circulated.
Choosing high soluble fiber foods like oats, oatmeal, and oat-containing products changes how much cholesterol becomes absorbed by the body.
Total cholesterol numbers include all types of cholesterol in the body—both good and bad!
Because LDL cholesterol in part makes up the total levels of cholesterol in the blood, total cholesterol also decreases with lower LDL values.
High soluble-fiber foods significantly impact LDL cholesterol, but have virtually no direct impact on HDL cholesterol.
However, the ratio of good to bad cholesterol changes with a heart-healthy diet, and that plays a role in your total cholesterol and your HDL, LDL ratio.
The higher the ratio, the higher your risk of heart disease. Most professionals consider a ratio of less than 5:1 to be considered healthy.
Triglycerides, while not exactly cholesterol, are related as they are the most prevalent source of fat in our body.
Triglycerides are often elevated due to excess sugar in the diet, simple carbohydrates, and saturated fats. Thus, choosing carbohydrate sources that are high in fiber can keep triglyceride levels from rising.
Choose foods like oats, beans, flax, whole-grain bread, and berries for high soluble fiber options in your diet to positively impact your cholesterol panel—including triglycerides!
READ MORE: 5 Best Oatmeal Habits to Lower Cholesterol, Say Dietitians
Caroline Thomason, RDN