Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that is found in your bloodstream and in all your body's cells. Your body needs cholesterol to work properly. However, a high level of cholesterol in your blood can cause fatty deposits to build up in your arteries and block normal blood flow. If your arteries are blocked you could have a heart attack (blocked arteries to the heart) or stroke (blocked arteries to the brain).

Most of the cholesterol in your blood is made in your liver. The rest of your blood cholesterol is affected by other factors, such as the type of food that you eat. For example, the amount of cholesterol in your blood is influenced by the total amount of fat and the kind of fat in your diet.

Dietary Fibre

Dietary fibre is the part of plant foods that humans cannot digest. Fibre is found in foods such as grains, cereals, legumes, seeds, nuts, vegetables and fruit.

Fibre helps to promote and maintain good health. Eating foods that contain fibre every day is important to maintain the health of your digestive system. The most recent scientific evidence suggests that fibre can help in the treatment and prevention of certain chronic diseases, such as heart disease, certain types of cancer and type 2 diabetes.

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HDL Cholesterol

HDL cholesterol is often called "good" cholesterol because it helps carry the bad cholesterol away from your blood vessels. HDL cholesterol helps protect against heart disease and it is good to have a high level in your blood.

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Insoluble Fibre

Insoluble fibre is a type of dietary fibre. Insoluble fibre is not soluble in water and increases the bulk of the intestines' contents. Insoluble fibre has the ability to speed up the rate at which food moves along the intestines. Therefore, an increase in insoluble fibre intake is recommended to help promote regularity. Wheat bran and wheat bran cereals are excellent sources of insoluble fibre.

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LDL Cholesterol

LDL cholesterol is known as "bad" cholesterol because it can cause the build up of fat deposits in your blood vessels, which can block normal blood flow. This may cause a heart attack or stroke. You want to have a low level of LDL cholesterol in your blood.

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Saturated Fat

Saturated fats are solid at room temperature. All animal fats, such as those found in meat, poultry, lard and dairy products (like cheese, whole milk, cream, butter and ice cream) are saturated. Palm, palm kernel and coconut oils, which may be used in commercially processed products like cookies, crackers and snack foods, are also saturated fats.

Saturated fats can raise LDL or "bad" cholesterol levels to increase the risk of heart disease.

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Soluble Fibre

Soluble fibre is a type of dietary fibre. Soluble fibre is soluble in water and has the ability to absorb water like a sponge, swelling and therefore increasing the bulk of the intestines' contents. Psyllium is one of nature's highest sources of soluble fibre. Other sources include apples, pears, oats, barley, prunes and beans.

Research shows that soluble fibre plays an important role in lowering blood cholesterol levels, which can reduce the risk of heart disease.

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Trans Fat

Trans fats are formed when liquid vegetable oils are converted to more solid fats like shortening through a process called partial hydrogenation.

The main sources of trans fat in the diet are processed foods that contain shortening or partially hydrogenated fats, such as cookies, crackers, fried foods, French fries, fast foods, potato chips and other snack foods. If the ingredient list includes "hydrogenated vegetable oil" or "shortening" the food contains some trans fat. Trans fats also occur naturally in small quantities in some animal products, such as butter, milk, cheese, beef and lamb.

Trans fats raise LDL or "bad" cholesterol levels and lower HDL or "good" cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of heart disease.

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† Based on results of a meta-analysis in J Nutr.1997 Oct;127(10):1973-80. Individual results may vary. Talk to your doctor about cholesterol lowering therapy.