Supplements Could Be One Part Of Your Cholesterol Management Plan
Isabel Casimiro, MD, PhD, is an endocrinologist at the University of Chicago in Illinois. As a physician-scientist in molecular biology, she uses her research on diabetes, lipid disorders, cardiovascular function, and more to provide comprehensive care to her patients. Her research findings have been published in several scientific and medical journals, including Cell Metabolism and the Journal of the Endocrine Society. Dr. Casimiro also has extensive experience providing gender-affirming hormone therapy and improving education regarding transgender medicine for endocrinology fellows. Her work with transgender patients has been published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society and Transgender Health. Dr. Casimiro also serves on graduate and medical school program committees and is a clinical instructor at the University of Chicago. Dr. Casimiro received her PhD in biomedical research from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and her medical degree from the University of Washington. She completed her internal medicine residency and endocrinology fellowship through the Physician Scientist Development Program at the University of Chicago. She is board-certified in internal medicine.
If your cholesterol is too high, your healthcare provider may recommend medication or lifestyle changes to lower your cholesterol levels.² But you may also be interested in cholesterol-lowering supplements that can help you reach your cholesterol goal.
Supplements To Raise Hdl And Lower Triglycerides
If your triglycerides are high, there are many steps you can take to normalize your levels. Many people are on the wrong diet and experience improvements once they make some basic changes. Read on to learn how you can change your diet, lifestyle, and supplements regime to lower your triglycerides naturally.
Address Underlying Health Issues!Remember, although triglycerides can be high due to bad lifestyle and dietary choices, they can also be high due to an underlying health condition. The most important thing is to work with your doctor to find out whats causing your high triglyceride levels and to treat any underlying conditions!
For example, triglycerides can be high due to liver disease, infections, underactive thyroid , autoimmune disease, or some genetic disorders just to name a few .
In these cases, simply changing your diet or lifestyle wont help address the underlying issue and may actually be harmful!
In addition, high triglyceride levels can be dangerous for your body. If necessary, your doctor will prescribe triglyceride-lowering medication.
Thats why, if your triglycerides are elevated, you should discuss the lifestyle and dietary changes listed below with your doctor. None of these strategies should ever be done in place of what your doctor recommends or prescribes!
If you are overweight, losing weight is a great way to improve your triglyceride levels .
Plus, a single brisk walking session decreased blood triglycerides by 30% in 11 healthy women .
What To Look For In A Supplement
Dietary supplements arent regulated in the U.S., so its impossible to know just what youre getting when you pluck a bottle off the shelfunless it has USP Dietary Supplement Verification, which means the product has been tested to verify it contains what the label says it does. Just look for the USP seal on the label.
Choose an over-the-counter omega-3 supplement thats purified and contains EPA and DHA, says Robert Greenfield, M.D., a cardiologist at Memorial Care Heart and Vascular Institute at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA.
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The Importance Of Screening
There are no early warning signs for high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Theyâre pretty sneaky when it comes to doing damage. The only way to find out your numbers is to get screened with a painless blood pressure measurement and a simple blood test.
Because these conditions are starting at earlier ages than in the past, the American Heart Association recommends everyone 20 years or older get screened and work with their doctor to rein in high numbers.
Need another reason? High blood pressure and cholesterol levels in young adults may increase heart disease risk later in life, even if those levels are brought under control later on.
Research shows that high LDL in early adulthood is linked with a 64% increase in heart disease risk later on, compared to a healthy LDL level. High systolic and diastolic blood pressure are linked with 37% and 21% increased risks, respectively, for heart failure.
Screening not only saves lives, but also helps you avoid the costs and emotional toll of medical care to treat advanced conditions.
Show Sources
American Heart Association: â2021 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update Fact Sheet At-a-Glance,â âHealth Threats from High Blood Pressure,â âHow Can High Blood Pressure Cause a Heart Attack?â âCombining drugs that lower blood pressure and cholesterol could do more to prevent stroke,â âPrevention and Treatment of High Cholesterol,â âIs drinking alcohol part of a healthy lifestyle?â
Is There Such A Thing As Good Cholesterol
While too much LDL cholesterol is bad news for your body, HDL cholesterol is considered to be a good thing.
The bloodstreams prefect, HDL, keeps your cholesterol levels in check by guiding troublemaking LDL back to the liver, to be removed from your system, after it has completed its job.
This keeps LDL cholesterol from lurking around in your arteries causing damage.
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What Foods Can Help Lower Triglycerides
Now that you know which foods to avoid, what foods can you add into your diet that can help support healthy triglyceride levels? Foods to emphasize are high fiber vegetables with lower sugar content, such as cruciferous vegetables, Archibald says. Including legumes, canned or cooked from their dried versions, will add both fiber and satiety to the plate.
Adding healthy omega-3 fats can be helpful as well. Among fats, seek out foods rich in omega-3 fats, which not only act as natural anti-inflammatories in the body but can also prevent the production of triglycerides and cholesterol in the liver, says Archibald.
Here are 20 foods that can lower triglycerides.
Cut Back On Sugar And Refined Carbs
Different carbohydrate-loaded foods also contain very different nutritional levels.
Dr. Nissen recommends scaling back or eliminating:
Dr. Nissen advises that increasing your fiber intake may lower triglyceride levels. If you have high triglyceride levels, theres a good chance you dont ingest close to the recommended 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day, he says.
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What Is The Conventional Treatment Of High Cholesterol
Treatment of high cholesterol usually begins with lifestyle changes geared toward bringing levels down. These include losing weight if youre overweight, and changing your diet to emphasize vegetables and fruits, fish, particularly cold water fish such as wild Alaskan salmon, mackerel, herring and black cod that provide heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids. If lifestyle changes dont help or if youre unable to make the changes your doctor recommends, cholesterol-lowering drugs may be prescribed. These include statins, which effectively lower LDL cholesterol bile acid sequestrants that may be prescribed along with statins to lower LDL nicotinic acid to lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and raise HDL drugs called fibrates that may be prescribed to lower cholesterol and may raise HDL and a drug called Ezetimibe to lower LDL by blocking the absorption of cholesterol in the intestine.
Ingredients & Potential Interactions
It is essential to carefully read the ingredient list and nutrition facts panel of a supplement to know which ingredients and how much of each ingredient is included relative to the recommended daily value of that ingredient. Please bring the supplement label to a healthcare provider to review the different ingredients contained in the supplement and any potential interactions between these ingredients and other supplements and medications you are taking.
Fish oil supplements typically contain EPA, DHA, and may also contain other fats such as omega-7 , oleic acid, or an omega-6 fat called GLA. Some fish oil supplements contain added vitamins, such as vitamin E, to help stabilize the oils to prevent them from going rancid.
Fish oil supplements can have a blood-thinning effect and may lower blood pressure slightly. If you are taking blood-thinning or blood pressure lowering medication, be sure to discuss fish oil supplement use with a healthcare provider.
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What Are Triglycerides And Why Are They Important
Triglycerides are a type of blood lipid and theyre made up of free fatty acids. Theyre stored in your body fat, but youll also find them in your blood, says nutritionist Jessica Ash, CNC, HHC, FDN-P and founder of Jessica Ash Wellness. And because your liver makes them, theyre also found in your liver and then your tissues. Our body gets triglycerides either from the food that you eat or from the body it manufactures triglycerides in the liver.
Its important to know that triglycerides, like cholesterol, are normally protective . But triglycerides are used for energy, whereas cholesterol is used for steroid hormone production, Ash explains. And our muscles are specifically what like to uptake fatty acids or triglycerides. So theyre fatty acids that the body usually uses for energy.
Your body needs energy from food to function. But excess energy, especially from sources like simple carbohydrates, can be stored as triglycerides, which can create issues if your triglyceride levels are elevated above the normal range. According to the Mayo Clinic, if your triglycerides are over 150 mg/dL, then youre at a greater risk for developing heart disease.
Get Your Fill Of Fiber
Ideally, you should be getting 25 to 35 grams of fiber a day, says Dr. Cho. Fiber binds to cholesterol and eliminates it from your body. To increase your fiber intake, eat more whole grains, legumes like beans and lentils, vegetables and fruits. You should be getting a good mix of both soluble fibers, which are more beneficial for cholesterol, and insoluble fibers, which are better for your gut health. Getting enough fiber also reduces your risk of diseases, prevents constipation and keeps you feeling full for longer.
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Enhance Your Daily Diet With Soy
- Soy products are rich in isoflavone compounds that are known for their incredible health benefits for the heart. The isoflavone compounds are especially useful for decreasing the level of bad cholesterol in the blood.
- In comparison with animal proteins, soy protein can decrease the level of triglycerides in the blood by about 12.4% more than regular animal proteins. The consumption of soy products like soy milk, edamame, tofu, soybeans can effectively decrease the triglycerides level by about 7.3%.
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Lower Cholesterol Naturally With Vitamin B5
Pantethine, the activated form of vitamin B5 or pantothenic acid, has been shown by a Princeton clinical research team to lower both total cholesterol levels and LDL cholesterol. Pantethine has the advantage of being an effective treatment for high cholesterol while avoiding the undesirable side effects of synthetic lipid-lowering drugs .
Pantethine can lower the incidence of heart attack and stroke by reducing platelet stickiness and clumping. Furthermore, it offers protection against the damaging effects of environmental pathogens such as cigarette smoke.
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Limit Your Alcohol Intake
Alcohol can increase your levels of triglycerides. Along with LDL cholesterol, high levels of triglycerides raise your risk of heart disease.
Excess alcohol consumption also increases blood pressure and can lead to obesity both additional risk factors for heart disease.
To reduce the risk of heart disease and other risks from alcohol, limit your intake to no more than 10 standard drinks per week and no more than 4 drinks per day.
Some of the more common side effects of niacin can include:
- reddening and warming of your face
- dark-colored urine
- yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes
Disclaimer: Our goal is to provide you with the most relevant and current information. However, because drugs affect each person differently, we cannot guarantee that this information includes all possible side effects. This information is not a substitute for medical advice. Always discuss possible side effects with a healthcare provider who knows your medical history.
Possible New Treatment For High Triglycerides
In the report in The New England Journal of Medicine, an international team of researchers describe a new therapy for high triglycerides. It involves a weekly injection of antisense oligonucleotides , pieces of DNA that short-circuit the livers production of triglycerides. The new report shows that ASOs can reduce triglyceride levels by as much as 70%.
Keep in mind that this was a phase 2 trial, which is designed to test whether a drug does what it is supposed to do . Larger, longer-term studies will be needed to see whether ASOs actually reduce the risk of heart disease, and what sorts of side effects they cause.
Many experimental medications that sparkle in early testing never become FDA-approved drugs. We wont know for several years whether ASOs will become available for individuals with high triglycerides.
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Magnesium Consumption And Heart Palpitations
Adults typically need to consume between 310 and 420 milligrams of magnesium each day. This nutrient can be found in a variety of fiber-rich, plant-based products. These include foods like legumes, beans, nuts and seeds. You can obtain large amounts of magnesium from foods like seaweed, hemp seeds, flax seeds, Brazil nuts and peanut products.
According to the National Institutes of Health, insufficient amounts of magnesium can result in cardiac problems like abnormal heart rhythms and coronary spasms. Magnesium deficiency also has the potential to cause hypokalemia or hypocalcemia .
Like potassium, large amounts of magnesium can also produce cardiac side effects. Excessive magnesium in your body can result in gastrointestinal issues, low blood pressure, palpitations and even heart attacks. Magnesium toxicity is rare, but when it occurs, it can result in death. Youre more likely to experience magnesium toxicity if youve taken magnesium-containing laxatives or antacids.
Healthy Options For Lowering Cholesterol
In their enthusiasm to reduce premature deaths from heart attack and strokes the authors of the new cholesterol guidelines are recommending that millions of Americans be put on statin drugs while ignoring warning signs of potentially serious side effects from the long-term use of these compounds. Would informed health consumers willingly choose to lower their risk of CVD if it meant substantially increasing their chances for developing cancer or ALS after a decade or two?
In a recent op-ed piece in the Washington Post, Dean Ornish, clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and president of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute, pointed out that As tens of millions of people begin taking these medications for decades, more long-term side effects are likely to become apparent. Ornish also questioned why the panel failed to recommend other options, such as diet and lifestyle changes that, for most people, can be a safe and effective alternative to a lifetime of cholesterol-lowering drugs?
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Niacin May Interact With Other Medications
Niacin oral tablet can interact with other medications, vitamins, or herbs you may be taking. An interaction is when a substance changes the way a drug works. This can be harmful or prevent the drug from working well.
To help avoid interactions, your doctor should manage all of your medications carefully. Be sure to tell your doctor about all medications, vitamins, or herbs youre taking. To find out how this drug might interact with something else youre taking, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.
Examples of drugs that can cause interactions with niacin are listed below.
Supplements For Lower Cholesterol
Researchers are still working to confirm the usefulness of supplements in treating high cholesterol. For this reason, it remains unclear who can benefit most from them.
In general, theyre considered safer for younger people with no history or risk factors for heart disease. Always talk to your healthcare provider before starting any supplement regimen.
| Common Supplements to Lower Cholesterol | ||
|---|---|---|
| Supplement | ||
| May reduce bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol | Bloating or gas, belching, upset stomach, or diarrhea | 250 to 2,700 mg per day |
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Vitamin And Phytonutrient Supplements
You may have heard that antioxidant vitamins counteract the oxidative damage to cells caused by oxygen-containing free-radical molecules that increase your risk for a host of chronic illnesses, from obesity to cardiovascular disease. Part of how they work against heart disease is by helping to lower cholesterol, says Trista Best, MS, RD, a registered dietitian at Balance One Supplements. Antioxidants are plant compounds that stimulate the immune system and are also responsible for reducing inflammation by preventing clumping of blood platelets, says Best. If this damage persists, cholesterol rises, and the sticky substance can adhere to the walls of the arteries. Best recommends people with high cholesterol try supplementing with antioxidant-specific supplements, such as NOWs Super Antioxidants.
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How To Lower Triglycerides With Supplements
Adopting a healthy lifestyle takes time, and will not result in instant changes in the triglyceride blood level. If you need to lower triglyceride quickly for blood test, then the use of supplements becomes necessary.
Some supplements have been shown to help lower cholesterol and triglyceride level in the blood. They popularly known ones include:
Omega-3-Fatty Acid:It is linked to lowering triglyceride level and blood pressure. There are several fish oil supplements with a rich amount of omega-3-fatty acid, and taking 3gram of such supplement daily can help lower triglyceride level.
Vitamin B3 : Its a very important nutrient because it is needed by most of the bodys metabolic processes. High dose of Vitamin B3 supplement has been shown to lower cholesterol level by up to 20% and also improve brain function. Nicotinic acid should be taken with caution at the supplemental dosage, as it can pose some side effects.
Fibrates: This refers to the class of drugs that lower blood triglyceride levels by reducing the production of VLDL and increasing the removal of triglyceride from the blood.
Supplementing with fibrate is an effective way of lowering the triglyceride levels in the blood quickly. Common examples of fibrates include gemfibrozil and lofibra. They should equally be taken with caution as they come with side effects when used abusively.
Using any of the supplements listed above can help lower triglycerides quickly for a blood test.
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