Lowering Cholesterol

Almost everyone knows about the deleterious effects of high cholesterol levels.  Less is known about what levels provide optimal health, and also how to lower one's cholesterol to these levels.

As for determining appropriate cholesterol levels, we again turn to our Stone Age ancestors.  Loren Cordain has written another gem of a paper on the subject.  Studying the blood cholesterol levels of hunter-gatherers, Cordain concludes that total cholesterol should range between 70 and 140 mg/dl, while the harmful LDL cholesterol should be between 50 and 70 mg/dl.

This is a long way from the average 208 mg/dl cholesterol in American adults (and average LDL of 130 mg/dl).  Lowering cholesterol such a large amount may seem like a Herculean task, yet a recent research study illustrates one method that might be feasible.

This paper by David Jenkins and company studies the therapeutic effect of a Paleolithic diet on cholesterol levels.  The main difference in this study is that this diet contains no meat or seafood.  It could be thought of as a "lean" period for hunter-gatherers.  If hunter-gatherers were unable to obtain meat or seafood, they were left with the only other available food: fruit, vegetables, and nuts.

In this study, participants ate nothing but fruit, vegetables, and nuts for two weeks.  This may not sound like fun, but their total cholesterol dropped an astounding 38 mg/dl.  Even better, almost all of this decline was in the LDL cholesterol; the "good" HDL cholesterol remained roughly the same.

The researchers also noted that the maximum cholesterol benefits were obtained in only one week.  In the second week, cholesterol remained at its lowered level or declined slightly.

What wasn't covered in this study is whether cholesterol levels rebounded once the subjects resumed a normal diet.  However, if the benefits hold, this method would seem like a quick way to lower one's cholesterol.  Instead of staying on statins for months, one might be able to drop their cholesterol by 38 mg/dl in a week by eating only fruit, vegetables, and nuts. 

I plan on trying this for a week next month, and I will report my results here.