High cholesterol: Nutritionist reveals top prevention tips
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High cholesterol is the precursor of serious health problems, ranging from heart disease to strokes. However, not all cholesterol is bad as your body actually needs some of the substance to function. The culprit is the type of cholesterol dubbed as “bad”. Fortunately, a 15p snack could help lower your bad cholesterol by 23 percent, according to Dr Mosley.
Speaking on his podcast Just One Thing, the doctor said: “It’s early afternoon and I’m bit peckish.
“I’m about to grab a delicious snack that could improve my blood flow, boost my brain and trim my waistline. It’s not some exotic superfood. In fact, it’s an apple.”
As this “delicious snack” comes in all sorts of colours and shapes, the doctor invited an expert to help settle which type of apple is the best.
But first, he revealed what makes the little food so potent.
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“One reason this fruit is so good for us is that the skin is packed with compounds called flavonoids, which as we’ll discover, can help heart health,” said Dr Mosley.
Packed with these goodies, apples eaten on daily basis have been shown to reduce cholesterol during research.
The doctor shared that a year-long trial from Florida State University found that those who ate around 75 grams of dried apples a day were able to reduce their bad cholesterol by 23 percent.
Looking at 160 middle-aged women, the study also linked weight loss to the small snack.
The podcaster invited Dr Catherine Bondonno, Research Fellow at the Institute of Nutrition Research at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, to get to the core of the flavonoids research.
Dr Bondonno said: “So flavonoids and apples have shown to lower cholesterol, improve inflammation, and diabetes and there’s effects on gut microbiota.
“Flavonoids are concentrated in the skin of apples.
“And they’re actually produced by plants to protect them from stress so sunlight and disease.
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“And flavonoids are thought to have similar protective effects in humans when we eat these plants.”
What’s more, the guest expert explained what type of apple seems to be the best.
She said: “I’ve screened over 91 apple selections for flavonoid composition. And there is a wide variation in the flavonoids present in apple varieties.
“So the ones that we use in our studies are generally the Pink Lady.”
This type of apple can be also bought in the UK. However, the good news doesn’t end here as the doctor shared that cooking apples doesn’t strip them of flavonoids.
This means that you can enjoy the “delicious” and “versatile” snack in more ways than just raw. Dr Mosley noted that apple crumble is an option as well.
The doctor added: “It seems that an apple a day really does keep the doctor away.
“So that’s it – it’s just one thing you can incorporate into your daily routine.”
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