How to lower cholesterol in 10 days | Prof. Sarah Berry

Forty percent of people in the UK and US have high cholesterol. Knowing how to lower it can be confusing. In today’s episode, we simplify the science of cholesterol, drawing from ZOE’s 2021PREDICT study, which explored its link to the gut microbiome.

Dr. Sarah Berry explains the differences between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cholesterol, discusses how cholesterol can impact your health, and shares tips on maintaining healthy cholesterol levels.

Sarah is a professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King's College London and Chief Scientist at ZOE. She is also the lead nutritional scientist on the PREDICT program.

🥑 Learn how your body responds to food 👉 zoe.com/podcastfor 10% off

🌱 Try our new plant based wholefood supplement - Daily 30

*Naturally high in copper which contributes to normal energy yielding metabolism and the normal function of the immune system

Follow ZOE on Instagram.

Timecodes

00:00Introduction

01:40Quickfire questions

04:01What is cholesterol?

05:50LDL vs HDL cholesterol

11:35How diet affects cholesterol

13:55Which fats should you increase?

16:00Why do some people have high LDL levels?

18:40The gut microbiome and cholesterol

20:37What is ApoB?

24:00Why don’t all doctors measure ApoB?

25:50Why triglycerides matter to your health

29:30Triglycerides and post-meal responses

30:45Which foods can help lower cholesterol?

33:20Saturated fat explained

35:30How refined carbs affect cholesterol

39:50Can you trust ‘low fat’ food labels?

41:15The benefits of whole grain carbohydrates and fibre

45:03Sarah’s personal view on statins

48:13Cholesterol levels in postmenopausal women

Books by our ZOE Scientists:

• Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati
• Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector
• Fibre Fuelled by Dr Will Bulsiewicz

Free resources from ZOE:

• Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition
• Gut Guide - for a healthier microbiome in weeks

Mentioned in today's episode

• What are triglycerides and why do you need them
• Doesvariation in serum LDL-cholesterol response to dietary fatty acids help explain the controversy over fat quality and cardiovascular disease risk? Atherosclerosis VOL 328
• Determinationof variability in serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol response to the replacement of dietary saturated fat with unsaturated fat, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society.
• Dietarysaturated fat and cholesterol: cracking the myths around eggs and cardiovascular disease, J Nutr Sci. 2023
• Theeffects of probiotics on total cholesterol, Medicine (Baltimore)
• Microbiomeconnections with host metabolism and habitual diet from 1,098 deeply phenotyped individuals (Zoe’s PREDICT study)

Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us knowhere.

Episode transcripts are available here.