Easy Health Tip: Cut “Bad” Cholesterol with this Little Wonder
April 3, 2008 by Liberty Kontranowski
Filed under Diets and Dieting, Easy Health Tips, Food and Drink, Health, Heart Health, Nutrition, Your Body
That’s right! According to a recent article in Woman’s World magazine (April 7th edition), red grapefruit can help lower your “bad” (aka LDL) cholesterol levels by as much as 20%. This seems to be the case whether or not your high cholesterol is responsive to statin drugs or whether you make any diet or lifestyle changes.
So what’s behind this little Wonder Fruit? Experts claim the antioxidants in red grapefruit have the power to inhibit the liver’s tendency to overproduce LDLs. Wow, who knew?
So I guess it’s not a bad idea to cast aside that dandy Sausage Mc Muffin with Egg and replace it with a little citrusy goodness then, hm? Darn. There go my Friday breakfast plans. Heh.
*Please note: Grapefruit is contraindicated with some medications. Please always remember to discuss any diet changes with your doctor or any medication concerns with your pharmacist.*
This post should include a warning on the interactions of grapefruit with prescription drugs—in particular, given the topic, the interaction of grapefruit with anti-cholesterol medicines. Take a look:
Only some medicines interact with grapefruit. Examples include medicines for:
• High cholesterol: atorvastatin (one brand: Lipitor) and simvastatin (one brand: Zocor)
• High blood pressure: felodipine (one brand: Plendil), nifedipine (one brand: Procardia), and nisoldipine (one brand: Sular)
• Heart arrhythmia (when your heartbeat isn’t normal): amiodarone (one brand: Cordarone) and disopyramide (one brand: Norpace)
If you don’t know if the medicine you are taking interacts with grapefruit, ask your doctor or pharmacist. Your doctor usually can prescribe another medicine that doesn’t interact with grapefruit.
Excellent, excellent point, Leisureguy. Thanks so much for the time and effort you put in to this comment.
You’re welcome. It’s still a very good tip (to eat grapefruit) for those not taking meds. Indeed, by making good choices of what you eat, along with regular exercise, you can avoid ever having to take some medications.
Actually now that I think about it I think the pharmacist actually put a sticker on the bottle for my statin saying to avoid grapefruit… forgot all about it until now… (never been much of a grapefruit fan anyway so it wasn’t much of a problem…)
Grapefruit is a health bomb, but it is not the only fruit recommended in those suffering of heart disorders. And I guess there will be no effect if you eat grapefruits and continue having a wrong diet with saturated fats excesses, unhealthy food full of preservatives and oxidants.
The change must come not with eating one fruit, but with a complex action, a mobilization and with will to succeed.
I will dare to post a link to an article I wrote on cholesterol and its normal values in organism at http://www.allheartattack.com/overview/where-cholesterol-come-from.php
hope my contribution helped a little, stay healthy!