In a lot of cases having high cholesterol is caused by lifestyle factors such as eating unhealthily, not exercising enough, smoking and drinking too much. For this reason, it is widely accepted that being mindful of what you eat can help lower cholesterol levels.
Nutritionist at Eat Holy, TJ Waterfall: “What we eat can directly impact cholesterol levels. In particular, most people should look at ways to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol - the 'bad' type, associated with increased risk of artery-clogging atherosclerosis. Saturated fat, found in the highest amounts in meat, cheese and eggs, raises low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, so minimizing intake of animal products is the logical first cholesterol-lowering step. But we can go a step further, by simultaneously increasing the intake of foods known to actively reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.”
A paper, published in Nutrients journal in 2021, considered the effect of grape powder on cholesterol levels. As part of the trial healthy adults were given 46 grams of grape powder every day for four weeks. It concludes: “Grape powder consumption significantly decreased the total cholesterol by 6.1 percent and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 7.6 percent.
A separate study, published in the Food and Function journal in 2015, found that red grapes specifically were more effective at lowering cholesterol than white grapes.
