The best foods for lowering your LDL levels

May 26, 2025
9:23 am

From seafood to certain types of breakfast products, only a handful of foods are clinically proven to lower blood cholesterol, explains dietitian Susie Burrell.

With more than 2 million Australians, or about 8 per cent of the population, reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as having high blood cholesterol levels, there is certainly good reason many of us should be interested in foods that can help lower levels.

While there are plenty of products that claim to have cholesterol-lowering benefits, the scientific reality is that only a handful of foods are clinically proven to lower blood cholesterol. By adding these foods into your diet, you can expect to reduce your LDL levels by about 10-20 per cent.

A half-cup serve of oats a day significantly boosts your intake of beta-glucan.William Meppem

Oats

Oats frequent superfood lists for a number of reasons, but it is specifically the beta-glucan content of oats that is associated with a significant reduction in cholesterol levels. When consumed, the soluble fibre beta-glucan forms a gel-like substance in the body that facilitates the removal of cholesterol through the digestive system.

Recent research suggests that this effect is modulated by the health of the gut microbiome, with further benefits associated with the presence of probiotics or good bacteria. To lower your cholesterol, about 3g of beta-glucan daily is recommended. A 40g serve of oats (about ½ a cup) offers 1-2g. You can also find beta-glucan in barley and rye-based products, mushrooms and whole-wheat cereals such as All-Bran.

Milk and cereal with plant sterols

Regular supermarket foods that have plant sterols added have been used clinically to lower cholesterol for more than 20 years and can be found in spreads, breakfast cereal and milk. Plant sterols, which are naturally found in a number of plant foods, have a similar shape to that of a cholesterol molecule, helping to block cholesterol absorption in the body.

It has been shown that consuming concentrated amounts, or 2-3g of sterols, can clinically lower LDL cholesterol levels by 8-10 per cent. While processed margarine spreads often add these to the diet, a much better option is opting for a milk with sterols added, and/or one of the breakfast cereals, which include oats and certain breakfast biscuit products.

Eating legumes more regularly than not will only be of benefit from a general nutrition perspective.Katrina Meynink

Legumes

Legumes, including chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils and black beans, are a rich, natural source of soluble fibre. Using a similar mechanism to oats, they are clinically proven to lower cholesterol levels by 5-8 per cent. While this may sound positive, you need to consume at least 1 cup of beans a day to receive the full effect, which may not be a feasible option for everyone.

It’s certainly worth replacing some animal protein with legumes, however, and opting for a mix of the growing range of legume snacks. Eating legumes more regularly than not will only be of benefit from a general nutrition perspective, even if you are unable to each the target of 1 cup of legumes every day to get significant reductions in cholesterol.

Salmon

While salmon is often at the top of superfood lists thanks to its extremely high omega-3 content, ultimately all seafood is a smart choice when it comes to supporting healthy cholesterol levels in the body, thanks to the fact that seafood is generally low in saturated fats. Specifically, when it comes to salmon, there is much research to show that there are a number of cardiovascular benefits that come from regular consumption. One study published in the journal, Atherosclerosis, found that healthy males who consumed 125g of salmon daily over a four-week period significantly decreased triglycerides by 15 per cent, and LDL-cholesterol by 7 per cent, and significantly increased HDL-cholesterol by 5 per cent, when compared with a four-week period of consuming no fish. While salmon is naturally rich in omega-3s, this effect would likely be replicated with any seafood equally as high in omega-3s including sardines and mackerel.

Walnuts

Like seafood, you can’t generally go wrong by adding a serve of nuts and seeds into your daily diet, but walnuts in particular have been associated with especially powerful effects when it comes to lowering cholesterol. This is possibly due to the especially high proportion of alpha-linolenic acid (the plant form of omega-3s), a molecule known to help reduce inflammation in the body. The Walnuts and Healthy Ageing Study, a relatively large longitudinal study published in the respected journal, Circulation, reported 3-4 per cent reductions in both total and LDL cholesterol levels when more than 600 participants consumed 30-60g of walnuts daily, with no other dietary interventions.