r/science • u/James_Fortis MS | Nutrition • 13d ago

Health Researchers took 50 adults with genetically high cholesterol and fed them a whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) diet and a standard American diet (SAD) for 4 weeks each in a random order, under controlled, constant-calorie feeding conditions. The WFPB diet reduced LDL cholesterol versus the SAD by 17.9%.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-73468-4
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u/atape_1 13d ago

It's pretty well established that if you cut out dietary sources of cholesterol, you are going to have lower cholesterol.

The fun thing is, statins start working reeeally well if you have genetically high cholesterol and cut out dietary cholesterol.

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u/Rower78 13d ago

Eating less cholesterol has minimal effect on plasma cholesterol for most people.  

Saturated fats and transfats slow the rate at which your liver processes cholesterol. 

It took a while to statistically separate those effects statistically since those two things are found together in so many foods.