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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 2021 PREDICT 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.
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Timecodes
00:00 Introduction
01:01 Quickfire questions
04:01 What is cholesterol?
05:57 LDL vs HDL cholesterol
12:28 How diet affects cholesterol
13:55 Which fats should you increase?
16:58 Why do some people have high LDL levels?
19:36 The gut microbiome and cholesterol
21:31 What is ApoB?
25:55 Why don’t all doctors measure ApoB?
28:10 Why triglycerides matter to your health
30:02 Triglycerides and post-meal responses
33:04 Which foods can lower cholesterol?
35:38 Saturated fat explained
37:49 How refined carbs affect cholesterol
41:57 Can you trust ‘low fat’ food labels?
43:21 The benefits of whole grain carbohydrates and fiber
47:11 Sarah’s personal view on statins
50:24 Cholesterol levels in postmenopausal women
📚Books by our ZOE Scientists
The Food For Life Cookbook |
Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati |
Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector |
Ferment by Prof. Tim Spector |
Free resources from ZOE:
Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition |
Gut Guide – For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks |
Better Breakfast Guide |
Mentioned in today’s episode:
What are triglycerides and why do you need them
Does variation in serum LDL-cholesterol response to dietary fatty acids help explain the controversy over fat quality and cardiovascular disease risk?, published in Atherosclerosis
Determination of variability in serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol response to the replacement of dietary saturated fat with unsaturated fat, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society.
Dietary saturated fat and cholesterol: cracking the myths around eggs and cardiovascular disease, J Nutr Sci. 2023
The effects of probiotics on total cholesterol, Medicine (Baltimore)
Microbiome connections with host metabolism and habitual diet from 1,098 deeply phenotyped individuals (Zoe’s PREDICT study)
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Episode transcripts are available:
