Anyone taken plant sterols for high cholesterol? Cholesterol 7.8 now!

[PunishmentRoundupWithJoon]

Anyone have any experience taking plant sterols? My cholesterol is high, has been for as long as I can remember but it's now reached 7.8 and I'm buggered if i know what else I can do. Took plant sterols a while ago but can't remember if they made a difference so going to give them a serious go now. Am wondering if anyone else has taken them and seen a drop in their cholesterol?

Interested too...

I have started taking them but it has only been a couple of weeks.

With a cholesterol of 7.8 I’d be asking for a statin, not fucking around with flora

I once took them for 6 months and it made absolutely zero difference.

i mentioned this to the GP I was seeing and he said it was because most of my high cholesterol level was made up of HDL and was almost certainly just naturally high.

He said that if someone had high LDL cholesterol because of a very fatty diet then they could help, but that in that case it was better to change the diet!

Are you on a statin?

I went from 5.7 to 3.8 using the benecol drinks and trying to do little lifestyle changes, exercising a bit. Testing was a bit over one year apart, so I'm not sure how quickly it started to make a difference type thing.

Oh I thought you couldn't come off statins once you were on them? I took plant sterols for 3 months and they didn't make a jot of difference tbh. Maybe I didn't try for long enough?

DP had very high cholesterol (can't remember actual figure) but statins were pushed, practice nurse said diet & plant sterols/stanols unlikely to reduce it but he got it down to 3.4 with benecol & flora drinks, yoghurts, spreads and a drastic change of diet within 9 months. Think Homer Simpson with the doughnuts before radical overhaul.

Do you have family history of early heart attacks? I was only slightly above that when diagnosed in my 20s - familial hypercholesterolaemia was the diagnosis. I've been on statins for a number of years now... with FH, no diet change or benecol will reduce it down to a level that reduces your risk of heart issues

A fatty diet doesn't cause a high LDL. LDL is made in the body by the liver and if high, is likely hereditary. Triglycerides are the bad fats linked with diet and lifestyle.
The overall lipid number is not key, it's the ratio of good to bad cholesterol that matters. Your cholesterol number might be high, but if made up mostly of good stuff (HDL) then it's less concerning.
Statins will get it down and keep it down. Really important to make sure your BP is ok and that you're checked for diabetes too. If you've a family history of stroke or heart attack too statins are a no brainer. Very limited evidence for plant sterols.

Thanks for all the replies, with the exception of one.

A few years ago, my GP said that as there were no apparent lifestyle factors that could account for the high cholesterol, it could be familial hypercholesterolemia. Went to see a consultant who just agreed that yes, it would be that, even though my parents didn't have high cholesterol. He said that it wouldn't come down, whatever I did. He was wrong, though, as it decreased from 7.5 to 6.5, though I can't remember exactly what I did! Looking at a graph, it's clear that it has reduced on a couple of occasions over the last few years, which makes me think it's not the familial thing.

I'm 52, as active as possible and have lost two stone in the past year. Vegetarian, not big on fatty food, no takeaways or anything. Never smoked, don't drink.

My BP is fine, if anything it's usually on the low side and I'm not diabetic or even pre diabetic. I think my paternal grandmother may have died of a stroke in her seventies. No early heart attacks at all. Mum died in her eighties of COPD and dad of pancreatic cancer in his seventies. Neither ever had a stroke or heart issues.

GP rang today and we agreed to test again in 3 months. I don't want to take statins if I can help it due to possible side effects. I realise not everyone will have side effects, but as I already have a lot of muscle and joint pain, I'd like to stay away from anything that MAY worsen those.

I hope I've answered all the questions, sorry it's so long!

Try adding lots of fibre to your diet. Things like apples, oats, flax and chia seeds, psyllium husks. Just don't forget to increase you're water intake.

There's a guide somewhere that I give to my patients, about the plant sterols and how much you need. It's a few portions a day, but they can work quite well, depending on like PP said, what part of the cholesterol is high.

I'd still recommend a statin though, especially at that level, because although the sterols do lower cholesterol, they aren't proved to have any benefits on reducing cardiovascular disease. There's a newer drug that works like a statin, but isn't one and doesn't have the same muscle pain side effects. Bempedoic acid.

I reduced my cholesterol a bit with diet changes - increased good fats like avocado and olive oil, increased oats, more nuts and seeds, reduced white breads and pasta, increased grainy breads and other wholegrain, reduced blood sugar spikes by not having fruit juices. The main aim was to improve my gut biome but it reduced cholesterol as well.

You mentioned you aren't big on fatty foods. Are you having enough good fats in your diet do you think? A really low fat diet might not be helpful if it cuts out the beneficial fats as well.

@RagzRebooted - thanks for that information re Bempedoic acid, will look into it. Obviously, it my cholesterol continues to rise I'll certainly be considering statins as I definitely don't want a stroke or heart attack!

@Cheesel - I'm probably not having enough good fats actually, so will address that. Used to love flax seeds on my porridge and would mix suflower seeds and pumpkin seeds with my salads and soft cheese. Can you believe i stopped as I was worried about the calorie content?? Will be reintroducing them to my diet. Maybe I'm not made the best decisions in my keenness to lose weight. Seedy wholemeal bread is one of my favourite things, so that's a staple. Thanks for the reminder about the seeds!