There are some other steps needed at the same time to ensure that your cholesterol is in correct balance. Ideally what you want to achieve is to not only lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, but also raise HDL (good) cholesterol, and in addition to that get your body working so that any excess cholesterol that is in the blood is either dissolved or turned into bile salts so it can be excreted from the body.
This leaves us with a choice of two ways how to lower cholesterol with herbs and they are a) take individual herbs to achieve each of the desired outcomes, or b) use a natural blended supplement which has various herbs etc… in it which can help our bodies do what is required and are blended together in the right quantities to form one single supplement. Of course of the two we want to use option b as it will work out cheaper and easier to do.
So now that we know a blended supplement is the most effective way how to lower cholesterol with herbs, what ingredients should we be looking for in the supplement? Well, there are various options, but ideally you want your blended supplement to contain the following proven cholesterol controlling ingredients;-
1. Policosanol – This is extracted from various sources including rice bran and beeswax, and it has been found to be so effective at reducing LDL production that it has been compared to statins just without all of the nasty side effects. It works because it contains an alcohol within it and this alcohol helps to increase HDL as well as prevent the liver from producing too much of the enzyme that creates LDL.
2. Lecithin – This helps you in a couple of ways, firstly it helps to dissolve LDL cholesterol in the blood, and secondly it stops excess LDL being absorbed by turning it into bile salts which are then excreted.
3. Phytosterols – These are plant based sterols which are very similar in molecular structure to cholesterol. With this being the case what happens is that they end out competing for the same space to be absorbed in to the gastrointestinal tract as the cholesterol, therefore less cholesterol is absorbed.
4. Theaflavins – These are derived from fermented green tea, and they have two roles to play. First of all they increase HDL and decrease LDL, additionally they are also very strong anti – oxidants which means your body has less oxidized cholesterol floating around inside it.
5. Oryzanol – This is taken from the outer hull of rice and has many different properties in it that help to combat cholesterol. In summary though it is very effective at turning cholesterol into bile salts for excretion.
6. D-Limonene – Extracted from the skin of citrus fruit, this non toxic oil is a natural solvent which when it builds up in the liver inhibits the production of the cholesterol creating enzyme.
As mentioned earlier, you can get all of the above individually from health food stores, but as you can imagine it would probably be quite costly, and not only that it is a lot of supplements to take. And yes you could pick and choose individual supplements to take instead of all of them, however doing that would not be really be the most effective way how to lower cholesterol with herbs.