A 95p fruit could help lower your cholesterol, according to research. It is thought more than half of adults in the UK are living with high cholesterol, a potentially dangerous condition.
This occurs when you have too much cholesterol, a fatty, wavy substance, in the blood. Over time this can cause blockages and is a major risk factor for medical emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes.
One of the major causes of high cholesterol is an unhealthy diet – in particular one that is rich in saturated fat. Therefore, health bodies such as the NHS recommend cutting back on foods high in this kind of fat to lower your cholesterol.
They also recommend eating plenty of fruits and vegetables for the opposite effect. According to Heart UK, this is due to their fibre content, which blocks the absorption of cholesterol into the bloodstream.
And some fruits and veggies are more effective at this than others. One such fruit is the aubergine.
Also known as an eggplant, this purple food is technically a fruit and is more commonly consumed as a vegetable. It is listed by Heart UK as one fruit that is particularly beneficial for tackling high cholesterol.
The charity says: “It [fibre] blocks some cholesterol from being absorbed from the intestines into the bloodstream. Pulses such as beans, peas and lentils are particularly high in this kind of fibre.
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“Sweet potato, aubergine, okra (ladies’ fingers), broccoli, apples, strawberries and prunes are also good options.”
One scientific study, published in the journal of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology, concluded that aubergine could lower cholesterol levels in just four weeks.
The research looked at the effect of these fruits on blood lipids in rabbits with high cholesterol.
To begin with the rabbits were fed a diet rich in cholesterol and coconut oil, which is high in saturated fat, for four weeks.
In the last two weeks they were then also given 10 millilitres of aubergine juice daily.
The researchers found that the group who consumed this juice had “significantly” lowered plasma cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol.
The study concluded that the fruit juice was able to reduce weight as well as cholesterol in the animal models.
It said: “In hypercholesterolemic rabbits eggplant juice significantly reduced weight, plasma cholesterol levels, aortic cholesterol content and the MDA concentrations in native-oxidised low-density lipoprotein [‘bad’ cholesterol] and in the arterial wall and increased the endothelium-dependent relaxations.”
Aubergines can be bought from Sainsbury’s for 95p