Does Metamucil Lower Cholesterol?

If you have been diagnosed with high cholesterol you may have heard that adding fiber to your diet will help, so does Metamucil lower cholesterol? Metamucil contains a naturally occurring dietary fiber known as Psyllium, which comes from the husk of a plant that has been used as a natural cure for heart disease for many decades. Psyllium come from the plant called plantago ovata. It grows all over America, Europe, Pakistan, China and India. It is authorized by the FDA to be used primarily in bulk fiber laxatives in the United States.

Does Metamucil lower cholesterol?

Any dietary fiber that you add to your diet will aid in lowering cholesterol, so taking Metamucil can in fact help. The primary efficacy of bulk-fibers like the Psyllium in Metamucil is its ability to help move toxins through the colon and help the body eliminate waste. This action also helps to reduce blood sugar levels and control body weight. Soluble fiber is better at helping the colon push waste through the system than insoluble fiber, but both types are beneficial.

The scientific details of fiber’s benefits are that it helps reabsorb the bile that is in the intestines. As the body then eliminates this bile, the liver is forced to make more bile salts. In order to rid the body of these extra bile salts, cholesterol is utilized, thus lowering its prominence in the blood. Specifically, LDL or ‘bad cholesterol’ receptors increase. These receptor sites are responsible for absorbing LDL cholesterol from the blood. So, in short, eating more soluble fiber leads to increased LDL cholesterol absorption where it cannot cause blood lipid levels to become unhealthy, and cause heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular diseases.

When asking, “does Metamucil lower cholesterol?” aside from adding Metamucil to your diet, you can also increase your intake of vegetables and fruits will contain naturally occurring soluble, or dietary fibers. You can also eat oatmeal or whole-grain cereals and breads. It is estimated that adding an extra 6 to 11 grams of soluble fiber to your daily diet will result in a five percent decrease in LDL cholesterol levels. More specifically, a substance called beta-glucan can lower LDL cholesterol even more, and adding just 11 grams of this substance that naturally occurs in oats and barley as well as amaranth, can lower your LDL cholesterol levels by as much as 14 percent.

The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends adding at least 10 to 20 grams of soluble fiber to your diet daily in order to experience better cholesterol numbers and increased cardiovascular health. So, does Metamucil lower cholesterol? The answer is yes. But also add oats, barley and other whole grains as well as more fruits and vegetables to your diet.