An Austrian trial has uncovered a link between the regular consumption of rapeseed oil and the reduction of cholesterol.
According to the research, rapeseed oil can cut levels of bad cholesterol by 29% after just five months. The trial even suggests that adding rapeseed oil to your diet may lower cholesterol and blood fat levels of patients who have had high cholesterol from birth.
This could be good news for Britons, sixty thousand of which suffer from the familial metabolic condition known as hypercholesterolemia. This can lead to an increased risk of developing atherosclerosis or furring up of the arteries, and heart disease. Especially if the studies claim that the oil can cut levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides (blood fat levels) by up to 29 per cent after just five months are accurate.
Rapeseed oil contains half the saturated fat of more common oils such as olive oil. It is also high in unsaturated fats, which help reduce cholesterol levels.
In the Austrian trial, children aged six to eighteen who suffered from hypercholesterolemia ate a classic low-fat and low cholesterol diet enriched with rapeseed oil. In the first two months they consumed an average of 15 grams a day, which went up to 22 grams a day for the last three months. The results of the trial confirmed a cut in the level of bad cholesterol by 29% after only five months.
The benefits of a diet rich in rapeseed oil are also backed up by new research that reaffirms that the reduction of bad cholesterol alone is not enough to reduce the risk of heart disease. Not only must bad cholesterol be reduced but good cholesterol must also be increased in order to protect your heart. An oil such as rapeseed, which is low in saturated fats and low in unsaturated fats is therefore an ideal supplement for a healthy heart.