Legumes May Be Considered the Natural Anti-Hypercholesterolemic Functional Foods

Hypercholesterolemia is a condition characterized by abnormally high levels of cholesterol in the bloodstream.

The cause of hypercholesterolemia is a result of overexpression of low-density lipoprotein with reduced levels of high-density lipoprotein in the blood.

In other words, the condition is a result caused by either overexpression of "bad" cholesterol (LDL) or low levels of "good" cholesterol (HDL).

Cholesterol, a waxy substance produced by the liver or the dietary in moderate amount source plays a critical to aid digestive function in absorbing nutrients, build strong cell membranes, produce steroid hormones and vitamin D. However, excessive amounts in the blood have been found to induce plaque built-up on the arterial wall, leading to heart disease and stroke.

Similar to high blood pressure, people with hypercholesterolemia are asymptomatic. Patients with familial hyper cholesterol may experience symptoms of chest pain with activity. xanthomas, and cholesterol deposits around the eyelids.

The most common complications associated with uncontrolled hypercholesterolemia are carotid artery disease, coronary heart disease, including angina or heart attack, peripheral artery disease, and stroke.

According to the statistics provided by the CDC, hypercholesterolemia is a major risk factor of heart disease, a leading cause of death in the US. In the US, approximately, 71 million American adults (33.5%) have high low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad,” cholesterol, and only 1 out of every 3 adults with high LDL cholesterol has the condition under control.

Compared to hypercholesterolemia, the healthy levels of LDL/HDL are any numbers that are less than 4.

There is no single cause of hypercholesterolemia. Epidemiologically, diet, obesity, genetic preposition, and medical conditions such as diseases such as type 2 diabetes and an underactive thyroid are some of the prevalent factors associated with the risk of the condition.


Legume is a class of fruits or seeds of a plant group in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), cultivated all over the world as foods for commercial profits.

On finding a potent ingredient for the treatment of diseases associated with high blood cholesterols, researchers investigated the impact of potential health benefits of legumes as a good source of dietary fiber such as cowpeas, mung beans, pole sitao, chickpeas, green peas, groundnuts, pigeon peas, kidney beans, lima beans and soybeans against hypercholesterolemia.

According to the tested analysis,
* In vitro, the legume showed a good glycaemic index (GI) in non-diabetic and diabetic human subjects.

*The legume exerted a cholesterol-lowering effect in human subjects with moderately raised serum cholesterol levels.


* Kidney beans showed significant reductions for both total (6 %) and LDL-cholesterol (9 %), and groundnuts for total cholesterol (7 %; P < 0.05), compared to other types of legume.

Based on the findings, researchers concluded, "legumes are considered low-GI foods and have shown potential hypocholesterolemic effects. The above studies can be a scientific basis for considering legumes as functional foods".

Taken altogether, legume may be considered a functional food for the prevention of hypercholesterolemia, pending the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.


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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) The potential health benefits of legumes as a good source of dietary fibre by Trinidad TP1, Mallillin AC, Loyola AS, Sagum RS, Encabo RR. (PubMed)