Quinoa
The sacred Incas seed, referred as mother of all grains and used for thousands of years by Andean cultures before the Spanish arrived. Its use was banned by the Spanish due to the ceremonial use for quinoa at the time but in the recent years this little plant has gained in popularity and for good reason. But this article is about its effect on cholesterol and how adding this to your diet might help with your high cholesterol issues.
Quinoa is considered a super food by some for its nutritional value and among others this is one of the few plants that have a complete protein profile making this 1 of the rare plants that a vegan or vegetarian can use to replace meat in their diets without sacrificing essential amino acids. This little grain is a great source of magnesium, iron and calcium and its even gluten free and easy to digest.
A good idea when you try to add this to your diet would also be to consider washing it before use & let it rest in water 2-4houres to germinate the seeds. This will get rid of the bitter shell and activate its natural enzymes. Doing so will multiply the vitamin content of an already great plant.
But while Quinoa is a pretty good idea to your diet in general there are a few reasons why adding it to a low cholesterol diet is a pretty good idea to, there are a few studies that show you what the effect Quinoa has on your High cholesterol and how it can lower your total cholesterol and LDL while keeping your HDL intact.
Sadly while there have been some studies that used humans most are still only at the rat phase but some of them still show promising results. This study below is an example
For example the effect of quinoa seeds
In 2010 this study was published by the The Jagiellonian University of Krakow in Poland. Showing the effect of Quinoa on several biochemical parameters and elements in the blood of rats fed with a high fructose diet.
The analasys of this study concluded that quinoa had a significant effect on total cholesterol levels or 26% reduction to be precise, a LDL reduction of 57% and triglycerides dropped by 11% comparing to the control group. It should also be noted that the control group suffered a significant drop in HDL where quinoa inhibited this effect in the other group.
Another interesting part was that quinoa significantly dropped the glucose in your blood(blood sugar) so it may proof to be a interesting idea for diabetics to. But the result of this study shows that quinoa may be able to reduce the adverse effects of fructose on your blood cholesterol or lipid profile.
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