Heart Healthy Diet
A heart healthy diet is similar to an overall healthy dietary pattern containing: wholegrains, a variety of fruits and vegetables, low–fat dairy foods, lean meat, poultry and fish, nuts and legumes, and small amounts of unsaturated vegetable oils.
Oats contain a soluble fibre called oat beta glucan, which plays a role in lowering blood cholesterol, a risk factor for heart disease. This soluble fibre is largely unique to oats and helps lower blood cholesterol by telling the liver to pull more LDL cholesterol out of the blood and by binding to some of the cholesterol in the gut to prevent it from ever reaching the bloodstream. Beta-glucans also contribute to the maintenance of normal blood cholesterol levels.
Daily intake of 3g of beta-glucan from oats. Oats beta-glucan has been shown to lower/ reduce blood cholesterol. High cholesterol is a risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease.
