6 Tips for Reducing Your Cholesterol Without Medication

Managing your cholesterol levels is important, as high cholesterol can be a key risk factor for cardiovascular events like heart attack or stroke. Doctors often recommend medication to help people with very high cholesterol levels bring their levels down.

However, if your cholesterol is mildly or moderately high, you may be able to lower it without medication. This article will explain strategies you can try at home to lower your cholesterol.

Why try to reduce cholesterol without medication?

For several reasons, you might not want to take medication to bring your cholesterol down.

Statins are a type of medication used to manage high cholesterol. For some people, the side effects of statins may be worse than the risks of having high cholesterol.

Incorporating lifestyle changes that lower cholesterol can also help improve your overall heart health and lower your risk of other conditions.

Avoid trans and saturated fats

Eating foods that contain saturated or trans fats can increase your cholesterol level.

Foods high in saturated fat include dairy, meat, and palm and coconut oil. You’ll find trans fats in fast food and processed food. However, since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Trusted Source restricted the use of artificial trans fats, they’re less common now.

The American Heart Association recommends reducing saturated fat intake to less than 6% of your daily calories.

Trans fats are especially unhealthy, as they increase “bad” LDL cholesterol and decrease “good” HDL cholesterol. The World Health Organization recommends limiting trans fats to less than 1% of your diet.

Eat lots of soluble fiber

Upping your daily intake of soluble fiber can decrease LDL cholesterol. Foods rich in soluble fiber include:

• oats

• nuts

• legumes

• apples

• avocados

• carrots

• sweet potatoes

Taking psyllium supplements and eating oatmeal for breakfast are easy ways to increase the amount of soluble fiber you consume every day. You can also load up on fruits and veggies to get that fiber intake even higher.

Exercise regularly

If you have obesity or are overweight, your chances of having high cholesterol increase. But that doesn’t mean that people who aren’t overweight can’t have high cholesterol.

Cardiovascular exercise can help to keep your weight in a healthy range and can also boost your heart health. Exercise helps to boost your HDL levels. HDL then helps remove LDL from your body.

Walking, jogging, biking, and swimming are all exercises that can help lower cholesterol, especially if you do 150 minutes each week — for example, 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week.

Cut down on your alcohol intake

When you drink alcohol, your liver breaks it down into triglycerides and cholesterol in your body. Alcohol consumption can also raise your blood pressure and make it harder to keep your weight in a healthy range.

Cutting down on beer, wine, and liquor can be a simple first step to lowering your cholesterol.

In a 2024 study involving more than 20,000 people who consumed large amounts of alcohol, reducing their alcohol intake reduced the chance of a major cardiovascular event by 23%.

Try fish oil supplements

While it’s typically best to get the nutrients you need from dietary sources, some people may benefit from taking supplements. Certain supplements may help improve your lipid profile.

Fish oil supplements contain omega-3 fatty acids. These acids may help lower triglycerides, although research is mixed. Taking fish oil may not directly lower LDL, but it can have other benefits, such as reducing inflammation.

Take a garlic supplement

Some evidence suggests that taking garlic supplements can moderately reduce LDL cholesterol. However, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health notes that the effect may be small.

As early as 2000, research suggested that garlic may help to reduce your body’s absorption of cholesterol and lower triglycerides in your blood. But more research is needed to fully understand the link between garlic and lower cholesterol levels.

You can find garlic supplements at any health food store, or simply start using more raw garlic in your cooking at home.

When to seek medical care for high cholesterol

There aren’t any specific symptoms to indicate that you might have high cholesterol. Many people with high cholesterol don’t know that they have it.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), you should have a healthcare professional check your cholesterol levels:

• every 4 to 6 years after you turn age 21

• more often if you have a personal or family history of high cholesterol or cardiovascular conditions

Lifestyle changes like diet and exercise are typically the first line of treatment for high cholesterol. However, if a doctor thinks your risk of a serious cardiovascular event is high, they may recommend that you take a statin.

Takeaway

If you have high cholesterol, lifestyle changes can likely lower it. If home remedies, diet, and exercise aren’t enough to get your LDL cholesterol to a safe level, medication is the next step in keeping your heart healthy. Medication can bring your cholesterol down even further, if needed.

Any treatment plan for cholesterol management should be made in partnership with a healthcare professional. A doctor who knows your personal and family health history can advise you on the best treatments for your situation.