High cholesterol is the name given when a person has too much of a fatty substance in their blood. This substance is known as cholesterol and could lead to blockages in the blood vessels culminating in serious health complications. Taking a daily magnesium supplement, however, could help lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease.
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If a person is carrying too much cholesterol in their blood, it increases their chances of having a heart attack or a stroke.
Being diagnosed with high cholesterol, a person’s doctor may prescribe statins which is a medicine that lowers cholesterol.
Changing your diet and increasing your exercise routine will also be advised.
Dietary changes could include adding foods which are particularly good at lowering cholesterol.
Taking this supplement may also help lower your cholesterol.
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One of the best strategies to help reduce LDL “bad” cholesterol is by taking a magnesium supplement daily.
Magnesium acts like a natural statin drug and lowers bad cholesterol, reduces triglycerides and increases good cholesterol.
In order for the body to make cholesterol, it requires a specific enzyme known as HMG-CoA reductase.
Magnesium regulates this enzyme and helps to maintain a proper amount of cholesterol in the body.
When the body is magnesium deficient, cholesterol continues to be produced in excess and this causes a build-up of cholesterol which may lead to coronary heart disease.
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Medical journal BMJ advised how magnesium could help with high cholesterol.
The health site said: “Magnesium is an essential mineral found in the body and is naturally present in many foods.
“It is also available as a dietary supplement.
“Magnesium serves as a cofactor in more than 300 enzymatic reactions including those responsible for regulating blood pressure, glycaemic control and lipid peroxidation.
“Magnesium is therefore critical to the cardiovascular system.”
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In a study with the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, the effect of magnesium on cholesterol, triglyceride and oxidative stress in diabetic rats was investigated.
The study noted: “In the present study, we investigated whether increased magnesium intake could improve hyperglycaemia, dyslipidaemia, and reduce oxidative stress in alloxan-induced diabetic rats.”
The study found that a diet rich in magnesium could help to reduce plasma total cholesterol, triglyceride, oxidative stress and HDL/total cholesterol indicating that by increasing magnesium in a person’s diet, high cholesterol can be reduced.
Dr Ingrid van Heerden said: “People using magnesium supplements have lower blood pressure, safer blood cholesterol levels and a lower risk for heart disease.
“People who tend to develop heart attacks have higher levels of so-called LDL cholesterol and lower levels of HDL cholesterol in their blood.
“If magnesium is able to lower the ‘bad’ and increase the ‘good’ cholesterol fractions in the blood, then magnesium is similar to many of the cholesterol-lowering drugs that are prescribed to heart patients.
“Magnesium is, however, a much cheaper option and may also have fewer side-effects.”
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