Two cooking oils lower blood pressure and raise ‘good’ cholesterol levels
Cooking with sesame and rice bran oils is fantastic for heart health. It is almost as effective as a drug for bringing down high blood pressure, and the oils also improve cholesterol levels.
The oils lowered blood pressure levels by only one point less than that achieved by one of the major drugs, the antihypertensive, nifedipine, when it was tested on a group of 300 people with moderately-high blood pressure. And, unlike the drug, it also lowered levels of the ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol while raising the ‘good’ HDL count.
Sesame and rice bran oils are low in saturated fats, which may be the reason why they improve cholesterol levels, say researchers from the Fukuoka University Chikushi Hospital in Japan.
(Source: Proceedings of the American Heart Association High Blood Pressure Research 2012 Scientific Sessions, September 18, 2012).