Drinking and eating specially-formulated 'healthy' snacks could be just as good at lowering cholesterol as statins, a small study suggests.
Researchers asked 54 people with high levels of 'bad' cholesterol to sacrifice two parts of their diet every day.
Instead, they were told to replace them with snacks produced by one healthy food brand, which included chocolate bars and smoothies.
Participants — who were instructed to make like-for-like swaps — were told not to make no other radical alterations to their lifestyles but were encouraged to be more active.
After a month, the average person saw their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels drop by 9 per cent. But four participants had falls of up to 30 per cent, similar to the effects of powerful statins.
The study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, was led by the Mayo Clinic.
Snacks were provided by the US company Step One Foods, contained between 110 to 190 calories per serving and delivered a minimum of 5g fiber. They were all made from real ingredients, such as walnuts, chia seeds and berries.
Study author Dr Elizabeth Klodas, a US cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods, said simple diet hacks 'could change the health of our country in 30 days'.
US researchers claim that even small changes to diet using specially formulated cholesterol busting snacks and smoothies can lower people's bad cholesterol levels as much as taking statins, in some cases
This chart shows the individual percentage changes in LDL cholesterol by the 54 study participants when they consumed the Step One Foods substitutes. The average reduction was 9 per cent though three participants had reductions in excess of 30 per cent. It should be noted some participants also had their bad cholesterol levels increase over the 30 day study
She added: 'The implications of attaining such a significant cholesterol impact from a small food-based intervention are profound.'
Cholesterol is a fatty substance vital for the normal functioning of the body.
But too much can cause it to build up in the arteries, restricting blood flow to the heart, brain and rest of the body and raising the risk of angina, heart attacks, stroke and blood clots.
High levels are mainly caused by eating fatty food, not exercising enough, being overweight, smoking and drinking alcohol — but it can also run in the family.
Cholesterol is made in the liver and is carried in the blood by proteins and is broadly divided into two types.
