What would lower yours?
Your LDL, then the changes you'd make. Each one falls toward your goal at the size its own trials measured.
Typed your panel already? The panel check works out your LDL from the other three numbers.
5% of 2,000 calories is about 11 g of saturated fat a day, about 1.5 tablespoons of butter (USDA FoodData Central 173410: 7.3 g in a tablespoon).
Your LDL, each change on its own
Trials tested these one at a time. Together they usually add up to less than the sum, and nobody has measured how much less.
Your gap to under 100 is 38 mg/dL. On its own, the portfolio diet would reach it at its trial's average.
In the same one-month trial of 46 adults, the portfolio diet lowered LDL 28.6%, a starter statin 30.9% and the control diet 8% (Jenkins 2003). It included a plant sterol spread.
Plant sterol pills and red yeast rice aren't on the list. The 2026 guideline recommends against cholesterol supplements, and in a 28-day trial neither beat a sugar pill.
What your result means
- One or two bars reach your goal: start with those, keep them up every day, and retest at the same lab in 6 to 12 weeks.
- Even the portfolio bar falls short: food alone probably won't close your gap, and that's a medicine conversation with your doctor. Keep the food changes either way.
- Judge it by the retest: an LDL has to fall about 19% before the drop is probably real, since two tests swing that much with nothing changed.
How it works
Each change shows its trial's average with its range: psyllium about 13 mg/dL off LDL at 10 g a day (28 trials), oat or barley beta-glucan about 7 at 3 g (58 trials, the FDA heart claim dose), and the fat swap 1.9 to 2.4 mg/dL for every 1% of calories moved from saturated fat to vegetable oils, 1.4 to 1.8 to olive oil and 1.0 to 1.5 to carbs (Mensink, 69 trials). One percent of 2,000 calories is about 2.2 g of fat.
Weight loss lowers triglycerides about 4.0 mg/dL per kilogram (about 1.8 per pound), and LDL about 8 mg/dL across 6 to 12 month trials. Cutting sugar lowered triglycerides 6 to 13 and LDL 2 to 7. Two drinks a day less lowers triglycerides 2.5 to 8.9 and HDL by 3.3 to 4.7. At least 120 minutes a week of aerobic exercise raised HDL about 2.5.
The changes were tested one at a time and are never added up here. The medicine row is there for scale and is never a choice: your doctor decides that.
13 sources
- Jovanovski E and others, Effect of psyllium fiber on LDL cholesterol and alternative lipid targets, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2018pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Ho HVT and others, A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of the effect of barley and oat beta-glucan on LDL cholesterol, British Journal of Nutrition, 2016pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- US Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 101.81, health claims: soluble fiber and coronary heart diseaseecfr.gov
- Mensink RP, Effects of saturated fatty acids on serum lipids and lipoproteins, World Health Organization, 2016, as tabulated by Food Standards Australia New Zealandfoodstandards.gov.au
- Jenkins DJA and others, Effects of a dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods vs lovastatin on serum lipids and C-reactive protein, JAMA, 2003pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Zomer E and others, Interventions that cause weight loss and the impact on cardiovascular risk factors, Obesity Reviews, 2016pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Te Morenga LA and others, Dietary sugars and cardiometabolic risk, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2014pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Rimm EB and others, Moderate alcohol intake and lower risk of coronary heart disease, BMJ, 1999pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, What is a standard drink?niaaa.nih.gov
- Kodama S and others, Effect of aerobic exercise training on serum levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, Archives of Internal Medicine, 2007pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Laffin LJ and others, Comparative effects of low-dose rosuvastatin, placebo, and dietary supplements on lipids and inflammatory biomarkers (SPORT), JACC, 2023pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- US Department of Agriculture, FoodData Central, SR Legacy 173410, butter, saltedfdc.nal.usda.gov
- Blumenthal RS, Morris PB, Gaudino M and others, 2026 ACC/AHA guideline on the management of dyslipidemia, JACC, 2026doi.org
