subject: Can Banana Bran Muffins Lower Cholesterol? [print this page] Because i wanted to know more about how banana bran muffins can lower cholesterol levels i was doing some reserch.
Today I was reading a post on the website of the Mayo Clinic. The title was Cholesterol: Top 5 foods to lower your numbers.
The number one they stated was Oatmeal, oat bran and high fiber foods. Hmmm arent those ingredients for nice banana bran muffins? Yes they are! Oatmeal does contain a soluble fiber that can help to reduce the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. The LDL is also known as the bad cholesterol.
The next few lines were about other foods that contained soluble fiber, they mentioned apples, pears, barley, prunes and kidney beans. Apples, pears and prunes are nice additions to a muffin and in this article on livestrong.com they state that bananas also help adding dietary fiber and soluble fiber to your diet.
With this information it would be wise for people with high cholesterol to pick one of the banana bran muffins recipes on this site instead of one of the other ones.
The number three food to lower your cholesterol the Mayo Clinic mentions is Walnuts, almonds and other nuts. These nuts are a treat in a banana muffin so adding them in a muffin is not a problem. The good thing about nuts is that they also make a nice crunchy topping on a banana muffin
Are banana bran muffins always healthy and a good way to lower your cholesterol?
I am afraid the answer is no, not always. If you add lots of sugar, fat and chocolate to banana bran muffins its still not a healthy muffin, although its a better option than the same muffin with plain white flour. Try to make your muffin with as little fat as possible and dont add too much sugar. Another way to look at is: ok, i will make banana muffins anyway, why not choose the healthy muffin instead of the less healthy one?
What can help to make use less fat is to replace oil with applesauce.
With this knowledge in mind I will try make a more healthy muffin this weekend. I will try to make a banana muffin using oat bran and applesauce. I will also use nuts in the recipe.
