Eating foods with added plant sterols—like certain margarines or orange juices—can lower your 'bad' cholesterol by about 0.55 mmol/L, which might help reduce your risk of heart disease.

The more phytosterols you eat each day—like in fortified margarine or orange juice—the more your 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) goes down, and this pattern keeps happening as you eat more.

Eating foods with plant sterols—like fortified margarine or nuts—helps lower your 'bad' cholesterol because they block your gut from absorbing too much cholesterol, so your liver makes more receptors to clean up the leftover cholesterol in your blood.

Eating foods with cholesterol won't raise your chances of heart problems if you're a generally healthy person, according to recent research reviews.

Eating certain foods like canola oil, oats, and barley that are rich in good fats and fiber may help lower your bad cholesterol by a noticeable amount, which can help manage high cholesterol levels.