Taking statins helps lower bad cholesterol, but what you eat matters too. If you are on statins, you might wonder, “Which foods are safe and helpful to eat?”
Luckily, some foods can support your treatment by improving cholesterol levels and keeping your heart strong. Foods like oats, beans, nuts, and soy are not just safe — they can give your heart extra protection. Even small changes to your meals can bring big results over time.
In this article, you will discover the best foods to eat while taking statins.
| 🔑 Key Takeaways ➤ Oats can lower bad cholesterol because they are full of soluble fiber that helps remove cholesterol from the body. ➤ Barley and other whole grains can make statins work better by lowering total and LDL cholesterol even more. ➤ Beans can support your statin treatment by lowering total and LDL cholesterol when you eat a full cup each day. ➤ Eggplant and okra can strengthen your heart health because their soluble fiber helps lower harmful cholesterol. ➤ Nuts can slightly lower LDL cholesterol and boost the heart-protective effects of statins when eaten daily. ➤ Soy products like tofu or soy milk can help lower LDL cholesterol and make statins even more effective. |
Beneficial Foods to Include with Statins
When you take statins, adding the right foods can boost your heart health even more. Several foods help lower LDL cholesterol and improve blood fats in ways that support statin use.
Oats
Source: The Nutrition Source
According to Harvard Health Publishing, eating oats can help lower LDL cholesterol, the type that clogs your arteries, because oats give you 1 to 2 grams of soluble fiber per serving, which binds cholesterol in your digestive system and helps remove it from your body.
How much fiber do we really need? The experts recommend 20 to 35 grams of fiber a day, with at least 5 to 10 grams coming from soluble fiber, but the average American only gets about half that amount.
Also, just one serving of oatmeal or oat bran cereal provides 3 to 4 grams of fiber, and if you top it with fruits like bananas or berries, you get even more, helping further lower LDL cholesterol levels.
Moreover, one study found in a meta-analysis that oat beta-glucan significantly reduced total cholesterol by 0.24 mmol/L and LDL cholesterol by 0.27 mmol/L in people with high cholesterol.
| ⚠️ Important Consideration If oat bran and statins like atorvastatin are taken at the same time, oat bran may interfere by reducing the effectiveness of the statin, likely by blocking its absorption in the intestine. So, if you are on a statin, it might be important to space out when you eat your oats and when you take your medicine. |
Barley and Other Whole Grains
Source Eating Well
Eating enough whole grains while on statin medication can lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels. In one research study, statin users who ate at least three servings of whole grains each day had lower total cholesterol (about 185 mg/dL) compared to those who ate fewer whole grains (about 190 mg/dL). They also had lower LDL cholesterol, around 103 mg/dL versus 108 mg/dL.
This shows that combining statins with whole grains makes cholesterol control even better.
Moreover, SYSDIET study found that people who ate more whole grain rye, shown through special blood markers, had lower LDL cholesterol, lower non-HDL cholesterol, and lower triglycerides.
This means that even the type of whole grain matters, and rye especially stood out for improving blood fats. While statins are powerful, adding whole grains to your meals can make them work even harder, giving your heart extra protection.
Beans
Source: UCLA Health
Eating one cup of canned beans every day helped lower total cholesterol by about 5% and LDL cholesterol by around 8% in adults with high LDL levels. The study showed that people who ate one cup of beans daily had better results compared to those who ate white rice. However, eating only half a cup of beans did not bring the same benefits. This finding means that a full serving of beans each day can give your heart a stronger defense while taking statins.
Similarly, a review of 26 studies found that eating about one serving of pulses — like beans, lentils, chickpeas, and peas — each day lowered LDL cholesterol by an average of 0.17 mmol/L. This might seem small, but even a small drop in LDL can really help in lowering the risk of heart disease.
So, adding beans to your meals supports your statin treatment and gives your heart extra protection naturally.
Eggplant and Okra
Source: WellWornApron
Okra and eggplant can be very helpful when you are taking statins, especially if you want extra support for your heart health. Okra and eggplant are low-calorie vegetables rich in soluble fiber, which binds to cholesterol in your digestive system and removes it before it can enter your bloodstream.
This process helps lower LDL, the harmful cholesterol that statins also target. When you combine soluble fiber from foods like okra and eggplant with statin therapy, you create a stronger defense against high cholesterol.
| 💡 Did You Know? In an animal study, eggplant juice showed impressive benefits in hypercholesterolemic rabbits. The rabbits that received eggplant juice had lower total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and aortic cholesterol compared to rabbits that did not get the juice. Not only that, but eggplant reduced the harmful malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in LDL particles and arterial walls, which helps protect blood vessels from damage. Endothelium-dependent relaxation, which is how well blood vessels can widen, was also much better in the eggplant group. This shows that eggplant can work alongside statins by improving blood vessel function and reducing oxidative stress, giving your heart even more protection. |
Nuts
Source: BBC Good Food
Eating about 2 ounces of nuts each day can slightly lower LDL, the harmful kind of cholesterol, by around 5%. Nuts are packed with heart-protective nutrients like polyunsaturated fats, which help reduce LDL directly. This makes them a smart addition when you are taking statins because both work together to lower harmful cholesterol.
By adding nuts, you can give your body even more help in keeping your arteries clean and healthy.
Even more, according to one study, eating cashews everyday lowered total cholesterol by 3.9% and LDL cholesterol by 4.8% in adults with or at risk of high LDL levels. The study showed that replacing a high-carb snack with cashews made a real difference in blood fats without hurting HDL or raising triglycerides. This matters because statins mainly lower LDL, and eating nuts can support that action naturally. When nuts and statins are used together, you can expect better results for your heart health, with less effort than you might think.
Soy
Source: Cleveland Clinic
According to Harvard Health Publishing, eating 25 grams of soy protein a day — like 10 ounces of tofu or 2½ cups of soy milk — can lower LDL cholesterol by about 5% to 6%. This is important because statins mainly focus on cutting LDL too, and soy can add extra power to that goal. Soy products work by delivering plant-based proteins that help improve the way fats move through your blood. By adding soy to your meals, you help statins do their job even better, without putting extra stress on your body.
Also, according to a study, eating fermented soy powder every day lowered total cholesterol by 0.23 mmol/L and LDL cholesterol by 0.18 mmol/L in adults with heart risk factors. These changes were much better than what was seen in people who ate a control food made from brown rice.
In another study, researchers found that soy isoflavones alone lowered LDL cholesterol by about 5.0 mg/dL (around 3.58%) and total cholesterol by about 3.9 mg/dL (1.77%).
When you combine soy with statins, you give your heart even stronger protection by attacking LDL cholesterol from more than one direction at once.
| 🩺 Doctor’s Note You should be careful with grapefruit and pomegranate, as well as their juices. These fruits can make it harder for your body to break down some types of statins. When that happens, too much statin can build up inside your body, increasing the chance of side effects. For example, the Cleveland Clinic warns that if you eat or drink too much of these fruits, you may face more achy muscles, liver damage, or even a serious condition called rhabdomyolysis, where muscles break down too much. Adding to this, Harvard Health explained that grapefruit juice, in particular, blocks an important enzyme in your intestines called CYP3A. Normally, this enzyme helps limit how much statin gets into your bloodstream. But when grapefruit juice blocks CYP3A, a lot more statin gets absorbed, making it much stronger than it should be. This can even lead to toxic levels of the drug inside your body. |
Wrap Up
Simple foods like oats, beans, nuts, and soy work with your medicine to lower LDL cholesterol even more. Adding whole grains, eggplant, and okra can also give extra support without much effort.
However, not every food is safe. Grapefruit and pomegranate can cause problems with your statin, so it is important to be careful.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I eat anything while taking a statin?
Not everything! Avoid grapefruit juice. It can affect how the statin works in your body.
Do statins mean I don’t need to watch my diet?
Nope! Even on statins, you still need a healthy diet to help your heart stay strong.
Should I take my heart medicine with food?
Most heart meds can be taken with or without food. But Xarelto must be taken with your biggest meal.
Is it OK to drink alcohol if I’m on heart meds?
A small amount of wine is usually fine, but too much alcohol can damage your heart and liver.
Sources
- Harvard Health Publishing. (2024, March 26). 11 foods that lower cholesterol. Reviewed by Howard E. LeWine, MD. Harvard Health Publishing. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/11-foods-that-lower-cholesterol
- Yu, J., Xia, J., Yang, C., Pan, D., Xu, D., Sun, G., & Xia, H. (2022). Effects of oat beta-glucan intake on lipid profiles in hypercholesterolemic adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Nutrients, 14(10), 2043. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14102043.
- Vaidean, G. D., Manczuk, M., Vansal, S. S., & Griffith, J. (2018). The cholesterol-lowering effect of statins is potentiated by whole grains intake: The Polish Norwegian Study (PONS). European Journal of Internal Medicine, 50, 47–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejim.2017.11.005.
- Magnusdottir, O. K., Landberg, R., Gunnarsdottir, I., Cloetens, L., Åkesson, B., Rosqvist, F., Schwab, U., Herzig, K.-H., Hukkanen, J., Savolainen, M. J., Brader, L., Hermansen, K., Kolehmainen, M., Poutanen, K., Uusitupa, M., Risérus, U., & Thorsdottir, I. (2014). Whole grain rye intake, reflected by a biomarker, is associated with favorable blood lipid outcomes in subjects with the metabolic syndrome – A randomized study. PLOS ONE, 9(10), e110827. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110827.
- Doma, K. M., Dolinar, K. F., Ramdath, D. D., Wolever, T. M. S., & Duncan, A. M. (2021). Canned beans decrease serum total and LDL cholesterol in adults with elevated LDL cholesterol in a 4-week multicenter, randomized, crossover study. The Journal of Nutrition, 151(12), 3701–3709. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxab323.
- Ha, V., Sievenpiper, J. L., de Souza, R. J., Jayalath, V. H., Mirrahimi, A., Agarwal, A., Chiavaroli, L., Blanco Mejia, S., Sacks, F. M., Di Buono, M., Bernstein, A. M., Leiter, L. A., Kris-Etherton, P. M., Vuksan, V., Bazinet, R. P., Josse, R. G., Beyene, J., Kendall, C. W. C., & Jenkins, D. J. A. (2014). Effect of dietary pulse intake on established therapeutic lipid targets for cardiovascular risk reduction: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal, 186(8), E252–E262. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.131727.
- Mah, E., Schulz, J. A., Kaden, V. N., Lawless, A. L., Rotor, J., Mantilla, L. B., & Liska, D. J. (2017). Cashew consumption reduces total and LDL cholesterol: A randomized, crossover, controlled-feeding trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 105(5), 1070–1078. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.116.150037.
- Jung, S. M., Haddad, E. H., Kaur, A., Sirirat, R., Kim, A. Y., Oda, K., Rajaram, S., & Sabaté, J. (2021). A non-probiotic fermented soy product reduces total and LDL cholesterol: A randomized controlled crossover trial. Nutrients, 13(2), 535. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020535.
- Taku, K., Umegaki, K., Sato, Y., Taki, Y., Endoh, K., & Watanabe, S. (2007). Soy isoflavones lower serum total and LDL cholesterol in humans: A meta-analysis of 11 randomized controlled trials. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 85(4), 1148–1156. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/85.4.1148.