Plant sterols

[Kentoldlady]

Hello, hoping someone can answer a question for me.

I am overweight and have just been told I am hypothyroid, hypertensive and type 2 diabetic. As you can guess I have been doing a lot of reading and have lost some weight and got my blood sugar down. But I am confused.

The guidelines and advice seem to be that plant sterols are a good thing. But the nice guidelines say that type 2 diabetics should not take them. I have searched but I can see no reason for this recommendation or research frrom any where to explain this statement. Given that a lot of people hve cardiac health problems and t2d I was wondering if any of you clever people might know? Many thanks

[Sina-6491]

Sorry I have no idea, but wish you luck in finding out.

What about your pharmacy, they should have an idea Jo

[Hidden]

Hi there - sorry about all the confusion, it can be difficult to pick apart which advice applies to you and which doesn't sometimes!

Plant stanols and sterols are naturally occurring and can be found in things like avocado and tree bark(!). While they're not necessarily 'recommended' in NICE guidance for prevention in diabetics, research does tell us that they help to lower cholesterol and therefore reduce your risk of heart disease or having another heart event, such as a heart attack, if you've already had one. There's certainly no evidence to suggest that they're harmful.

You can read a little more about stanols and sterols here if you'd like: bhf.org.uk/heart-matters-ma...

I hope this helps, and well done on losing some weight.

Take care,

Chris