# Sugar 'health' drink



## Lurch (Mar 25, 2014)

My daily sugars are under 30g.  Recommended 'cholesterol lowering yoghurt drinks' such as Actimel, Benecol and Asda's version all have about 12g sugar per 100g drink. 

Can't see a net health value in taking this amount of extra sugar to get (maybe) 2g plant stanols/sterols.     Would you agree?

Anyone meter-tested these drinks or maybe know a less sugary version?


----------



## Vicsetter (Mar 25, 2014)

Can't see the benefit it spending the money on these expensive drinks.  You won't decrease your cholesterol by more than 10% anyway.


----------



## Northerner (Mar 25, 2014)

Vicsetter said:


> Can't see the benefit it spending the money on these expensive drinks.  You won't decrease your cholesterol by more than 10% anyway.



I agree, they are a gimmick, not needed by people following a balanced diet, and pandering to the 'healthy' food mantra but still high sugar


----------



## Lurch (Mar 25, 2014)

Thanks,  just wanted to double-check.


----------



## Pumper_Sue (Mar 26, 2014)

Almonds will lower your cholesterol


----------



## Susicue (Mar 26, 2014)

Thanks for the info on Almonds, will try those.


----------



## Lurch (Mar 26, 2014)

Pumper_Sue said:


> Almonds will lower your cholesterol



I find little suckers real hard to bite into so worry about losing teeth!     Guess I could do something with them (roasting?) but so far not. Instead I have 20g walnuts a day with plain yogurt and blueberries. Always look forward to that meal. 

Also found peanuts (not salted) have cholesterol lowering properties and MUFAs, though also Sats.  Now have small amount of KP every day to replace cookies and bread... like the crunch.

Cholesterol lowering is now my obsession (though not convinced it is heart bogeyman they say).

According to Mayo Clinic...
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...cholesterol/in-depth/cholesterol/art-20045192

... best diet intervention is:-

1. Oatmeal, oat bran and high-fiber foods
2. Fish and omega-3 fatty acids
3. Walnuts, almonds and other nuts
4. Olive oil
5. Foods with added plant sterols or stanols.

Can't have oily fish cause of gout so take fish-oil capsule (but just discovered probably need pharmaceutical grade to get more EPA/DHA).

Can't believe just a few months back I ate what I wanted and knew nothing.


----------



## Northerner (Mar 26, 2014)

It's remarkable what you learn!  What my diagnosis brought home to me is just how complex human beings are, completely at odds with the highly over-simplified media descriptions of how the body works.

There used to be a website that contained links to all the Daily Mail articles claiming to either kill you or cure you - the list nearly always had an entry on both sides e.g. coffee causes cancer/coffee cures your cancer 

In fact, here it is:

http://kill-or-cure.herokuapp.com/


----------



## AlisonM (Mar 26, 2014)

Vicsetter said:


> Can't see the benefit it spending the money on these expensive drinks.  You won't decrease your cholesterol by more than 10% anyway.





Northerner said:


> I agree, they are a gimmick, not needed by people following a balanced diet, and pandering to the 'healthy' food mantra but still high sugar



I'm with Vic and Northe, these things are generally a waste of money. I try to maintain a varied, healthy diet without all the expensive supplements and my latest round of blood tests revealed my vitamin levels are fine. It's nothing more than an advertising gimmick and I'm even less likely to fall for it knowing just how much sugar is in those things.


----------



## Pattidevans (Mar 26, 2014)

Some of the mentioned "Yoghurt drinks" are not to lower cholesterol but to control stomach bacteria by use of pro-biotics such as L.Casei.  I take Actimel every day and it seems to have helped a great deal with bowel problems.  I think any yoghurt with live bacteria will do the same thing, but I'm never sure which yoghurts do have live bacteria in them.


----------



## Vicsetter (Mar 26, 2014)

Pattidevans said:


> Some of the mentioned "Yoghurt drinks" are not to lower cholesterol but to control stomach bacteria by use of pro-biotics such as L.Casei.  I take Actimel every day and it seems to have helped a great deal with bowel problems.  I think any yoghurt with live bacteria will do the same thing, but I'm never sure which yoghurts do have live bacteria in them.


Unless you have been on anti-biotics are have some stomach problems there should be no need for additional 'good bacteria' especially as most of them get destroyed on the way.  
I make my own 1ltr at time from 1 tablespoon of a live yoghurt starter (which if you plan it right can be your own yoghurt), but only because I like it and it's hard to find a plain yoghurt.  (I use Morrison's NUME fat free otherwise).


----------

