No. Statins are effective in lowering total and LDL (lousy) cholesterol, but some people want to avoid the expense and side effects of medication.  Other people just want to do it with food and lifestyle changes.  Still other people want to do it with other medications, which bind cholesterol and send it out of the body, or prevent it from staying in the intestine.

Most people can lower their cholesterol level, especially their LDL cholesterol with food and lifestyle changes–whether you were blessed with good cholesterol genes, or not!

Some foods that lower cholesterol are soy (beans, tofu, seitan, milk, products); whole grains, such as oats and barley; tree nuts (not peanuts); and foods with plant sterols/stanols, like Take Control and Benecol margarines.

Just three to six months is needed before a noticeable reduction in cholesterol occurs, but some people have reported better levels in as few as four weeks.