There are lots of over-the-counter health supplements available available in the market that claim they will lower levels of cholesterol. But a latest study has said six of those supplements are ineffective in doing so.

Supplements, including fish oil, garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, plant sterols, and red yeast don’t lower “bad” levels of cholesterol, the study published within the Journal of the American College of Cardiology said.

“For those who’re taking over-the-counter supplements for heart health or for cholesterol-lowering, it’s best to reconsider,”  Luke Laffin, the study’s writer and co-director of the Center for Blood Pressure Disorders within the Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic, said, as per HealthNews. “Unfortunately, many U.S. consumers imagine cholesterol health supplements are safer than prescription medications and imagine supplements are as effective, or more practical than statins.”

For the study, Laffin and his team recruited 190 adults, aged 45-65, for 28 days. The participants were divided into groups based on the drug they got. The drugs included a placebo, fish oil, cinnamon, garlic, turmeric, plant sterols, red yeast rice, in addition to a light-weight dosage of 5 mg/day of statin medication, named Rosuvastatin.

It was found at the tip of the study that average LDL or bad cholesterol reduction was observed in 37.9% of the volunteers receiving statin. Meanwhile, the effect on LDL levels in each the dietary supplements and the placebo were equivalent.

In other words, statin turned out to be superior to the six heart supplements by way of its effect in lowering levels of cholesterol. 

Nevertheless, statins do have some unintended effects, including headache, tiredness, weakness, digestive system issues, sleeping issues, and muscle pain, as per the outlet.

This study gains significance resulting from the proven fact that high cholesterol is becoming an epidemic within the U.S. High cholesterol is a precursor to heart disease, which is the leading reason for death within the U.S. Roughly, 7% of kids and teenagers ages 6 to 19 have high total cholesterol, based on the Center For Disease Control (CDC).

Nevertheless, the study is restricted by its small sample size. Moreover, not one of the participants suffered from severe heart problems, but 42% of the lot had hypertension, which is closely related to high cholesterol.

One other recent study investigated the results of cold and hot environmental stress on the guts.

“In each studies, we replicated real-world environmental temperatures the body is perhaps exposed to and were capable of show physiological responses that might help explain known seasonal differences in cardiovascular deaths,” physiologist Justin Lawley from the Department of Sport Science on the University of Innsbruck said.