Yes, you can control your cholesterol levels through diet, but could it be as simple as adding a corn flour blend to your meals for just a few weeks? Researchers have found that incorporating a blend of refined corn flour and corn bran can reduce LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels by 5% to 13.3% in just four weeks.

In a clinical trial involving 36 adults with LDL cholesterol above 110 mg/dL, researchers evaluated the consumption of three types of corn flour: whole-grain corn meal, refined corn meal, and a blend (refined corn meal plus corn bran). The participants took each food intervention for four weeks, with at least a two-week break in between, before returning to their baseline.

At the end of the four weeks, the team found that 70% of the participants had reductions in LDL cholesterol concentrations when consuming the blend, while there were no reductions in other groups. The findings were published in the Journal of Nutrition.

The researchers provided participants with corn flour incorporated into baked goods, aiming to test a practical and realistic intervention.

"People often think that dietary changes must be robust and significant to have a real impact on cardiovascular health and metabolic regulation. The bottom-line is this: corn is unique and underappreciated. The art and science of refining grains and making full use of corn bran can result in delicious foods that, in this case, also happen to produce real results for heart health," Corrie Whisner, a researcher from the Arizona State University, said in a news release.

The researchers noted that there were no digestive discomforts for any participants during the interventions, indicating that there was no significant change in gut microbiota. However, they found an increase in gut bacteria- Agathobaculum during the phase in which participants had whole-grain corn, but not in the other two groups.

"The increase in Agathobaculum could be due to the greater diversity of polyphenols found in whole grain corn, which has the highest antioxidant capacity (compared to wheat, oats, and rice), but the study did not analyze this possibility," Whisner said.

"Nevertheless, while the influence of whole grains on the microbiota varies from person-to-person, some universals are generally known fibers in whole grains can be fermented by microbes into butyrate, and both fiber and butyrate are frequently associated with a healthy gut. These findings support that understanding," Whisner added.

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