Dr. Betty MurrayHelping Women Navigate Menopause | Speaker, Author, and Advocate for Women's Health Over 40

Soluble Fiber Lowers LDL (Here’s How)

7 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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1:13

In this video, Dr. Betty Murray explains how soluble fiber lowers LDL cholesterol through two primary mechanisms. First, soluble fiber binds bile acids in the intestine, causing them to be excreted in the stool; this loss forces the liver to draw more LDL from the bloodstream to synthesize new bile acids, thereby reducing circulating LDL levels. Second, soluble fiber directly binds cholesterol in the gut, also leading to its excretion. She cites research indicating that consuming the recommended 25–30 grams of soluble fiber per day can produce an average drop of about 9 mg/dL in LDL cholesterol and up to an 11 mg/dL reduction in total cholesterol. The video emphasizes the importance of adequate soluble fiber intake for cardiovascular health.

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Fiber binds to the bile acids and allows it to be carried out in the stool, which then requires the liver to grab onto more LDL cholesterol and bring it into the liver to manufacture bile acids. So fiber directly lowers cholesterol levels through two major mechanisms, helping the liver basically require more from the bloodstream to actually manufacture bile in the first place. And then fiber actually binds to the bile acids and binds to cholesterol in the gut, allowing it to be pooped out, right? So soluble fiber is so important. And when we look at a targeted supplementation of soluble fiber around 8.28 milligrams per deciliter, what we see is that when we supplement soluble fiber, i.e., getting enough, so you get that 25, you know, 30 grams of fiber, what happens is we start to see almost a 9 milligram per deciliter drop in LDL cholesterol to You know, depending on the study, some of them are up to almost 11 total drop in cholesterol of about 11 and then about 9 of LDL just by getting fiber, right? Just by getting fiber.