Cholesterol Lowering Muffins

You've probably heard of cholesterol before.. but do you know what it is? Cholesterol is a type of fat known as a 'lipid' and it is vital for bodily functions such as producing hormones and making vitamin D. Cholesterol is carried around the body as lipoproteins known as LDL (bad) and HDL (good).. too much LDL can lead to blocked arteries (with HDL helping to reduce this risk!).

So, enough science.. where do these muffins come in to play you ask?! Oats are fantastic for health and so when I came across this 'oat bran' muffin recipe I was more than pleased! Oats and oatbran are rich in beta-glucan soluble fibre which has been shower to lower blood cholesterol - which reduces risk of heart disease. To get your daily intake of oats you may like to try oat cakes, oat bran (in yoghurt, salads etc), 50:50 oatie bread or oat-based breakfast cereals or porridge oats.

Oats aren't the only thing you can eat though to reduce blood cholesterol.. the main thing you can do is to reduce the amount of saturated fat in the diet (found in fatty and processed meats, butter, whole milk, hard cheese, cakes, chocolates and pastries) and replace them with healthier options such as lean meats, oily fish, vegetables/olive oil based margarine/oils, low fat milk/yoghurt/soya alternatives, lower-fat cheese e.g. cream cheese or Edam etc and choose fruit/veg (5 a day!), nuts and seeds for snacks. Choosing wholegrain foods (oats are a wholegrain) is also recommended as well as having beans and pulses daily e.g. adding them to stews and spag bol!

And back to the muffins.. I saw the recipe for these oat bran muffins on the Mornflake website [click here].. they were extremely tasty.. and I nick-named them my 'cholesterol lowering muffins' !

So what do you need to make them?

250g / 9ozs Mornflake Oatbran

50g / 2ozs Raisins

50g / 2ozs Soft Brown Sugar

5 ml / 1 teaspoon Cinnamon

15ml / 1 tablespoon baking powder

290 ml / 10 fluid ozs Skimmed Milk

2 egg whites

30ml / 2 tablespoons Vegetable oil

And what do you need to do?

First, heat the oven to 220 degrees C / 425 degrees F / gas mark 7

1) Mix together the oats, brown sugar, baking powder, raisins and cinnamon..

2) Mix together the milk, oil and egg whites..

3) Pour the liquids in to the dry oat bran mix and leave for 5 minutes to absorb.. I then blended this mixture for a few moments with my hand blender.. however this step isn't essential!