Why cholesterol is bad for you If someone is suffering from high cholesterol it means they have too much of a fatty substance known as cholesterol in their blood. While not initially dangerous, over time this can build up in the blood vessels causing blockages. This can prevent blood flowing properly through the arteries.

Therefore, having high cholesterol is a major risk factor for medical emergencies such as strokes and heart attacks . There are several factors that can contribute to high cholesterol, with diet being one of them. Specifically, eating too much saturated fat can raise your cholesterol levels.

But making certain changes to your diet can also have the opposite effect. With this in mind, experts at Harvard Medical School in the US revealed four breakfast foods you can eat to slash your cholesterol levels. READ MORE Symptoms of nipah virus to watch for as boy dies and dozens at risk Eating oats for breakfast could help slash cholesterol levels (Image: Getty Images) These foods are: Oats Beans Certain fruit Foods fortified with sterols and stanols.

Firstly, they revealed that upping your intake of soluble fibre could help to reduce a type of cholesterol called low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which is also sometimes known as “bad” cholesterol. This is because soluble fibre can work to “bind” cholesterol in the digestive system and remove it from the body. They added: “Some give you polyunsaturated fats, which directly lower LDL.

And some contain plant ster.