'Good Heart' muffins to take care of the cholesterol levels now

There are many healthy foods available that are said to lower the cholesterol levels. But now the scientists have come up with a ‘good heart’ muffin to keep a check on the cholesterol levels. The muffin has been developed by the reasearchers from University of Queensland.

Almost three grams beta glucans is found in muffins. Beta glucans is a healthy fibre which occurs naturally in the cell walls of oats and cereals and has cholesterol-lowering properties, according to UQ Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences scientist and keen baker Nima Gunness.

"There is good evidence that three grams or more of oats beta glucan consumption a day can help reduce cholesterol levels," Gunness said, adding, "I wanted to turn my discovery into a product, like a muffin, that people could eat to help reduce the amount of cholesterol in their blood stream, lowering the risk of heart disease."

Gunness, who perfected her low-fat blueberry muffin recipe over several months, noted, "The trick was to avoid making the muffin gluggy from all the extra oat bran and beta glucan fibre."

UniQuest which is now UQ’s commercialization company and a UQ Business School student are looking for opportunities for the muffins to be packaged and frozened and be sold in supermarkets, cafes and healthy food outlets around the country.

"We are not suggesting that people go off any cholesterol-lowering medication," Gunness said, adding "Rather, we are aiming to provide a convenient, healthy and very tasty way of helping to reduce cholesterol levels."

Dr Gunness is working with Australian food company Priestley's Gourmet Delights through Uniquest in order to manufacture and taste-test a batch of ‘good heart’ muffins.