Decrease Cholesterol Intake Cholesterol in foods increases levels of LDLs. 3 Cholesterol is found only in animal products. Meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, and eggs all contain cholesterol, while plant products do not. Many people are surprised to learn that chicken contains as much cholesterol as beef. Every four-ounce serving of beef or chicken contains 100 milligrams of cholesterol.
Most shellfish are very high in cholesterol.
Cholesterol in foods raises the cholesterol level in one's blood. The best thing to do is to keep one's fat intake very low and to avoid all animal products. A vegan diet is free of all animal products and yields the lowest risk of heart disease. One study showed that people who adopt a vegetarian diet reduce their saturated fat intake by 26 percent and achieve a significant drop in cholesterol levels in just six weeks. Besides the very low levels of fat eaten in a typical vegetarian diet, vegetable protein also helps decrease risk for heart disease.