Cholesterol supplements are designed to keep your blood cholesterol at a healthy level.
If your levels of “bad” cholesterol levels are too high, or your levels of “good” cholesterol are too low, you are at a higher risk for heart attack and stroke, so it is vital to lower them to a healthy level.
Generally, cholesterol levels are managed with medication, diet, and exercise. However, some scientific evidence suggests that a cholesterol supplement with ingredients like garlic, red yeast rice, and CoQ10 can also play a role when used correctly.
Here are some of our favorite supplements for lowering cholesterol levels:
Our advisory panel and our research team rank the best health products and supplements based on performance, label accuracy, and the efficacy of the ingredients in the products.
- Best overall: CholestAid
- Nature Made CholestOff Complete Softgels
- Best garlic-based supplement: Zhou Garlic
- Best for overall heart health: Genius Heart and Cardiovascular Health Supplement
- BRI Nutrition Odorless garlic
Research
Rankings
Last updated: October 18, 2022
Cholesterol supplements considered: 19
Hours of research: 47
Experts reviewed: 6
Scientific papers referenced: 9
| IMAGE | PRODUCT | |
|---|---|---|
Best Overall  | 1. CholestAid
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 | 2. Nature Made CholestOff Complete Softgels
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Best garlic-based supplement  | 3. Zhou Garlic
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Best for overall heart health  | 4. Genius Heart and Cardiovascular Health Supplement
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 | 5. BRI Nutrition Odorless garlic
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Best supplement with bergamot  | 6. Citrus Bergamot Capsules
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 | 7. New Health HeartSavior Lower Cholesterol and Heart Health Supplement
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 | 8. Qunol Ultra CoQ10 100mg
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 | 9. NOW Supplements Cholesterol Pro
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 | 10. 1MD CholestMD
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1. Essential Elements CholestAid
Essential Elements combines basics like niacin and niacinamide with advanced herbal extracts like red yeast rice, garlic powder, and pine park extract to control cholesterol synthesis and regulation in your body.
CholestAid delivers an effective dose of all five of its core ingredients, without compromising on purity.
This supplement is our top overall pick thanks to its targeted formulation and clean supplement design.
Easily BodyNutrition‘s top cholesterol supplement.
2. 1MD CholestMD
This supplement is specially formulated to support your heart health, which can help you with your cholesterol levels as well. It is designed to help you reach healthy cholesterol levels as quickly as possible by using tested ingredients like garlic extract and red yeast rice.
3. Zhou Garlic
If you want a single-ingredient cholesterol supplement, Zhou Garlic is an excellent choice.
It provides a potent dosage, and its garlic extract is standardized to a pre-specified concentration of allicin, the biologically active ingredient in garlic.
This means that you’re getting a consistent, high-powered dose every time.
4. Genius Heart and Cardiovascular Health Supplement
Genius Heart contains a broad range of heart-focused ingredients, including grape seed extract, vitamin K2, and CoQ10.
These ingredients go beyond just regulating cholesterol levels; the inclusion of CoQ10 helps sustain the cell components in your heart that produce energy, which may help keep your heart healthier as you age.
5. Nature Made CholestOff Complete Softgels
Nature Made CholestOFF is a plant-sterol-based supplement that specifically targets the production of LDL cholesterol, the “bad” kind that’s associated with higher risk for heart disease.
It works by directly reducing the amount of cholesterol produced by your liver via its inclusion of pine tree extract and pantethine.
It does have a few too many additives, and no ingredients that target HDL cholesterol levels, so it finds itself outside of the top few spots, but if LDL is what you are targeting, it’s a good pick.
6. Double Wood Supplements Citrus Bergamot
If traditional cholesterol supplements aren’t doing the trick for you, consider giving Double Wood Supplements Citrus Bergamot a shot.
This supplement uses multiple biologically active extracts from the citrus bergamot plant to naturally lower cholesterol through different pathways than those used by more common ingredients in cholesterol supplements. Though it’s not a top contender, it’s on our list in case the standard picks don’t work for you.
7. BRI Nutrition Odorless garlic
BRI Nutrition provides an odorless garlic supplement that’s a solid choice if you are specifically interested in the cholesterol-modulating effects of garlic. It doesn’t have the range of ingredients that some of our top contenders have, so it’s a bit less versatile and hence finds itself further down in the rankings.
8. NOW Supplements Cholesterol Pro
Now Supplements Cholesterol Pro leans heavily on bergamot fruit extract to provide its anti-cholesterol power. It also uses plant sterols from pine to reduce the rate of LDL formation in the liver.
The raw formulation is pretty solid, but this product loses some points in our rankings because it’s too bloated with binders, fillers, and stabilizers.
9. New Health HeartSavior
New Health boasts an impressive array of ingredients for heart health: selenium, CoQ10, inositol and red yeast rice, to name just a few.
It’s a solid pick if you want to take a multi-pronged approach to regulating your cholesterol plus boost your heart health overall.
The main downsides are that each individual ingredient isn’t delivered at a super high dosage, and the capsules have a few too many binders and fillers for our liking.
10. Upnourish Heart Health
Upnourish Heart Health takes a broader approach to heart health: it includes compounds you’d expect in a cholesterol supplement, like plant sterol esters, garlic extract, and citrus bergamia extract, but also includes compound focused on heart health more generally.
These additional ingredients include fish-oil derived EPA and DHA, plus olive leaf extract.
The only problem? Using such a broad range of ingredients means that the individual doses are pretty paltry. There’s only 100 mg of EPA and 25 mg of DHA in each softgel, for example, so you can’t count on this supplement to cover all of your heart health needs
Category winners
Best cholesterol supplement overall: Essential Elements CholestAid
Essential Elements uses a combo of niacin, red yeast rice, pine bark extract, and garlic powder to tamp down on cholesterol levels. Its focus on only the most effective natural supplements for cholesterol makes it a particularly attractive choice, and propels it to the top of our rankings.
Best cholesterol supplement with red yeast rice: Essential Elements CholestAid
Red yeast rice is known for its particularly potent effect on cholesterol levels, and when it comes to supplements that incorporate it, Essential Elements is our favorite since the only other ingredients (garlic, niacin, niacinamide, and pine bark extract) are also well-known for their cholesterol control effects–it’s not bloated with extraneous compounds.
Best cholesterol supplement for overall heart health: Genius Heart
Genius Heart uses a cutting-edge blend of ingredients that target cholesterol alongside other components of heart health. These ingredients include vitamin K2, pantethine, grape seed extract, and CoQ10, which work together to balance cholesterol levels, and this combo makes it our favorite when it comes to a cholesterol supplement that takes a more comprehensive approach for heart health.
Best garlic-based cholesterol supplement: Zhou Nutrition Garlic
The lowly garlic clove is the source of allicin, a powerful cholesterol-modulating compound that’s one of the most common single-ingredient cholesterol supplements. Zhou makes our favorite garlic-based cholesterol control supplement since it’s got an excellent, standardized dose of allicin
Best cholesterol supplement for people losing weight: Genius Heart
If you’re on a diet and want a supplement that addresses cholesterol levels while also emphasizing other aspects of cardiovascular health, Genius Heart is our recommended pick. With vitamin K2 for vascular health and cholesterol, CoQ10 for better cardiac function, and grape seed extract for blood pressure control, it’s a great companion for the health benefits that go alongside weight loss.
Best cholesterol supplement with bergamot: Double Wood Supplements Citrus Bergamot Extract
Bergamot is a potent citrus-based supplement that many people use for cholesterol control, and for this purpose Double Wood is our recommendation. Its high potency and minimalist design makes it the best option if you’re using citrus bergamia for cholesterol control.
Who should buy a cholesterol supplement?
Cholesterol supplements are designed specifically for controlling cholesterol. So, who’s bound to need them?
People with high total and LDL cholesterol. If your LDL (bad) cholesterol is higher than you’d like, you might benefit from a cholesterol supplement. High LDL and total cholesterol increase your risk of heart disease, and a cholesterol supplement could be part of your health plan to decrease your risk.
People who want better heart health. Cholesterol isn’t the only factor that contributes to heart health. Blood triglycerides, blood sugar control, and fatty acids also influence your risk of heart disease as well.
Some of our top cholesterol supplements also include compounds that target these other aspects of heart health. Likewise, a cholesterol supplement might be a good addition to your supplementation routine alongside other heart focused supplements like fish oil.
People who are overweight. Being overweight increases your risk of heart disease, in part through the mechanisms discussed above (cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar control, etc).
In addition to a healthy diet and exercise, a cholesterol supplement might be a good addition to your health regimen if you are overweight and are looking to improve your heart health.
How we ranked
Since cholesterol supplements have a wide range of potential strategies to use to better regulate cholesterol levels, we accounted for several different aspects of a supplement’s design when making our rankings:
Effective mechanism of action. Some ingredients have proven benefits for cholesterol, like plant sterols (as found in pine extract) or garlic. Our top-ranked supplements included multiple ingredients that targeted different aspects of cholesterol regulation.
Quality ingredients at an effective dosage. Just including a powerful ingredient wasn’t enough: we required that our top products also get these ingredients from high-quality sources, like standardized plant extracts, and we also required these ingredients to be delivered at an effective dosage.
We consulted the scientific literature for ingredients like garlic and red yeast rice to determine which supplements delivered effective doses.
Markers of overall quality. We rewarded products that came from GMP-certified facilities in the US and UK, and penalized products that used too many binders, fillers, and stabilizers.
FAQ
Q: What is the best natural cholesterol-lowering supplement?
A: We reviewed many different supplements, but our favorite was by far CholestAid. This supplement provides targeted cardiovascular support, which includes balancing your cholesterol levels. It is an expert-formulated pill that includes everything from niacinamide and garlic powder. It also includes a variety of other heart-supporting ingredients for well-rounded heart health.
This combination of ingredients is often better than a single ingredient for lowering your cholesterol. You never know how you may interact with a particular ingredient. Some may not work for you at all, even if they have performed well in clinical trials. Because of this, this supplement works well for many more people than other single-ingredient supplements.
Q: Do cholesterol supplements reduce cholesterol fast?
A: Yes, many do. Many are very good at reducing cholesterol levels quickly. However, it depends on the ingredients in the supplement, as well as their potency. Some are quite good at reducing it quickly, while others are more of a long-term solution.
We recommend trying one with multiple ingredients in it is possible. This increases the chance that you’ll react positively to the supplement and that your cholesterol levels will get lowered quickly.
Q: Do any supplements lower cholesterol?
A: Yes. Many supplements can lower your cholesterol. Those with garlic are very common. You can even get supplements that contain plant statins, which are very commonly used for the treatment of high cholesterol.
We reviewed tons of supplements previously in this article, so you should be able to find a great supplement there.
Q: What is the best over the counter medicine for high cholesterol?
A: We recommend CholestAid for lowering cholesterol. It contains a variety of high-quality ingredients that are designed to prevent the build-up of fats in your arteries and support your heart health. Its ingredients include niacinamide, garlic powder, and pine bark extract – many of which can help lower your overall cholesterol levels.
It also dissolves very quickly, so your body can more efficiently utilize the ingredients within it.
Q: How can I naturally lower my cholesterol?
A: There are many ways to lower your cholesterol naturally. One of these ways is to use a cholesterol supplement. These contain ingredients that may be able to lower your cholesterol naturally. How they work depends mostly on the ingredients. Some work inside the liver to prevent more cholesterol from being made, while others affect the cholesterol already in your bloodstream.
There are other ways to lower your cholesterol as well naturally. Walking is a common and very accessible way to lower your cholesterol.
Dietary changes are also widespread and suggested by most doctors. Cholesterol problems are primarily caused by consuming too much cholesterol in your diet. Therefore, if you lower the amount of cholesterol you’re consuming, you’ll also lower the amount of cholesterol in your bloodstream.
Related articles
Recap
Cholesterol supplements contain a wide range of ingredients that work in different ways to manage your cholesterol and improve your cardiovascular health.
The most effective cholesterol supplements include ingredients that both lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol.
These supplements often have ancillary benefits for heart health, like fighting chronic inflammation, boosting fat oxidation, or improving your body’s metabolic health.
For BodyNutrition’s #1 recommended cholesterol supplement, click here.
