12 Foods That Lower Cholesterol Naturally

1. Oats
If you're looking to lower your cholesterol, the key may be simply changing your morning meal. Switching up your breakfast to contain two servings of oats can lower LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) by 5.3% in only 6 weeks. The key to this cholesterol buster is beta-glucan, a substance in oats that absorbs LDL, which your body then excretes. Banish bland oats with this dessert-worthy ginergersnap oatmeal recipe.

2. Red wine
Scientists are giving us yet another reason to drink to our health. It turns out that high-fiber Tempranillo red grapes, used to make red wine like Rioja, may actually have a significant effect on lowering cholesterol levels. A study conducted by the department of metabolism and nutrition at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain found that when individuals consumed the same grape supplement found in red wine, their LDL levels decreased by 9%. In addition, those who had high cholesterol going into the study saw a 12% drop in LDL. So go ahead and drink a glass for that lowering cholesterol benefit.

3. Salmon & fatty fish
Omega-3 fats are one of the natural health wonders of the world and have been shown to ward off heart disease, dementia, and many other diseases. Now these fatty acids can add yet another health benefit to their repertoire: lowering cholesterol. According to research from Loma Linda University, replacing saturated fats with omega-3s like those found in salmon, sardines, and herring can raise good cholesterol as much as 4%. (Here's everything you need to know about buying the healthiest fish possible.)


Are you at risk for the #1 cause of heart-related death?

4. Nuts
If you're looking for that perfect snack food that lowers cholesterol levels, research shows that you should get cracking! In a study published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who noshed on 1.5 ounces of whole walnuts 6 days a week for 1 month lowered their total cholesterol by 5.4% and LDL cholesterol by 9.3%. Almonds and cashews are other good options. However, while nuts are heart healthy, they're also high in calories, so practice portion control—1.5 ounces is about a shot glass and a half. Use a shot glass to measure out your portion so you can see exactly how it looks.

5. Tea


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While tea has become well known for its cancer-fighting antioxidants, it is also a great defense against LDL cholesterol levels. According to research conducted with the USDA, black tea has been shown to reduce blood lipids by up to 10% in only 3 weeks. These findings were concluded in a larger study of how tea may also help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. (Here's how to make the perfect cup of tea every time.)

MORE: The Healthiest Teas To Drink From Morning To Night

6. Beans
Beans, beans—they really are good for your heart. Researchers at Arizona State University Polytechnic found that adding ½ cup of beans to soup lowers total cholesterol, including LDL, by up to 8%. The key to this heart-healthy food that lowers cholesterol is its abundance of fiber, which has been shown to slow the rate and amount of absorption of cholesterol in certain foods. Try black, kidney, or pinto beans; each supplies about one-third of your daily fiber needs.

7. Chocolate
Yes! Chocolate is one of the foods that lowers cholesterol. This powerful antioxidant helps build HDL cholesterol levels. In a 2007 study published in AJCN, participants who were given cocoa powder had a 24% increase in HDL levels over 12 weeks, compared with a 5% increase in the control group. Remember to choose the dark or bittersweet kind. Compared to milk chocolate, it has more than 3 times as many antioxidants, which prevent blood platelets from sticking together and may even keep arteries unclogged.

8. Margarine
Switching to a margarine with plant sterols, such as Promise activ or Benecol, could help lower cholesterol. Plant sterols are compounds that reduce cholesterol absorption; a study published in AJCN found that women who had a higher plant sterol–based diet were able to lower total cholesterol by 3.5%.

9. Garlic
Aside from adding zing to almost any dish, garlic makes the list of foods that lower cholesterol; it's also been found to prevent blood clots, reduce blood pressure, and protect against infections. Now research finds that it helps stop artery-clogging plaque at its earliest stage by keeping cholesterol particles from sticking to artery walls. Try for two to four fresh cloves a day of this powerful cholesterol fighting food.

10. Olive oil


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Good news: This common cooking ingredient can help your health. Olive oil is full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), which lower LDL cholesterol—and have the welcome side effect of trimming belly fat. Use it to make your own salad dressings, marinate chicken and fish, or roast vegetables.

11. Spinach
This popular green food that lowers cholesterol contains lots of lutein, the sunshine-yellow pigment found in dark green leafy vegetables and egg yolks. Lutein already has a "golden" reputation for guarding against age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness. Now research suggests that just ½ cup of a lutein-rich food daily also guards against heart attacks by helping artery walls "shrug off" cholesterol invaders that cause clogging. Look for bags of baby spinach leaves that you can use for salads or pop in the microwave for a quick side dish.

MORE: 3 Recipes To Take Your Love Of Spinach To A Whole New Level

12. Avocado
Avocados are a great source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, a type of fat that may actually help raise HDL cholesterol while lowering LDL. And, more than any other fruit, this delectable food packs cholesterol-smashing beta-sitosterol, a beneficial plant-based fat that reduces the amount of cholesterol absorbed from food. Since avocados are a bit high in calories and fat (300 calories and 30 g fat per avocado), use them in moderation. (We suggest these 8 unique and insanely tasty avocado recipes.)

integrating barcode scanner into php application?

PHP can be easily utilized for reading bar codes printed on paper documents. Connecting manual barcode reader to the computer via USB significantly extends usability of PHP (or any other web programming language) into tasks involving document and product management, like finding a book records in the database or listing all bills for a particular customer.

Following sections briefly describe process of connecting and using manual bar code reader with PHP.



What is a bar code reader (scanner)

Bar code reader is a hardware pluggable into computer that sends decoded bar code strings into computer. The trick is to know how to catch that received string. With PHP (and any other web programming language) the string will be placed into focused input HTML element in browser. Thus to catch received bar code string, following must be done:

just before reading the bar code, proper input element, such as INPUT TEXT FIELD must be focused (mouse cursor is inside of the input field). once focused, start reading the code when the code is recognized (bar code reader usually shortly beeps), it is send to the focused input field. By default, most of bar code readers will append extra special character to decoded bar code string called CRLF (ENTER). For example, if decoded bar code is "12345AB", then computer will receive "12345AB". Appended character (or ) emulates pressing the key ENTER causing instant submission of the HTML form:

<form action="search.php" method="post">
    <input name="documentID" onmouseover="this.focus();" type="text">
</form>

PHP can be easily utilized for reading bar codes printed on paper documents. Connecting manual barcode reader to the computer via USB significantly extends usability of PHP (or any other web programming language) into tasks involving document and product management, like finding a book records in the database or listing all bills for a particular customer.

Following sections briefly describe process of connecting and using manual bar code reader with PHP.

The usage of bar code scanners described in this article are in the same way applicable to any web programming language, such as ASP, Python or Perl. This article uses only PHP since all tests have been done with PHP applications.
What is a bar code reader (scanner)

Bar code reader is a hardware pluggable into computer that sends decoded bar code strings into computer. The trick is to know how to catch that received string. With PHP (and any other web programming language) the string will be placed into focused input HTML element in browser. Thus to catch received bar code string, following must be done:

just before reading the bar code, proper input element, such as INPUT TEXT FIELD must be focused (mouse cursor is inside of the input field). once focused, start reading the code when the code is recognized (bar code reader usually shortly beeps), it is send to the focused input field. By default, most of bar code readers will append extra special character to decoded bar code string called CRLF (ENTER). For example, if decoded bar code is "12345AB", then computer will receive "12345AB". Appended character (or ) emulates pressing the key ENTER causing instant submission of the HTML form:

<form action="search.php" method="post">
    <input name="documentID" onmouseover="this.focus();" type="text">
</form>
Choosing the right bar code scanner

When choosing bar code reader, one should consider what types of bar codes will be read with it. Some bar codes allow only numbers, others will not have checksum, some bar codes are difficult to print with inkjet printers, some barcode readers have narrow reading pane and cannot read for example barcodes with length over 10 cm. Most of barcode readers support common barcodes, such as EAN8, EAN13, CODE 39, Interleaved 2/5, Code 128 etc.

For office purposes, the most suitable barcodes seem to be those supporting full range of alphanumeric characters, which might be:

code 39 - supports 0-9, uppercased A-Z, and few special characters (dash, comma, space, $, /, +, %, *)
code 128 - supports 0-9, a-z, A-Z and other extended characters
Other important things to note:

make sure all standard barcodes are supported, at least CODE39, CODE128, Interleaved25, EAN8, EAN13, PDF417, QRCODE.
use only standard USB plugin cables. RS232 interfaces are meant for industrial usage, rather than connecting to single PC.
the cable should be long enough, at least 1.5 m - the longer the better.
bar code reader plugged into computer should not require other power supply - it should power up simply by connecting to PC via USB.
if you also need to print bar code into generated PDF documents, you can use TCPDF open source library that supports most of common 2D bar codes.


installing scanner drivers

Installing manual bar code reader requires installing drivers for your particular operating system and should be normally supplied with purchased bar code reader.

Once installed and ready, bar code reader turns on signal LED light. Reading the barcode starts with pressing button for reading.

step 3

Conclusion

It seems, that utilization of PHP (and actually any web programming language) for scanning the bar codes has been quite overlooked so far. However, with natural support of emulated keypress (ENTER/CRLF) it is very easy to automate collecting & processing recognized bar code strings via simple HTML (GUI) fomular.

The key is to understand, that recognized bar code string is instantly sent to the focused HTML element, such as INPUT text field with appended trailing character ASCII 13 (=ENTER/CRLF, configurable option), which instantly sends input text field with populated received barcode as a HTML formular to any other script for further processing.

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Fatty Liver Disease

Some fat in your liver is normal. But if it makes up more than 5%-10% of the organ's weight, you may have fatty liver disease. If you're a drinker, stop. That's one of the key causes of the condition.

There are two main types of fatty liver disease:

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD)
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)

Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD)

You can get alcoholic liver disease from drinking lots of alcohol. It can even show up after a short period of heavy drinking.

Genes that are passed down from your parents may also play a role in ALD. They can affect the chances that you become an alcoholic. And they can also have an impact on the way your body breaks down the alcohol you drink.

Other things that may affect your chance of getting ALD are:

Hepatitis C (which can lead to inflammation in your liver)
Too much iron in your body

Being obese

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)

It's not clear what causes this type of fatty liver disease. It tends to run in families.

It's also more likely to happen to those who are middle-aged and overweight or obese. People like that often have high cholesterol and diabetes as well.

Other causes are:

Medications
Viral hepatitis
Autoimmune or inherited liver disease
Fast weight loss
Malnutrition

Some studies show that too much bacteria in your small intestine and other changes in the intestine may be linked to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.


Diagnosis of Fatty Liver Disease
You might find out that you have the disease when you get a routine checkup. Your doctor might notice that your liver is a little larger than usual.

Other ways your doctor might spot the disease are:

Blood tests. A high number of certain enzymes could mean you've got fatty liver.

Ultrasound. It uses soundwaves to get a picture of your liver.


Treatment of Fatty Liver Disease

There is no specific treatment. But you can improve your condition by managing your diabetes, if you have it.

If you have alcoholic liver disease and you are a heavy drinker, quitting is the most important thing you can do. Talk to your doctor about how to get help. If you don't stop you could get complications like alcoholic hepatitis or cirrhosis.

Even if you have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, it can help to avoid drinking. If you are overweight or obese, do what you can to gradually lose weight -- no more than 1 or 2 pounds a week.

Eat a balanced and healthy diet and get regular exercise. Limit high-carb foods such as bread, grits, rice, potatoes, and corn. And cut down on drinks with lots of sugar like sports drinks and juice.

http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/fatty-liver-disease?page=2