While the foods you eat are the most powerful instruments for taking charge of your heart health, you can also enhance the effect of your diet with the proper use of supplements that contain plant sterols.

When consumed in sufficient amounts, plant sterols block the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine, and have been shown to lower LDL cholesterol without lowering good HDL cholesterol — a result that is the equivalent of a statin drug, without the side effects.

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that when plant sterols were consumed in sufficient quantities, they lowered LDL cholesterol an average of 13 percent.

In addition to supplements, there are food products such as special margarines that contain plant sterols.