Minnesota doctor creates healthy snack company to help lower cholesterol

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (FOX 9) - A local Minnesota doctor created a snack company to help patients lower their cholesterol with food, instead of relying only on medications. 

Dr. Elizabeth Klodas designed Step One Foods to help people reduce their reliance on medications for conditions they can solve by improving their diet. While medications used for high cholesterol were improving patients’ numbers, it wasn't solving their underlying health. 

"The most impactful thing they can do is eat right, and Step One Foods try to make that much easier," Klodas told FOX 9's intern DeAnna Giles.

Since diet is a major factor in high cholesterol and heart disease, Klodas wanted to make the first step easier for patients to make a change by providing healthy and convenient snack options. 

"This is called step one for a reason. It’s really meant as the first place for people to get started," Klodas said. 

Step One Foods offers a variety of snacks and breakfast options like dark chocolate crunch bars, blueberry oatmeal and smoothie mix. The products are plant-based, gluten-free and backed by science, according to their website. 

"There's no other food company that has done what we have done, and that is to subject our foods to the same scientific scrutiny as you would subject medications," Klodas said.

The company conducted a clinical trial with their food at Mayo Clinic and the University of Manitoba, the results were published in the Journal of Nutrition. In just 30 days participants' bad cholesterol levels lowered by nearly 9% and overall cholesterol by 5% on average, according to the study.