Celery has a modest reputation as a heart-healthy food, but the evidence for its effect on cholesterol is more nuanced than most people expect. A 2025 meta-analysis published in Frontiers in Nutrition, pooling data from randomized controlled trials, found that celery significantly lowered triglycerides but had no statistically significant effect on total cholesterol, LDL (“bad” cholesterol), or HDL (“good” cholesterol). That doesn’t mean celery is useless for heart health, but the picture is more complicated than a simple yes or no.
What the Clinical Evidence Actually Shows
The most comprehensive look at celery and blood lipids comes from a systematic review analyzing multiple randomized controlled trials involving hundreds of adults. Across three trials with 245 participants, celery produced a strong, consistent reduction in triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood linked to heart disease risk. The results were statistically significant and showed very little variation between studies, which makes the finding reliable.
The results for other cholesterol markers were less encouraging. Six studies with 383 participants found no meaningful change in total cholesterol. Four studies with 281 participants showed no significant reduction in LDL. HDL levels were similarly unaffected. The studies that did show some LDL improvement varied so widely in their results that researchers couldn’t draw a firm conclusion in either direction. In short, celery appears to target triglycerides specifically rather than the broader cholesterol panel.
How Celery Affects Blood Lipids
Several compounds in celery may explain its triglyceride-lowering effect. One is a substance called 3-n-butylphthalide (NBP), which has been studied for its effects on fat metabolism. In animal research, NBP blocked the development of new fat cells, increased fat burning by boosting cellular energy production, and promoted heat generation in fat tissue, a process that uses up stored fat rather than letting it accumulate in the bloodstream.
Celery also contains flavonoids, particularly apigenin and luteolin, that act as antioxidants. These compounds reduce the tendency of immune cells to stick to LDL particles in blood vessel walls, which is one of the earliest steps in plaque buildup. So even though celery may not lower your LDL number on a blood test, it could make LDL less likely to cause damage. That’s a subtler benefit, and one that’s harder to measure in standard cholesterol panels.
There’s also early research suggesting that proteins in celery seeds can bind to bile salts in the gut. Your liver makes bile acids from cholesterol, and when those bile acids are bound and excreted rather than reabsorbed, your liver pulls more cholesterol out of the blood to make replacements. This mechanism is well established for soluble fiber and certain medications, and celery seed proteins showed meaningful binding capacity in lab studies. Whether this translates to lower cholesterol in real people eating normal amounts of celery remains unclear.
Whole Celery vs. Celery Juice
If you’re eating celery for heart health, the form matters. Whole celery stalks contain insoluble fiber, which supports gut health and is associated with lower overall cardiovascular risk when consumed as part of a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Juicing removes that fiber entirely. What you’re left with is water, some vitamins, and the plant’s flavonoids and other active compounds, but without the mechanical benefits of fiber moving through your digestive tract.
The bile-binding effect described above depends partly on fiber and protein components that are largely lost during juicing. If lowering triglycerides or supporting heart health is your goal, eating whole celery is the better choice. Celery juice isn’t harmful, but it strips away one of the vegetable’s most useful features.
Where Celery Fits in a Heart-Healthy Diet
Celery is low in calories (about 10 per stalk), high in water, and provides potassium, vitamin K, and antioxidants. It’s a solid addition to a heart-healthy eating pattern. But based on current evidence, it’s not a cholesterol-lowering tool in the way that oats, nuts, or foods rich in soluble fiber are. Its strongest documented benefit is reducing triglycerides, which is genuinely useful since elevated triglycerides are an independent risk factor for heart disease and often accompany high cholesterol.
Think of celery as one piece of a larger dietary strategy rather than a standalone fix. Pairing it with foods that do have proven LDL-lowering effects, like beans, barley, almonds, and fatty fish, gives you a broader range of cardiovascular benefits. The triglyceride reduction from celery complements those other foods rather than duplicating what they do.
For people already taking cholesterol-lowering medications, celery in normal dietary amounts is safe and doesn’t have the drug interactions that grapefruit and certain other foods do with statins. Celery seed supplements are a different matter, as concentrated extracts can have stronger effects and less predictable interactions, so it’s worth mentioning them to your pharmacist if you take blood thinners or other cardiovascular medications.