What Verella checks for high cholesterol
Turn on high cholesterol in your profile and two extra rules run on every label, one on saturated fat and one crediting fibre.
The 2 rules
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Saturated fat is 5 g or more per 100 g
High in saturated fat. Guidance suggests limiting saturated fat to support healthy cholesterol. Consider how often you choose this.
Source: American Heart Association advisory on dietary fats and cardiovascular disease; NHS, High cholesterol and foods
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Fibre is 6 g or more per 100 g
Good source of fibre. Higher-fibre wholegrain foods are part of guidance for supporting healthy cholesterol, and soluble fibre, for example oats and beans, especially so.
Source: NHS, How to lower your cholesterol, on wholegrain foods; American Heart Association on soluble fibre and oats for heart health
What this looks like on a real product
Plain rolled oats, 10 g of fibre and 1.25 g of saturated fat per 100 g.
Scanned with no conditions set
Fine in moderationMinimally processed and high in fibre, held back a little by calorie density.
The same oats, scanned with high cholesterol turned on
Good choiceThe fibre credit applies and the saturated fat is well under the threshold, so the oats move up a tier.
Both verdicts above are real output from the shipped Verella engine, run on live Open Food Facts data on 5 October 2026, with only the condition changed between the two profiles. Open Food Facts data changes over time, so a scan today can differ.
The same rule, a different product
A toasted oat cereal with 7.1 g of fibre per 100 g scores 40 with no conditions set and 44 with high cholesterol turned on. Both are a Better occasionally, so the verdict holds, but the fibre credit moves it in the right direction. The same box scanned with Crohn's turned on drops to Best avoided. One fibre figure, read two opposite ways, which is the whole reason this app exists.
Worth knowing
- The fibre credit is hedged for a reason worth knowing. Cholesterol guidance is mostly about soluble fibre, from oats and beans, but food labels and the open database behind Verella report total fibre only. So the note says soluble fibre is especially helpful rather than claiming this product is rich in it.
These rules encode broadly published patient guidance and are hedged on purpose. Verella cannot know your disease activity, your medication or what your care team has already advised, so every note defers to them.
Verella provides general nutrition information. It is not medical or dietary advice and it is not a substitute for a doctor or a registered dietitian.
The other condition guides
Crohn's disease
5 rules
Irritable bowel syndrome
3 rules
Acid reflux and GERD
3 rules
Type 2 diabetes
2 rules
High blood pressure
1 rule
The ingredient watchlist runs on every scan as well, whatever conditions you have set. How the engine puts it all together.