High Cholesterol? Big Pharma Doesn't Have All the Answers

High blood cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease.  To reduce your risk for heart disease or keep it low, it’s important to control any other risk factors you may have, such as high blood pressure and smoking. One of the best strategies for keeping your risk low is through a simple lifestyle change. At the core of a successful lifestyle change are three primary components. 

High blood cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease. Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women in the United States. Each year, more than a million Americans have heart attacks, and about a half a million people die from heart disease.

To reduce your risk for heart disease or keep it low, it’s important to control any other risk factors you may have, such as high blood pressure and smoking. One of the best strategies for keeping your risk low is through a simple lifestyle change. At the core of a successful lifestyle change are three primary components.   • Diet. This is a low-saturated-fat, low-cholesterol eating plan that calls for less than seven percent of calories from saturated fat and less than 200 mg of dietary cholesterol per day. Foods low in saturated fat include fat-free or one percent dairy products, lean meats, fish, skinless poultry, whole grain foods, and fruits and vegetables. Good sources of soluble fiber include oats, certain fruits (such as oranges and pears) and vegetables (such as brussels sprouts and carrots), and dried peas and beans. You should focus on consuming only enough calories to maintain a desirable weight and avoid weight gain • Weight management. Losing weight if you are overweight can help lower LDL (bad cholesterol) and is especially important for those with a cluster of risk factors that includes high triglyceride and/or low HDL (good cholesterol) levels, and being overweight with a large waist measurement (more than 40 inches for men and more than 35 inches for women).• Physical activity. Regular physical activity (30 minutes on most, if not all, days) is recommended for everyone. It can help raise HDL and lower LDL and is especially important for those with high triglycerides and/or low HDL levels who are overweight with a large waist measurement.

There are some things that you have not control over that also can affect cholesterol levels. These include: • Age and gender. As men and women get older, their cholesterol levels rise. Before the age of menopause, women have lower total cholesterol levels than men of the same age. After the age of menopause, women’s LDL levels tend to rise. • Heredity. Your genes partly determine how much cholesterol your body makes. High blood cholesterol can run in families.

High blood cholesterol itself does not cause symptoms; so many people are unaware that their cholesterol level is too high. Therefore, it’s important to find out what your cholesterol numbers are and then take the steps within your control to manage it. And remember, it’s never too late to start making healthy lifestyle changes.

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