Effective Ways To Lower Your Cholesterol Levels
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Let’s get straight to the point. High cholesterol is implicated in heart disease and premature death, so lowering it is undoubtedly a smart move. There are two ways to lower cholesterol that are known to work – modify your lifestyle and take drugs that treat high cholesterol.
Hypercholesterolemia (as high cholesterol is technically called) is a fairly common complaint in Western society but has in fact only come about relatively recently, due in large part to features of the typical modern lifestyle. For most people whose cholesterol levels are abnormally raised, quite modest changes to their diet and exercise patterns are all that is required to bring their levels back within acceptable limits.
Some people are found to either have cholesterol levels so high that lifestyle modifications alone would not be sufficient, or they carry a genetic fault (familial hypercholesterolemia) that would similarly limit the benefit of improved diet and exercise. Such people are generally offered cholesterol lowering drugs called statins which come in a range of strengths and which they can expect to keep taking for as long as they live.
Before we take a closer look at these two options (lifestyle and medication) it’s helpful to realise that when a doctor, for example, considers your cholesterol level they are in fact weighing up two distinct types of cholesterol, called LDL (“bad cholesterol”) and HDL (“good cholesterol”).
LDL stands for Low Density Lipoprotein which means it is mostly lipids (fat) mixed with a small amount of protein; it is produced in the liver and is most affected by what you eat. From there, the bloodstream transports it to all the tissues in the body where it acts as fuel. However, any excess not consumed as energy by cells is simply left to build up fatty deposits in arteries, leading to inevitable heart disease and shortening life expectancy.
HDL (High Density Lipoprotein i.e. more protein than lipid) soaks up as much as excess LDL as it can and returns it to the liver for recycling or waste. Your body however contains a much greater proportion of LDL than HDL so it’s an unequal struggle, but it has been found that increasing exercise results in an increase of HDL concentrations in the blood.
Where lifestyle changes to combat LDL cholesterol are concerned, these proceed from the observation that excess weight, certain types of food, smoking, drinking and too little exercise are strong contributory factors leading to high LDL cholesterol; therefore avoiding these things will cause the reverse and lower your cholesterol.
So what types of foods are best avoided? The simple answer is anything that contains saturated fat; so hard cheese, butter, red meat, pastries, cakes and biscuits. Conversely you should aim to increase your intake of fruit, vegetables, oat and beans as these foods actively help to lower cholesterol. Switching from butter to a plant sterol based spread (commonly marketed as “cholesterol lowering” spreads) gets the best of both worlds.
Some people however find that modifying their lifestyle is not sufficient by itself to bring their cholesterol levels within acceptable limits and they should consult a doctor, who in most cases will prescribe medication from a class of drugs known as statins. It is worth noting though that these pills are absolutely not a means of avoiding lifestyle changes; they are an additional aid on top of that.
The statins most usually prescribed are (in order of their potency and showing both clinical and brand names) as follows:
Pravastatin (Lipostat); Simvastatin (Zocor); Atorvastatin (Lipitor); Rosuvastatin (Crestor).
The vast majority of people tolerate statins easily and suffer no side-effects at all, but it should be noted that they can damage both muscles and the liver, especially when taken in high doses and for this reason you may find that reasonably regular blood tests become a feature of your life due to the need to both monitor the effect of statins on your cholesterol levels and to watch for symptoms of internal damage.
So in conclusion, there are two proven and medically approved means to lowering your cholesterol; the difference between them being just a matter of degree since cholesterol lowering medication provides an extra boost that adds to rather than replaces the primary strategy of improving your lifestyle.
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