HEALTH - Cholesterol lowering tips

Facts and tips around cholesterol

 

What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a solid, white, waxy substance that your body needs to make hormones and essential cell components. Most of the cholesterol in your body is made in the liver, but cholesterol is also present in some foods.

Why is it a problem?

Too much cholesterol in the blood will block your coronary arteries, which carry blood to the heart muscle. The heart is starved of oxygen, increasing the risk of a heart attack.

How do I get my cholesterol levels tested?

Ask your doctor for a simple blood test. A cholesterol test measures your LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol), triglycerides and total cholesterol levels.

Top cholesterol lowering tips

• Drop the salt: Excess salt in the diet can cause blood pressure to rise. Around 75 per cent of the salt we eat comes from processed foods,  so check the label and choose the brand with the lowest sodium content.
• Eat fibre: Soluble fibre can help lower cholesterol reabsorption, and assist with blood glucose level control. Find it in oat bran, barley bran, wheat bran, rolled oats, legumes, wholemeal breads, cereals, fruit and vegetables. It can be difficult to meet recommended daily requirements of fibre; fibre supplements like Metamucil are a great way to supplement your daily fibre needs and help lower cholesterol when taken in conjunction with a balanced, healthy diet.
• Get moving: Exercise can help with lowering the risk of heart disease. Exercise at least 30 minutes a day, 3–5 times a week.
• Eat good fats: Avoid having too many foods containing saturated and trans fats such as meat, full cream dairy, baked goods and fried foods. Instead eat foods like fish, nuts and avocados.
• Stop smoking: Regular smoking increases the possibility of a heart attack in people with chronic heart problems. Persistence is the key when it comes to quitting smoking!
• Stress less: Too much stress is not good for your health. It’s important to find a way to manage your stress levels.

This promotion is brought to you by Metamucil. 

Source: http://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/

CHOLESTEROL - High Cholesterol Overview

Cholesterol is a waxy, fatlike substance that the body needs to function normally. Cholesterol is naturally present in cell walls or membranes everywhere in the body, including the brain, nerves, muscles, skin, liver, intestines, and heart.

The body uses cholesterol to produce many hormones, vitamin D, and the bile acids that help to digest fat. It takes only a small amount of cholesterol in the blood to meet these needs. If a person has too much cholesterol in the bloodstream, the excess may be deposited in arteries, including the coronary arteries of the heart, the carotid arteries to the brain, and the arteries that supply blood to the legs. Cholesterol deposits are a component of the plaques that cause narrowing and blockage of the arteries, producing signs and symptoms originating from the particular part of the body that has decreased blood supply.

Blockage to the leg arteries causes claudication (pain with walking) due to peripheral artery disease. Carotid artery blockage may cause stroke, and blockage of the coronary arteries leads to angina (chest pain) and heart attack.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is caused by cholesterol and fat being deposited in the walls of the arteries that supply nutrients and oxygen to the heart. Like any muscle, the heart needs a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients, which are carried to it by the blood in the coronary arteries. Narrowing of the arteries decreases that supply and can cause angina (chest pain) when the heart muscle does not receive enough oxygen. Cholesterol plaques can rupture, resulting in a blood clot formation that completely blocks the artery, stopping all blood flow and causing a heart attack, in which heart muscle cells die from lack of oxygen and nutrients.

Who has high cholesterol?

• Throughout the world, blood cholesterol levels vary widely. Generally, people who live in countries where blood cholesterol levels are lower, such as Japan, have lower rates of heart disease. Countries with very high cholesterol levels, such as Finland, also have very high rates of coronary heart disease. However, some populations with similar total cholesterol levels have very different heart disease rates, suggesting that other factors also influence risk for coronary heart disease.

• 71 million American adults (33.5%) have LDL, or "bad" cholesterol

• People of all ages and backgrounds can have high cholesterol.

Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 6/4/2014

Medical Author: Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEM

Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Source: http://www.emedicinehealth.com/

VIDEO - High Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a waxy, fatlike substance that the body needs to function normally. 

Cholesterol is naturally present in cell walls or membranes everywhere in the body, including the brain, nerves, muscles, skin, liver, intestines, and heart.

CHOLESTEROL - The Top 5 Cholesterol Myths

Even if you think you know everything there is to know about cholesterol, there may be a few more surprises in store. Check out these common myths about high cholesterol; find out whos most likely to have it, what types of food can cause it, and why—sometimes—cholesterol isnt a bad word.

Myth 1: Americans have the highest cholesterol in the world

One of the world's enduring stereotypes is the fat American with cholesterol-clogged arteries who is a Big Mac or two away from a heart attack. As a nation, we could certainly use some slimming down, but when it comes to cholesterol levels we are solidly middle-of-the-road.

According to 2005 World Health Organization statistics, American men rank 83rd in the world in average total cholesterol, and American women rank 81st; in both cases, the average number is 197 mg/dL, just below the Borderline-High Risk category. That is very respectable compared to the top-ranked countries: In Colombia the average cholesterol among men is a dangerous 244, while the women in Israel, Libya, Norway, and Uruguay are locked in a four-way tie at 232.

Myth 2: Eggs are evil

It's true that eggs have a lot of dietary cholesterol—upwards of 200 mg, which is more than two-thirds of the American Heart Association's recommended limit of 300 mg a day. But dietary cholesterol isn't nearly as dangerous as was once thought. Only some of the cholesterol in food ends up as cholesterol in your bloodstream, and if your dietary cholesterol intake rises, your body compensates by producing less cholesterol of its own.

While you don't want to overdo it, eating an egg or two a few times a week isn't dangerous. In fact, eggs are an excellent source of protein and contain unsaturated fat, a so-called good fat.

Myth 3: Kids can't have high cholesterol

Most people think high cholesterol is a problem that's strictly for the middle-aged. But guess what? Research has shown that atherosclerosis—the narrowing of the arteries that leads to heart attacks—can start as early as age eight. In July 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics released guidelines on kids and cholesterol that recommended that children who are overweight, have hypertension, or have a family history of heart disease have their cholesterol tested as young as two years of age.

Children with high cholesterol should be on a diet that restricts saturated fat to 7% of calories and no more than 200 mg per day of dietary cholesterol, according to the guidelines. Fiber supplements and more exercise are also recommended.

While the guidelines prompted a bit of an outcry from parents worried that doctors would be pushing cholesterol-lowering drugs for kids, a new study suggests that less than 1% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 would be considered candidates for medication.

Myth 4: Food is heart-healthy if it says "0 mg cholesterol"

The Cholesterol portion of the nutritional label refers to dietary cholesterol, which is only one of the things found in food that can cause your cholesterol to go sky-high. (A bigger contributor to elevated cholesterol? A high-fat diet.) It's also believed to be the least important. Saturated fat (found in animal foods and dairy products) and trans fats (found in packaged foods) appear to have a far greater impact on low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the so-called bad cholesterol that causes atherosclerosis, than dietary cholesterol.

Myth 5: Cholesterol is always a bad thing

When most people hear "cholesterol" they think "bad." Like most things in life, the reality is more complex. High cholesterol can be dangerous, but cholesterol itself is essential to various bodily processes, from insulating nerve cells in the brain to providing structure for cell membranes. That's why your body makes the white, waxy substance (about 75% of the cholesterol in your blood is made by the liver and cells elsewhere in your body).

The role of cholesterol in heart disease is often misunderstood. Cholesterol is carried through the bloodstream by low-density and high-density lipoproteins (LDL and HDL). LDL, known as bad cholesterol, and not the cholesterol it carries per se, is responsible for atherosclerosis.

Source: http://www.health.com/

CHOLESTEROL - What Puts You at Risk for High Cholesterol?

Blood cholesterol is a risk factor for coronary artery disease and heart attack, so reducing your risk of high cholesterol is a worthy goal. However, the next time you brag that your cholesterol is nice and low—or lament that your number is in the mid-200s—know this: "Your total cholesterol is a pretty meaningless number," says Maureen Mays, MD, a preventive cardiologist and lipid specialist at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. "Not only does the general public not know this, some doctors don't either."

Here's why "the number" is so misleading. Total cholesterol is calculated by adding LDL (bad cholesterol), HDL (good cholesterol), and one-fifth of your triglyceride total. "We have been using this formula of adding a bad thing to a good thing and factoring in one-fifth of a bad thing, and it's not useful," Dr. Mays says.

That's one reason 50% of people who have a heart attack have normal cholesterol readings.

Effects of diet and exercise

A smarter way of looking at cholesterol risk is by component. LDL, or bad cholesterol, is very responsive to good nutrition and exercise. The target number is less than 100 mg/dL. It's not uncommon for LDL to swing up by 40% in response to a sedentary lifestyle and a diet high in saturated and other unhealthy fats, according to Dr. Mays.

It can also drop by up to 40% in response to a heart-healthy diet and regular exercise.

One in 500 people has an inherited risk of extremely high LDL and should be put on statins to control their risk of heart disease.

Being overweight can also raise your triglycerides, for which the goal is 150 mg/dL or under. High triglycerides put you at risk for type 2 diabetes, which is a coronary heart disease risk equivalent; this means that if you have diabetes, you have the same risk of dying from cardiovascular problems as someone who already has coronary heart disease.

While increasing age and stress will slightly change your cholesterol panel, "stopping smoking is the best way to raise your good cholesterol," says Dr. Mays.

It is critical for women nearing menopause to maintain a healthy diet and exercise plan to counteract the effects of estrogen loss. Because estrogen suppresses LDL levels, women who reach menopause may notice a surge of bad cholesterol, says Denise Janosik, MD, a cardiologist and professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Effect of drugs and alcohol

Certain medications, including the steroid prednisone and HIV drugs, can affect your cholesterol panel negatively, so much so that people who are on protease inhibitors for HIV need to be concerned about developing heart disease, and not just AIDS, according to Dr. Mays.

One to two drinks a day is fine for keeping your cholesterol in check. More than that may raise triglycerides because of the high sugar and calorie content of alcoholic drinks. Alcohol also raises HDL slightly, but this increase in good cholesterol isn't as great as that caused by a healthy lifestyle.

Hypothyroidism, too, can result in skewed cholesterol numbers. "If you are fatigued and have sudden weight gain, it is good to have a thyroid screening," says Dr. Mays. "If your thyroid isn't working properly, your lipid panel will make no sense."

Source: http://www.health.com/

CHOLESTEROL - Which Statin Will Lower Your Cholesterol?

Lipitor (atorvastatin), Zocor (simvastatin), Crestor (rosuvastatin), and other statins can dramatically lower levels of artery-clogging cholesterolin the blood, an ability that makes them hugely popular in our cholesterol-rich country. Heart researchers have estimated that these drugs could save 1,000 lives each week for every 10 million high-risk heart disease patients who take them.

One study of nearly 20,000 patients found that, after a heart attack, taking a statin can prevent the risk of death within one year by 25%. Among patients who don't even have cardiovascular disease, taking a statin preventively can reduce the risk of a major coronary event like heart attack by about 30%.

When Denise Foley, 57, of Philadelphia, went through menopause, her cholesterol shot up from 160 to 240. Her doctor warned her that that number, along with her family history of heart disease, put her at risk for a heart attack or stroke. But she didn't want to take heart medication. "I really wanted to lower my risk without drugs," she says. "I lost 30 pounds, I exercised, and I went on a vegetarian diet. But I just couldn't budge it."

Seven years ago she was prescribed Lipitor to control her high cholesterol. Soon after, she started feeling depressed for no reason. "I went to a party filled with good friends, and I sat in the corner and thought everyone hated me," she says. Turns out depression can be a side effect of Lipitor. Her doctor switched her to Zocor, which she now takes successfully. Her cholesterol is in a safe range. "I worry about the long-term effects of these drugs," she says. "But I also know that without medication, I might be dead from a heart attack or stroke."

As of December 2006, an estimated 13.1 million Americans had a prescription for a statin, an increase of 500,000 patients in just over a year. In 2004, Americans spent more than $9 billion on Lipitor alone, more than for any other prescription drug. The arrival in 2006 of two inexpensive generic statins—pravastatin and simvastatin—will make statins available to even more patients.

How statins work

Statins lower cholesterol in two ways: They encourage the liver to clear LDL (bad cholesterol) from the blood, and they block an enzyme that the body needs to make new cholesterol.

At high doses, statins can nudge up your HDL (good cholesterol) while lowering your LDL (bad cholesterol) by 50% or more. Studies have shown that, for patients who already have heart disease, taking a statin can reduce the risk of fatal coronary events within five years by up to 40%. According to Thomas H. Lee, a cardiologist and editor in chief of the Harvard Heart Letter, even people who don't have high cholesterol can cut their risk of heart disease by a third simply by taking a statin.

Even given their wild popularity, "statins are still underprescribed," says Thomas Allison, PhD, a cardiovascular specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "The drugs could do much more good if more people took them to prevent heart disease, not just treat it," he says. "Most people aren't receiving cholesterol treatment until they've had a heart attack."

Joe Marzan, 32, a heart attack survivor in Prineville, Ore., was given a preventive prescription for statins because he had high cholesterol and a fatty diet, and because his father had had coronary bypass surgery. "I didn't take it regularly, though," he says, because he thought he was too young to worry about heart disease.

When a checkup showed that his total cholesterol had climbed to an incredible 400, his doctor urged him to come in for more aggressive treatment, including higher doses of Zocor or Lipitor. But Marzan, who has two kids, was in the process of moving to a new town and put off the appointment. His heart attack struck seven months later. Now he counsels other heart disease patients on the importance of compliance. "If I had listened to my doctor, I might have dodged this bullet," he says.

Statin side effects and risks

Statins generally don't cause many side effects, but potentially the most common problem is muscle pain, stiffness, or weakness, which affects about 1% of study subjects but many more patients in the real world, because study subjects are carefully screened, says Eliot Brinton, MD, a preventive cardiologist and lipidologist at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Other side effects can include tiredness, bloating, constipation, and leg and abdominal pain. More serious side effects—including liver damage—are rare. Roughly one out of six million patients taking Lipitor has a fatal reaction. "Walking down to the store to get the drug is more dangerous than taking it," Allison says.

Some experts have expressed concern that the emphasis on statins could draw attention away from the importance of diet and lifestyle. A 2007 study of 71 patients who began taking statins found that 44% felt their physician had prescribed the statin even though the patients preferred to try dietary measures to control their cholesterol. And although 76% of the patients wanted to reduce their dietary fat intake when they began statin treatment, after six months there was no significant change in the group's fat intake.

But the biggest risk with statins is not taking them. Only about half of all patients prescribed a statin end up reaching their cholesterol goals, mainly because far too many people leave far too many pills untouched.

One recent study of nearly 6,500 patients found that they refilled their monthly prescriptions an average of less than five times a year.

Source: http://www.health.com/

CHOLESTEROL - 7 Causes of High Cholesterol

High cholesterol comes from a variety of sources, including your family history and what you eat. Here is a visual journey through the most common causes.

Do you have high cholesterol?

You're not alone—so do about 100 million other Americans. High cholesterol comes from a variety of sources, including your family history and what you eat. Here is a visual journey through the most common causes.

Your diet

Eating too much saturated fat (like the kind found in this classic breakfast) can cause high cholesterol. You will find this unhealthy fat in foods that come from animals. Beef, pork, veal, milk, eggs, butter, and cheese contain saturated fat. Packaged foods that contain coconut oil, palm oil, or cocoa butter may have a lot of saturated fat. You will also find saturated fat in stick margarine, vegetable shortening, and most cookies, crackers, chips, and other snacks.

Your weight

Your beer belly isn't just bad for your social life. Being overweight may increase triglycerides and decrease HDL, or good cholesterol. Losing that gut can go a long way toward improving your beach bod, too.

Your activity level

Hey, get off that couch and get moving. Lack of physical activity may increase LDL, or bad cholesterol, and decrease HDL, or good cholesterol.

Your age and gender

After you reach age 20, your cholesterol levels naturally begin to rise. In men, cholesterol levels generally level off after age 50. In women, cholesterol levels stay fairly low until menopause, after which they rise to about the same level as in men.

Your overall health

Don't skip your annual physical, and be sure to have your doc explain your heart disease risk. Having certain diseases, such as diabetes or hypothyroidism, may cause high cholesterol.

Your family history

Aren't they cute? But they can be dangerous, even when they're not gossiping about each other. If family members have high cholesterol, you may also.

Cigarette smoking

Come on, you already know this one. Smoking can lower your good cholesterol. And it can kill you. So why not quit smoking?

Source: http://www.health.com/

HEALTH - Walnuts And Walnut Oil Benefit Heart Health Beyond Lowering Cholesterol

As well as lowering cholesterol, it appears that consuming whole walnuts and walnut oil also reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease in other ways, according to a new study funded by the California Walnut Board.

The investigating team, comprising researchers from Penn State, Tufts University and University of Pennsylvania, writes about its findings in a paper due to appear in the 1 June print issue of theJournal of Nutrition, a version of which is already available online.

Senior author Penny Kris-Etherton, Distinguished Professor of Nutrition at Penn State, says in a statement:

"We already know that eating walnuts in a heart-healthy diet can lower blood cholesterol levels."

"But, until now, we did not know what component of the walnut was providing this benefit. Now we understand additional ways in which whole walnuts and their oil components can improve heart health," she adds.

For the study, Kris-Etherton and colleagues randomly assigned 15 volunteers to one of four treatments, each comprising an "acute" or one-time comsumption of whole walnuts (85 gms), their skin (6 gms), defatted nutmeat (34 gms), or oil (51 gms).

The volunteers were healthy overweight and obese adults with moderate hypercholesterolemia (high blood cholesterol).

They underwent a number of biochemical and physiological tests, both before ingestion and at various times after (30 minutes, one hour, two hours, four hours and six hours after).

The study was a cross-over study, so each volunteer eventually underwent all four treatments, and the associated tests.

The test results showed that a one-time consumption of walnut oil boosted blood vessel functioning. Also, consumption of whole walnuts helped "good cholesterol" (HDL) transport and remove excess cholesterol from the body more effectively.

First author Claire Berryman, a graduate student in nutritional sciences at Penn State, says the results suggest after a meal containing walnut oil, blood vessels perform better, "which is very important given that blood vessel integrity is often compromised in individuals with cardiovascular disease".

She explains that the walnut oil was particularly good at preserving the function of the cells that line the walls of blood vessels, the endothelial cells, which play an important role in cardiovascular health.

Speculating on which compounds may be involved, the researchers point to the alpha-linolenic acid, gamma-tocopherol and phytosterols in walnuts.

Alpha-linolenic acid is a type of omega-3 fatty acid found in plants. Gamma-tocopherol is a major form of vitamin E found in many plant seeds, and phytosterols are cholesterol-like molecules found in plants that can lower cholesterol levels.

Berryman says although further studies now need to confirm these findings, especially as the "science around HDL functionality is very new", they imply we need to improve dietary advice for avoiding heart disease.

Kris-Etherton agrees, and says more studies are also needed to find out exactly what the underlying mechanisms might be that tie walnut consumption to lowering of cardiovascular risk. But in the meantime:

"Our study indicates that simple dietary changes, such as incorporating walnuts and/or their oil in a heart healthy diet, may reduce the risk of heart disease."

In 2010, researchers also found that a diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil may prepare the body to deal better with stress.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD 
Copyright: Medical News Today 

Source : http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/260288.php