All About Lowering Cholesterol

Tips For Lowering Cholesterol Levels

Regular monitoring of blood cholesterol and blood pressure should be done because they have no warning sign in the initial stages. High cholesterol in the body along with obesity, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, alcoholism is a major risk factor for heart attack & stroke.

Tips for lowering cholesterol levels include the following.

Lowering cholesterol with diet and exercise Eat a cholesterol lowering diet. Foods to avoid when lowering cholesterol include saturated fats and trans-fats. Replace these with food that have poly unsaturated fats. Vegetables, fruits, high fiber grains, and fish are especially beneficial.

When you eat meat, see to that the excess fat is drained off while boiling or cut-off all visible fat, the skin is removed off the poultry pieces, no yolks in the egg dishes.

Schedule 30 minutes or more of exercise every day. This helps to achieve ideal bodyweight, by burning excess calories. Plus, by moving blood quickly through your circulatory system, you'll "flush out" a lot of the LDL or "bad cholesterol" that sometimes accumulates along the walls of your arteries.

Statin cholesterol lowering drugs Drug therapy is another option in addition to diet and lifestyle changes. Many drugs are available in the market, that can be used individually or in combination. Statins are the most popular and most often prescribed. Statins generally reduce LDL cholesterol by 30 to 40 %.

A few other drugs for reducing cholesterol are:

Bile acid binding resins – This group of drug reduces LDL cholesterol. These resins bind to bile and hence promote faster disposal of cholesterol.

Fibrates – Fibrates raise HDL concentrations & reduces Triglycerides, with mild effect on LDL level.

Niacin – Lowers triglycerides, LDL cholesterol & increases HDL cholesterol. Selective cholesterol absorption inhibitors – This group of medications prevents the absorption of cholesterol from the intestine.

For additional information, see our article on statin cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Stop smoking and reduce alcohol consumption Because they increase triglyceride levels in the blood and thus are the important causes for primary as well as secondary lipid disorders.

Reduce stress A pleasant life style with planned schedule, minimum stress and overload, with adequate rest and sleep are also important for a healthy heart.

Hormone replacement therapy Usually premenopausal women are not affected with hyper cholesterolaemia, the cause attributed to estrogen hormone. However, after menopause because of reduced hormones, risk of cardiovascular disease rises sharply. So women after menopause should be offered female replacement therapy despite having normal cholesterol level.

Get a regular cholesterol check up Monitor your cholesterol levels by having a check up once every 5 years from the age of 20 is advised. You should start having these check ups more often as you get older. It is compulsory for a selective group of people with, 

- A family history of early coronary heart disease, or other lipid disorders.
- Obesity.
- Diabetes & hypertension.
- Disorders of pancreas.
- Those undergoing kidney replacements.
- Menopause.

Once you have a cholesterol check up and find you have high cholesterol, consult your doctor regarding the appropriate changes in your life style, or possibly getting a prescription for statin cholesterol lowering drugs.

See additional information by clickin on how to lower cholesterol levels without medications and how to reduce cholesterol with diet and exercise. 

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