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Look after your heart
Look after your heart
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Facts about cholesterol

Helen Tither
16/ 6/2008

WE all know that high cholesterol levels can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke - but how many of us know why and what we can do to cut those risks?

What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a fatty substance which is found in the blood and plays an essential role in how every cell in the body works. However, too much cholesterol in the blood can increase your risk of heart problems.

What causes high cholesterol?

One of the causes of high blood cholesterol levels among people in the UK is eating too much saturated fat. The cholesterol which is found in some foods such as eggs, liver, kidneys and some types of seafood eg. prawns, does not usually make a great contribution to the level of cholesterol in your blood. It is much more important that you eat foods that are low in saturated fat.

However, some people have high blood cholesterol even though they eat a healthy diet. For example, they may have inherited a condition called familial hyperlipidaemia (FH).

How can I reduce my cholesterol levels?

To help reduce your cholesterol level, you need to cut down on saturated fats and trans fats and replace them with monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. You should also reduce the total amount of fat you eat.

Eat oily fish regularly. Oily fish provides the richest source of a particular type of polyunsaturated fat known as omega-3 fats which can help to lower blood triglyceride levels and also helps prevent the blood from clotting, and help to regulate the heart rhythm.

Eat a high-fibre diet. Foods that are high in 'soluble fibre' such as porridge, beans, pulses, lentils, nuts, fruits and vegetables, can help lower cholesterol. Please see our fact sheet Fibre in our Any Questions/FAQ section on the BHF website.

Doing regular physical activity can help increase your HDL cholesterol (the `protective' type of cholesterol).

Will I need to take medication?

Whether you need to take cholesterol-lowering drugs or not depends not just on your total cholesterol level but also on your overall risk of coronary heart disease.

Cholesterol-lowering medicines such as statins are prescribed for people who are at greatest overall risk of suffering from coronary heart disease.

The British Heart Foundation has the answers to these questions, and any other heart-related worries you might have, on their website. Visit www.bhf.org.uk for more information.
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Most recent 1 of 1 user comments

   familial hypercholesterolemia is an inheirted genetic disorder that effects 1 in every 500 people but very little is advertised about this disorder,although very high cholesterol levels attribute to many heart related deaths in the uk,surely in this day and age of dna and genetics screening is very easy,it would be nice to see the public of scotland informed of this metablic/genetic disorder,how many families are a ticking time bomb,and may lose a loved one at an early age due to heart attacks etc,the question they are left with is if i had known or we never knew. I am writing to you to inquire if you could possibly highlight the genetic blood disorder familial hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol in the blood) and heart disease either in your column or mabye you could suggest an appropriate media outlet,the reason for my enquiry is that im a 45year old man from Blairgowrie Perthshire and suffer from this genetic condition,i was diagnosed with this aged nine,i had a severe heart attack aged 30,and had heart bypass operations aged 30 and 33,i have been left with left ventricle heart damage,suffer from angina and have ongoing heart failure,i recently had an angiogram which showed that i have multiple artery narrowings and because of where they are they are unoperatable,so my condition has to be controlled through medication, familial hypercholesterolemia accelarates heart disease. In the united kingdom 1 in every 500 people have this genetic disorder but are unaware till they have their blood screened for it or have a heart attack etc,so potentially there are many sufferers of this genetic disorder,highlighting this metabolic disorder may help people in scotland and the uk have better screening facilities, and save some from premature death,it may also help to set up a charity or foundation in scotland as there is not one for familial hypercholesterol at present, all at present are english based and given the amount of sufferers it would be good for scotland. many thanks for your time best wishes Bruce Grant

perthshire
bsg1, perthshire
16/06/2008 at 14:31
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