Myth #5 By The Time A Woman Reaches Menopause It Is Too Late To Improve Cardiovascular Risk Due To High Cholesterol
False: As you age, your risk for heart and vascular disease increases. This means that the older you get, the more important cholesterol becomes! It is never too late to start addressing your health, and treatment for high cholesterol after menopause is extremely important to reduce your risk of heart disease. You can get started by filling out a Know Your Numbers worksheet and taking it to your doctor.
For even more detailed information about cholesterol and the heart, visit the cholesterol information page in THIs online Heart Information Center.
Until next time!
What Are The Types Of Cholesterol
Cholesterol moves throughout the body carried by lipoproteins in the blood. These lipoproteins include:
- Low-density lipoprotein is one of the two main lipoproteins. LDL is often called the bad cholesterol.
- High-density lipoprotein is the other main lipoprotein. HDL is often called the good cholesterol.
- Very-low-density lipoproteins are particles in the blood that carry triglycerides.
Know Your Numbers And What To Do About Them
When it comes to cholesterol, it’s important to know your numbers. Hyperlipidemia means your blood has too many lipids , such as cholesterol and triglycerides. One type of hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia, means you have too much non-HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol in your blood. This condition increases fatty deposits in arteries and the risk of blockages.
Another way your cholesterol numbers can be out of balance is when your HDL cholesterol level is too low. With less HDL to remove cholesterol from your arteries, your risk of atherosclerotic plaque and blockages increases.
If youre diagnosed with hyperlipidemia, your overall health and other risks such as smoking or high blood pressure will help guide treatment. These factors can combine with high LDL cholesterol or low HDL cholesterol levels to affect your cardiovascular health. Your doctor may use the ASCVD Risk Calculator to assess your risk of a coronary event in the next 10 years.
The good news is, high cholesterol can be lowered, reducing risk of heart disease and stroke. If youre 20 years or older, have your cholesterol tested and work with your doctor to adjust your cholesterol levels as needed.
Often, changing behaviors can help bring your numbers into line. If lifestyle changes alone dont improve your cholesterol levels, medication may be prescribed. Lifestyle changes include:
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How To Lower Cholesterol Naturally
Here are 6 drug-free alternatives for lowering LDL cholesterol.
To avoid a heart attack, research has found that a key strategy is getting LDL cholesterol way down. Striving for LDL levels of 100 and below is good, but dropping to 80 and lower may be even better. Learn how to lower cholesterol naturally.
Go ahead, binge on beans! Enjoy all kinds! Black beans. White beans. Red beans. Pinto beans. Adzuki beans. They’re all champions at actively lowering LDL cholesterol.
If Its Not Low Enough
If you arent able to lower your cholesterol enough through lifestyle changes, your doctor may recommend you begin drug treatment. There are several types of drugs available for cholesterol lowering including statins, bile acid sequestrants, nicotinic acid, fibric acids and cholesterol absorption inhibitors. Your doctor can help decide which type of drug is best for you.
To make an appointment with any of our Preventive Cardiology specialists, please call 216.444.9353. For more information on implementing a low cholesterol diet, contact Preventive Cardiology by phone at 216.444.9353 or toll-free at 800.223.2273, ext. 49353.
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What To Know About Triglycerides
In addition to cholesterol, you might hear about your triglycerides, another kind of fat found in the bloodstream. Women should pay particular attention to this. A high level of triglycerides seems to predict an even greater risk for heart disease in women compared with men, says Michos.
When you take in more calories than you need, your body converts the extra calories into triglycerides, which are then stored in fat cells. Triglycerides are used by the body for energy, but people with excess triglycerides have higher risk of medical problems, including cardiovascular disease. Drinking a lot of alcohol and eating foods containing simple carbohydrates , saturated fats and trans fats contributes to high triglycerides. High levels may also be caused by health conditions such as diabetes, an underactive thyroid, obesity, polycystic ovary syndrome or kidney disease.
Triglycerides also circulate in the bloodstream on particles that may contribute to plaque formation. Many people with high triglycerides have other risk factors for atherosclerosis, including high LDL levels or low HDL levels, or abnormal blood sugar levels. Genetic studies have also shown some association between triglycerides and cardiovascular disease.
High Cholesterol: Prevention, Treatment and Research
Eat More Soluble Fiber With Whole Grains
One way to lower your LDL Cholesterol is by eating more soluble fiber with whole grains. There can be both good and bad types of dietary fibers-soluble or insoluble.
Good sources for this kind of fiber include Oatmeal, Green peas, lentils, beans, barley, and blackberries!
Insoluble fibers are the opposite because they do not dissolve in water these come from broccoli and cauliflower, which lower blood sugar levels over time like soluble fibers.
Soluble fiber is especially important for lowering LDL cholesterol levels because soluble fibers lower the amount of bad cholesterol that you absorb in your intestines.
Soluble fiber also helps lower blood sugar and insulin levels this is important for those who are diabetic so they can control their disease better with diet changes!
Its best to consume a mix of both types of fiber to get all the benefits needed from them without any drawbacks!
Here are some food sources: Oatmeal, beans, peas, lentils, and barley. These foods contain more than just good vitamins but they will help lower bad cholesterol as well.
Both kinds help lower LDL cholesterol by slowing down digestion to remain exposed to high amounts of bile acids for too long.
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Lowering Your Total And Ldl Cholesterol Levels
Here are some things you can do:
Lose weight if you are overweight.
Exercise regularly. For example, walk or ride a bicycle for 30 minutes at least three times a week.
Eat fewer high-fat foods, like butter, cheese, meat, and some vegetable fats . Foods that are high in saturated fat should be less than 7 percent of your total daily calories.
Eat more high-fiber foods, like vegetables, fruits, grains, and whole-grain breads, cereals, and pasta.
Your doctor can help you plan a heart-healthy diet. If exercising and changing your diet do not help enough, you might need to take a medicine to lower your cholesterol level.
Lower Ldl Levels Are Better
In a JAMA editorial accompanying the study, Christopher P. Cannon, MD, of Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School wrote that aggressive LDL lowering is the ideal lower is better.
The JAMA studys findings echo those of another large 4,162-patient study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It concluded that LDL cholesterol levels of 62 were even better than levels of 95 at preventing death, heart attacks, and other cardiovascular-related problems in people with heart disease.
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How To Lower Cholesterol Naturally In 28 Simple Steps
There are tons of natural remedies out there for how to lower cholesterol levels, often promising quick results with next to no effort required on your part. But while its true that there are tons of options to keep cholesterol levels in check, it can actually be as simple as swapping out a few foods in your diet for healthier options, switching up your workout routine or adding a supplement or two into the mix.
Ready to get started? Lets take a look at 28 simple methods for how to lower cholesterol and how it can impact your health.
Natural Ways To Lower Your Cholesterol Levels
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Cholesterol is made in your liver and has many important functions. For example, it helps keep the walls of your cells flexible and is needed to make several hormones.
However, like anything in the body, too much cholesterol or cholesterol in the wrong places creates problems.
Like fat, cholesterol does not dissolve in water. Instead, its transport in the body depends on molecules called lipoproteins, which carry cholesterol, fat and fat-soluble vitamins in the blood.
Different kinds of lipoproteins have different effects on health. For example, high levels of low-density lipoprotein result in cholesterol deposits in blood vessel walls, which can lead to clogged arteries, strokes, heart attacks and kidney failure .
In contrast, high-density lipoprotein helps carry cholesterol away from vessel walls and helps prevent these diseases .
This article will review 10 natural ways to increase the good HDL cholesterol and lower the bad LDL cholesterol.
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Making Your Numbers Shrink
The first line of attack for lowering your cholesterol is a combination of changes in lifestyle: diet, exercise and weight loss.
Diet
A heart-healthy diet from the National Cholesterol Education Program called the TLC diet can help lower your cholesterol. This is a low-saturated-fat, low-cholesterol eating plan that calls for less than 7 percent of calories from saturated fat and less than 200 mg of dietary cholesterol per day. The TLC diet recommends only enough calories to maintain a desirable weight and avoid weight gain. If your LDL is not lowered enough by reducing your saturated fat and cholesterol intakes, you can increase the amount of soluble fiber in your diet. You can also add certain food products that contain plant stanols or plant sterols to boost your diets LDL-lowering power.
Exercise
Aim for 30 minutes of physical activity on most, if not all, days. 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 . Your activity should be of moderate intensity, which means you are able to carry on two to three word sentences. Try running, walking briskly, swimming or dancing.
Weight loss
Focus On Monounsaturated Fats
As opposed to saturated fats, unsaturated fats have at least one double chemical bond that changes the way they are used in the body. Monounsaturated fats have only one double bond.
Although some recommend a low-fat diet for weight loss, a study of 10 men found a 6-week, low-fat diet reduced levels of harmful LDL, but also reduced beneficial HDL .
In contrast, a diet high in monounsaturated fats reduced harmful LDL, but also protected higher levels of healthy HDL.
A study of 24 adults with high blood cholesterol came to the same conclusion, where eating a diet high in monounsaturated fat increased beneficial HDL by 12%, compared to a diet low in saturated fat .
Monounsaturated fats may also reduce the oxidation of lipoproteins, which contributes to clogged arteries. A study of 26 people found that replacing polyunsaturated fats with monounsaturated fats in the diet reduced the oxidation of fats and cholesterol (
You can find olive oil and canola oil online.
summary
Monounsaturated fats like those in olive oil, canola oil, tree nuts and avocados reduce the bad LDL, increase the good HDL and reduce the oxidation that contributes to clogged arteries.
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Natural Ways To Lower Cholesterol Quickly
Is your cholesterol level been checked lately?
I know, when you come to this age, more or less 50 years old, your cholesterol level is one thing that you make sure to be at a healthy level.
Cholesterol, in a nutshell, is that fat floating in your blood. Cholesterol is needed in our body to help build healthy cells. But high levels of this can increase the rate of heart disease.
I am referring to the bad type of cholesterol!
Cholesterol travels through our blood on proteins which is called lipoproteins.
Myth #: High Cholesterol Foods Cause Heart Disease
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains that high cholesterol foods raise the risk for heart attack and stroke. However, new research is adding nuance to discussions about cholesterol in foods and heart disease.
The Facts: Lots of foods that are high in cholesterol, like red meats and dairy, also contain lots of fatty acids, which are linked to heart disease. New research points out that high-cholesterol foods that dont have much fat, like eggs and shrimp, dont contribute to heart disease.
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/8here Is How To Lower Bad Cholesterol Level
High level of LDL cholesterol, also referred to as bad cholesterol is a common health concern. It is linked with serious health ailments like heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes, which at times can turn fatal. This makes it vital to keep a track of the cholesterol level to evade life-threatening health issues.
There Are Two Types Of Lipoproteins That Carry The Cholesterol Throughout The Body:
- BAD CHOLESTEROL or Low-density protein makes up most of our body`s cholesterol. If this is at a high level, this can cause heart failure.
- GOOD CHOLESTEROL or High-density protein absorbs cholesterol and carries it to our liver. The liver then flushes it from the body. High level of this actually lowers the risk of heart disease and stroke.
So, if you have a high level of LDL , that means there is already a build-up of fatty deposits in the walls of our blood vessels. Eventually, this can cause our blood vessels to get stiffer, narrower, and even get clogged. If this clogging gets worst over the years, this can cause a heart attack or stroke.
Although a high level of cholesterol can be due to hereditary, it is usually caused by an unhealthy lifestyle and poor diet, that is why it can be prevented and treated.
With a better choice of lifestyle, lots of exercises, and some medications, your high cholesterol level can be treated.
You can also treat them with simple natural ways.
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What Are Normal Levels Of Cholesterol
Normal levels of cholesterol are different depending on your age and sex. These guidelines show desirable total, non-HDL,LDL and HDL levels by age and sex.
Table 1: Target cholesterol levels by age and sex
| Age and sex |
|---|
cholesterol
cholesterol
People aged 19 years and younger Men aged 20 years and olderWomen aged 20 years and older
The table above spells out the numbers for normal cholesterol levels. The table below shows you cholesterol levels that are higher than normal. High cholesterol numbers vary by age group and sex, and may be different for those who have heart disease. These guidelines represent high cholesterol numbers for those who do not have heart disease.
Table 2: High total, non-HDL and LDL cholesterol levels by age and sex
| Age and sex |
|---|
| People aged 19 years and younger |
Borderline: 170-199 mg/dL
High: Greater than or equal to 200 mg/dL
Borderline: 120-144 mg/dL
High: Greater than or equal to 145 mg/dL
Borderline: 110-129 mg/dL
High: Greater than or equal to 130 mg/dL
High: Greater than or equal to 239 mg/dL
Near optimal or above optimal: 100-129 mg/dL
Borderline high: 130-159 mg/dL
Very high: Greater than 189 mg/dL
High: Greater than or equal to 239 mg/dL
Near optimal or above optimal: 100-129 mg/dL
Borderline high: 130-159 mg/dL
Very high: Greater than 189 mg/dL
LDL cholesterol levels
If you do not have heart disease or blood vessel disease, and you are not at high risk for developing heart disease, the optimal number is less than 100 mg/dL.
Triglycerides
How To Lower Cholesterol: Know Your Fats
The American Heart Association recommends that just 25% to 35% of your daily calories come from fats such as those found in fish, nuts, and vegetable oils. For healthy people, saturated fat should comprise no more than 7% of your total calories. On a 2,000 calorie-a-day diet, that’s about 140 calories worth of saturated fat. If you need to lower your LDL cholesterol, limit saturated fat to 5% to 6% of calories, or about 11 to 13 grams of saturated fat on a 2,000-calorie diet. Reduce trans fats to less than 1% of your total daily calories. This means avoiding fried foods and many junk foods.
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High Cholesterol Before Menopause
There are several risk factors that could lead to suffering from high cholesterol before menopause. It generally appears before 50 years of age, and forces women to take specific medication, or to enact a change in dietary habits. But lets take a look at the causes:
- Pregnancy: During pregnancy, women suffer from an increase of estrogen and hormones due to the development of the placenta. Cholesterol is an essential fat for forming estrogen and placental hormones. All of this leads to high cholesterol. In addition to that, women also suffer from changes in their anabolic processes, which simultaneously cause high cholesterol. Remember to go to your check-ups and let your doctor provide you with the most appropriate treatment.
- Using contraceptive pills: a lot of these pills contain estrogen and progestin. As weve already mentioned, these substances affect triglyceridesand cholesterol levels, causing changes in both HDL and LDL levels.
- Hypothyroidism: recent studies have revealed that when suffering from hypothyroidism, the thyroids produce very few thyroid hormones. This slows down the bodys metabolism. As a result, cholesterol increases, because thyroid levels reduce the livers ability to process blood. Keep this in mind.
- Kidney failure: when suffering from kidney failure, lipids begin to accumulate in the blood because the kidneys are unable to process them properly. All this leads to heightened cholesterol levels.
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