Fried Chicken: 161 Mg 54% Dv
Crispy fried chicken is one of the most popular fast foods in America, but that doesnt mean its good for you. In one KFC fried chicken breast with skin, youll get 54 percent of the DV for cholesterol, as well as 45 percent DV for total fat and 38 percent DV for saturated fat.
Fried foods, especially fried chicken and fried fish, are linked with a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, according to a January 2019 study in the BMJ. The study also found that the more fried food people ate, the greater their chance of developing heart disease.
Prevention Of High Cholesterol
Regularly monitoring your cholesterol levels can also help prevent your numbers from getting too high or low. In general, healthy adults should check their cholesterol every four to six years, but your doctor may ask to check your cholesterol more often depending on your age, overall health, and other risk factors. There are other ways to prevent high cholesterol, too
What Can Affect My Ldl Level
Things that can affect your LDL level include:
- Diet. Saturated fat and cholesterol in the food you eat make your blood cholesterol level rise
- Weight. Being overweight tends to raise your LDL level, lower your HDL level, and increase your total cholesterol level
- Physical Activity. A lack of physical activity can lead to weight gain, which can raise your LDL level
- Smoking.Cigarette smoking lowers your HDL cholesterol. Since HDL helps to remove LDL from your arteries, if you have less HDL, that can contribute to you having a higher LDL level.
- Age and Sex. As women and men get older, their cholesterol levels rise. Before the age of menopause, women have lower total cholesterol levels than men of the same age. After the age of menopause, women’s LDL levels tend to rise.
- Genetics. Your genes partly determine how much cholesterol your body makes. High cholesterol can run in families. For example, familial hypercholesterolemia is an inherited form of high blood cholesterol.
- Medicines. Certain medicines, including steroids, some blood pressure medicines, and HIV/AIDS medicines, can raise your LDL level.
- Other medical conditions. Diseases such as chronic kidney disease, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS can cause a higher LDL level.
- Race. Certain races may have an increased risk of high blood cholesterol. For example, African Americans typically have higher HDL and LDL cholesterol levels than whites.
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What Foods Are High In Cholesterol
Certain foods are high in cholesterol. If cholesterol is a health concern for you, it is important to understand which foods increase good cholesterol and which foods increase bad cholesterol. Saturated fat, which is found in fatty meats, poultry with skin, and whole milk product, contributes to bad cholesterol. Trans fat, which can be found in shortening and margarine, also contributes to bad cholesterol.While small amounts of saturated fat and trans fat are okay, too much can lead to increased bad cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease. Cholesterol can also be found directly in certain foods, such as egg yolk, whole milk products, and certain meat products.
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When Should High Cholesterol Be Treated With Medication
If youve had a heart attack, stroke, or have diabetes or been diagnosed with inherited high cholesterol, youll need to take one or more cholesterol-lowering medications, in addition to being careful with your diet and staying active. Statins can have a tremendous impact for lowering LDL cholesterol, says Khandwalla. Statins decrease your risk of illness and dying if youre in one of these high-risk groups.
In addition to statins, which should always be used first, other cholesterol-lowering drugs include fibrates, niacin, PCSK9 inhibitors, bile-acid sequestrants, and cholesterol absorption inhibitors, according to the CDC.
If you found out your cholesterol was high after a routine checkup, discuss your test results with your doctor. Your doctor will calculate your individual risk of heart attack or stroke to decide if you should be on a statin.
In some cases, the doctor may recommend giving a healthy diet and active lifestyle a try first. However, if your cholesterol levels remain high, you may need a heart scan to look for plaque buildup in your arteries, and your doctor may prescribe cholesterol-lowering drugs to lower your heart-disease and stroke risk.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Cholesterol Problems
A high level of cholesterol in the blood doesn’t have obvious symptoms, but it can increase your risk for conditions that do have symptoms, including angina , high blood pressure, stroke, and other circulatory ailments. Also:
- Soft, yellowish growths or lesions on the skin called xanthomas may suggest elevated levels of cholesterol.
- Many people who are obese or have diabetes also have high cholesterol.
- In men, impotence may be caused by arteries affected by too much blood cholesterol.
What Happens If You Have High Cholesterol
What does high cholesterol mean?
High cholesterol means there is too much cholesterol in your blood. This can clog up your arteries the large blood vessels that carry blood around your body. Over time, this can lead to serious problems.
How does cholesterol clog up your arteries?
Excess cholesterol can be laid down in the walls of your arteries. Fatty areas known as plaques can form, and these become harder with time, making the arteries stiffer and narrower. This process is called atherosclerosis.
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Narrowed arteries
When the arteries become narrower, its harder for blood to flow through them. This puts a strain on your heart because it has to work harder to pump blood around your body. Eventually, the heart can become weak and cant work as well as it should.
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Blood clots
Blood clots can form over the fatty, hardened parts of the arteries. The blood clots can block the artery completely, cutting off the blood flow. Bits of the blood clots can break away and become lodged in an artery or vein in another part of the body, which can cause a heart attack or stroke.
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Make The Changes Worth Making
If you have high blood cholesterol, making lifestyle changes is a great first step to lower your risk of heart disease. If those steps dont reduce your risk enough, your doctor may prescribe medications to help.
Remember: Making even modest changes now can help to prevent significant medical issues later. Do all you can to reduce your risk for the serious effects of heart attack and stroke.
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Can You Have High Cholesterol And Still Do Keto
Cholesterol and diet are related, which can make choosing a diet high in fat, such as the ketogenic diet, intimidating. Although keto is high in fat, it has a positive effect on cholesterol. Diets that are low in carbohydrates, such as the keto diet, contribute to increased high-density lipoprotein. This means that more of the bad cholesterol is being sent to the liver to be removed from the body, thus lowering bad cholesterol levels. In addition, foods that are particularly high in bad cholesterol can be avoided during the diet.In conclusion, the ketogenic diet can be appropriate for individuals with high cholesterol. The diet encourages increased production of good cholesterol and intentional dietary decisions can be made to avoid foods particularly high in bad cholesterol.
S To Lower Cholesterol And Risks Of Related Diseases
A few simple changes can lower your cholesterol and cut your risk for conditions linked to high cholesterol.
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What Are The Warning Signs Of High Cholesterol
High cholesterol typically doesnt have any symptoms until it is an emergency event. The only way to know if you have a high level of ldl cholesterol is through a blood test. Leaving cholesterol untreated can lead to the buildup of plaque over time, damaging the heart and putting you at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Keep an eye out for heart attack or early stroke symptoms like:
- Nausea
How Can I Lower My Cholesterol Naturally
For many people, revamping everyday habits can go a long way toward lowering cholesterol without medication. There are a number of lifestyle changes that can be made, and they fall under the categories of diet and exercise, says Dr. Khandwalla.
Eating heart-healthy foods is a great place to start. This means reducing your intake of red meat and full-fat dairy products, both of which contain saturated fats that raise cholesterol. Instead, focus on eating lean proteins chicken, turkey, seafood and adding more soluble fiber to your diet from fruits, vegetables, and oatmeal, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute . Getting aerobic exercise most days of the week can also help lower cholesterol.
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Who Is Most At Risk For Fh
Familial hypercholesterolemia can affect anyone whose family carries the genetic mutation. However, its found more frequently in those who are of French Canadian, Ashkenazi Jewish, Lebanese or Afrikaner descent. The biggest problem with FH is that more than 90% of people who have it havent been diagnosed, which means you should pay careful attention to your family history,
Seth Martin, M.D., M.H.S., associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of the Advanced Lipid Disorders Center.
If people in your family have had heart attacks, needed stents or had bypass surgery earlier in life before age 55 in men and before 65 in women those are signals that theres something causing your family to be at higher risk for heart disease, he explains. It could be familial hypercholesterolemia.
Ways To Prevent High Cholesterol
You can prevent high cholesterol the same way you can help lower itby living a healthy lifestyle focused on a heart-healthy diet and exercise. Other strategies that can help prevent high cholesterol include:
- Quitting smoking
- Getting enough good quality sleep
- Limit alcohol intake
However, if you have familial hypercholesterolemia, you may not be able to prevent it. You can work with your doctor to detect it early and manage it to prevent complications.
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Common Myths About Cholesterol
Most people think all cholesterol is bad for health, but as we discussed earlier, LDL is bad while HDL is good for a healthy body. Another common myth that you hear from people is that I would feel if I had any cholesterol problem. In reality, theres no symptom, and you know it when you get a stroke or heart attack. In addition, some people think that eating too much food can raise the cholesterol level but eating healthy food can never boost the cholesterol level, no matter how much you eat. However, regular exercise is necessary besides healthy food.
Effects Of High Level Of Bad Cholesterol On The Digestive System
Cholesterol is instrumental in the production of bile to break down foods in the digestive system. However, excess cholesterol in the bile can lead to the formation of crystals which then results in gallbladder stones. Gallstones are a traumatic and painful medical condition.
In conclusion it is easy to see that high levels of LDL or increased bad cholesterol levels in the body can lead to poor health and life threatening ailments. Now that you know what happens to your body when you have high cholesterol, you can take the necessary steps and get it treated appropriately at the earliest.
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What Are Normal Cholesterol Levels
People who do not have heart disease should aim for the following cholesterol levels:
| Cholesterol Test Results | Clinical Meaning |
| Total cholesterol below 200 mg/dL | Levels above 200 mg/dL are considered high and mean a higher risk for developing heart disease |
| LDL cholesterol below 130 mg/dL | LDL should be lower than this for those at risk of heart attacks or stroke |
| HDL cholesterol above 60 mg/dL |
|
| Triglycerides below 150 mg/dL | Levels higher than 150 mg/dL increase the risk of developing heart disease and metabolic syndrome, which is also a risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke |
| Non-HDL cholesterol below 160 mg/dL |
|
How Is High Cholesterol Treated
If your child has an LDL cholesterol level of 130 mg/dL or higher, your doctor will talk to you about lifestyle changes or refer you to a dietitian. The goals are to:
- reduce fat and cholesterol in the diet
- increase exercise
- lose weight, if needed
Your doctor will probably do a cholesterol check again after 36 months of lifestyle changes.
Medicine might be considered for kids 10 and older whose LDL cholesterol is 190 mg/dL or higher if changes in diet and exercise haven’t worked. Kids with risk factors, such as diabetes or high blood pressure or a family history of high cholesterol or heart disease, may need treatment at lower LDL levels.
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High Cholesterol And Strokes
Just as plaques may block blood flow in the coronary arteries causing a heart attack, the substance may also stick in the carotid arteries in the neck, or in the arteries in the brain.
When a piece of plaque dislodges from a carotid artery, it can travel to the brain causing a “brain attack” or stroke.
Does Stress Cause High Cholesterol
While stress is not a primary cause of high cholesterol, it may still have an effect on cholesterol levels. A study published in May 2017 in the journal Medicine found that in people who experienced stress due to work or personal conflict, higher stress was a risk factor for high cholesterol. And when you are feeling stressed and pressed for time, you may be less likely to follow heart-healthy lifestyle measures, such as eating a nutritious diet and getting exercise. The 2017 study found that regular physical exercise had a strong protective effect against cholesterol.
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Natural Remedies And Lowering Cholesterol
Its very important to talk to your health professional before using any:
- supplements
- natural remedies
- or complementary therapies.
Sometimes they can do more harm than good. They may interact with any medication that youre taking, which can be dangerous. They can also make your medication less effective. Your doctor needs to know everything that you are taking to ensure that the combination is safe.
If youve been prescribed cholesterol-lowering medication, make sure you take it as directed by your doctor. This is one of the most effective ways to keep your cholesterol levels down.
Treating Cholesterol With Medication
There are medications, such as statins, that can lower HDL cholesterol. But not everyone with LDL over 100 needs to take them. Whether you need medications depends on your cholesterol levels and other risks.
- Candidates for cholesterol-lowering medication include people who know they have plaque buildup in the arteries of their heart, neck, or legs, and those who have had a heart attack or stroke. It does not matter what the LDL cholesterol level is.
- Other high-risk individuals include those ages 4075 years old with diabetes and an LDL level of 70 mg/dL or higher.
- In general, for people with an LDL level of 190 mg/dL or higher, the goal is to reduce LDL levels by at least 50% with a combination of medications and lifestyle changes.
- People who have an elevated overall 10-year risk of developing plaque in their arteries or risk of heart attack or stroke are also advised to take medications. This 10-year risk is based on a number of risk factors. In general, people with 20% or greater 10-year risk of these conditions benefit from medication. However, these decisions should always be made with your doctor.
- In people with lower levels of risk, additional tests may be done to try to figure out if you will be helped by taking medications along with making lifestyle changes.
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