Top 5 Causes of High Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a lipid (fatty substance) that circulates in your blood. Your body needs cholesterol to function properly. It’s needed to maintain healthy cell walls and to produce vitamin D, certain hormones, and bile acids (which aid in fat digestion).
The two main types of cholesterol are LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol and HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol.
LDL cholesterol is the bad type that can accumulate on the walls of your arteries and increase your risk for heart disease or stroke.
HDL cholesterol is the good type that helps clear LDL cholesterol out of your blood and reduces your risk for heart disease or stroke.
The term high cholesterol more specifically means a high level of LDL cholesterol and a low level of HDL cholesterol.
Here are the top 5 causes of high cholesterol:
1. Heredity. Some people are born with a condition called familial hypercholesterolemia, which is an inherited condition passed down through families that causes people to have high levels of LDL cholesterol. Other people, because of their genetics, are more likely to react to negative lifestyle factors that can raise LDL cholesterol.
2. Improper Diet. Most of the cholesterol found in your body is produced in your liver and only a small part of it comes from dietary cholesterol. As long as you don’t have a genetic predisposition for high cholesterol, dietary cholesterol will most likely have minimal effect on your blood cholesterol level. Saturated fat and trans fat are what you really need to avoid. Your body needs some saturated fat for growth, hormone production and other processes, but too much saturated fat can increase LDL cholesterol. Trans fat increases LDL cholesterol and decreases HDL cholesterol.
3. Being Overweight or Obese. Being overweight or obese can increase LDL cholesterol and decrease HDL cholesterol.
4. Being Physically Inactive. Being physically inactive can increase LDL cholesterol and decrease HDL cholesterol.
5. Age and Gender. Cholesterol levels tend to rise with age for both men and women. Prior to menopause, women generally have a lower level of cholesterol than men their age, but after menopause, many women experience a substantial increase in LDL cholesterol along with a decrease in HDL cholesterol.
While you can’t control your genetics, age or gender, you are in control when it comes to making the lifestyle changes necessary to lower high cholesterol. Eating a healthy diet, losing weight, and exercising regularly will not only lower high cholesterol, it will also reduce the risk for numerous other health problems.
Learn more about how to lower cholesterol naturally by visiting http://www.functional-fitness-facts.com/how-to-lower-cholesterol-naturally.html
Related posts:
After the age of 55, more women have high cholesterol than men. One theory about this is that the rise in cholesterol among older women may be caused by a drop in levels of the hormone oestrogen in their bodies. Oestrogen is the main female sex hormone and is thought to help keep cholesterol down.
Its also worth bearing in mind that some ethnic groups are affected more than others by high cholesterol. Although people from certain ethnic minority groups tend to have lower total cholesterol than average, some groups - particularly Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani and Caribbean men - have low levels of good (HDL) cholesterol and slightly raised blood triglycerides. Researchers are not sure why this is, but it may be due to differences either in genes or in people’s diets.
You left something out. Grains and sugars will increase triglycerides. After I stopped eating those, my trigs dropped to 44.
And you can’t put saturated and trans fat in the same catagory. Saturated fat is NOT bad for you! Cholesterol is necessary. Half of those with heart disease have perfectly normal cholesterol levles. Those with higher cholesterol actually live longer than those with lower.
The “fat is bad” This myth was started back in the 50’s by scientist Ancel Keys and his 7 countries study. But, in fact he had data from 23 countries, but he dumped the data from the counties that didn’t match his hypothese.
During that time, Eisenhower was obsessed with his cholesterol level. His total cholesterol was in the 180’s when he had his first heart attack. It was even lower than that whenhe had his second.
Fat is not the enemy! If you really are seeking the truth, read Gary Taubes “Good Calories, Bad Calories”. Take a look at Tom Naughtons documentary “Fathead”. You can get it on Amazon. Here’s aclip: bit.ly/FatHead_clip_bt9ViU
And here’s an article by Gary Taubes: bit.ly/big_fat_lie_cXve1p