Cholesterol

Three Simple Tips on

Lowering Cholesterol

Naturally

by Vincent Siew

in Health

(submitted 2009-11-27)

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Fact: One out of every five children in the United States has high levels of cholesterol. Young as they are, they are already running high risk of suffering heart attacks and stroke!

Here are three simple tips on lowering cholesterol naturally. These can be used by anyone, of any age, to prevent the unhealthy events of too much cholesterol building up in the body.

One: Be in the Know. Cholesterol is not necessarily a harmful substance. It is simply a term that has gained a bad reputation. In layman's term it is a type of fat. It is produced by the liver and is transmitted into the blood through the veins.

Most fat help the body maintain its core temperature. That's why people who live in very cold climates (i.e. cold mountains) need sufficient fat in their diet so that their body would be able to protect them from too much cold.

But just like any other substance, too much of it will cause harm to the body. Remember that heart attack is still the leading cause of death in America, and that lowering cholesterol in your body will reduce your risk of being counted as another statistic.

The good news, however, is that even if you currently have too much cholesterol in your blood, it can still be managed. It is never too late to live a healthy lifestyle and take other corrective and preventive actions.

Two: Watch what you eat. You must start to control fat intake even if you are a child. You must avoid consuming to much cholesterol-packed foods. It is thus important to be knowledgeable and wary of the cholesterol content of the food that you eat. The simple logic is this: When you take more fat than your liver can handle, it will clog the bloodstream and create a hindrance to the efficient functioning of your body.

Any meat product is high on cholesterol. You don't need a degree in medicine or nutrition to know that taking too much animal fat is bad. Another high cholesterol source would be any type of processed food. In a highly fast-paced world, where people tend to depend on quick food preparations, and with the emergence of "fastfood" outlets, one seems to not escape the curse of too much cholesterol intake. Then, probably the most efficient way of naturally lowering cholesterol is to limit the intake of such foods. Taking breaks and limiting the intake of such sources will definitely do wonders to your body

Three: Counter the Bad Fat. Nature teaches us a perfect lesson on the importance of keeping everything in balance. If it is indeed very tempting to immediately shift from a cholesterol-infested diet to an all-organic healthy one to counter the effects of "bad" fat. So be patient because as they say, "Rome was not built in a day". And remember to exercise regularly and take more fiber. When you wan to eat meat choose lean meat, or better yet go for a fish diet. Include lots of vegetables and fruits to serve as digestive sweepers. Live a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

There are a great many benefits in lowering cholesterol naturally. All that you need is will power and the determination to live a more healthy and active lifestyle. When your mind is focused on accomplishing something, your body will surely follow suit-naturally.

For more information and help, you might want to visit: naturally lowering cholesterol.

http://healthcareman-dobi.blogspot.com/search/label/cholesterol

Cholesterol

What does cholesterol have

to do with heart disease?

by Neha Mehta

in Health

(submitted 2009-11-27)

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Heart disease has become one of the most common diseases today. There are many reasons behind the occurrence of this fatal disease one of which is cholesterol. If there is a high amount of cholesterol present in blood, then it means a higher vulnerability to CHD or coronary heart disease. This susceptibility to CHD is even more if the type of cholesterol is high blood cholesterol. The risk to CHD is reduced if this kind of cholesterol is decreased in the body. Thereby, the

The chances of suffering from a heart attack or having an angioplasty surgery are decreased. A person needs to realize that when the quantity of this cholesterol is high in blood, it chokes up the space present in arteries inhibiting the blood flow to heart. Finding out the cholesterol levels is quite critical for all age groups of people whether women, children, adults or younger people. This includes people who suffer from heart disease and those who don't. Since the high blood cholesterol levels do not manifest themselves them in any form, people do not even know that they have it. The higher the level of cholesterol, higher the blood pressure and a higher probability of a heart disease.

Heart disease can prove to be fatal and thats why precautions need to be taken to prevent it from occurring. Age can be a very strong cause in becoming a victim of this illness. 83% victims of heart disease are within the age group of 65 years and above. Although age can lead to heart disease, but an old heart can be made to stay healthy with a balanced lifestyle. Heart disease is more common in older people than younger ones. The rate of mortality is quite high in women after a heart attack than men. Therefore, it is quite important control their lifestyles for a longevity of life. If they are not able to control their salt intake, then nothing can prevent them from becoming a victim of CHD.

The worst fact is that the CHD does not show any symptoms until and unless it has progressed too much. Thats why the older people are resistant in making any changes to their diet. Exercise and healthy diet help an older person in feeling more vibrant with higher levels of mental clarity and physical zest. Therefore they should include fresh fruits and vegetables and healthy fats in their diet apart from quitting smoking and exercising on a daily basis.

the importance of a good diet has to be recognized before it gets too late for you. Its better to eat in moderate amounts than piling weight and increasing chances of a heart disease. When the main meal is ingested in evening, then its good for weight loss. The metabolic rate is quite slow when we are sleeping and therefore its not advisable to eat dinners too late in the night. Also, the night time meal should not be piled with calories. One can have a huge amount of calories for breakfast, lunch and mid-afternoon. But the supper can be avoided if you want a hearty dinner with family.

The supper can consist of fruits in summer and low calorie containing soups in the winters to provide warmth to body. Also, evenings are perfect for walking than for watching TV. You should drink some water before eating to fill the belly and reduce the consumption of food. Drinking hot water before consuming meals is good for digestion leading to a low production of cholesterol. The presence of fats and oils in blood leads to a reduced blood pressure and a healthy heart. Also, kidneys are in a better condition with higher consumption of water.

Diabetes and heart disease go hand in hand. One of the major reasons why diabetes leads to heart disease is due to the fact that people who are suffering from diabetes have higher chances of contracting heart disease also. Diabetes leads to higher than average levels of blood sugars in the body. This means a harm caused to various parts of the body like blood vessels. So, the best way to make sure that you don't get heart disease even when you have diabetes is to regulate the level of your blood sugar. This would mean checking the blood sugar level per day and even taking medicines for controlling it. Diet and exercise also help in reducing the quantity of blood sugar. However, the most permanent way to control happening of heart disease in spite of diabetes is to lose some weight. Reducing weight can ensure that the level of blood sugar also come down. This kind of a weight loss should be more focused on cutting the flab from the waist of the body. Excessive bulge along these body parts means a higher danger of heart disease than extra fat accumulation around thighs and hips.

Everyone knows the importance of exercising. It always help if you stretch some of your muscles for some through out the day. If you understand the positive link between heart disease and age, then you can improve your exercise levels to reduce the heart disease risk. You can use the stairs instead of elevators and burn some calories to make sure that heart disease do not happen to you. Even the cars can be parked further from the shopping mall to increase the walking distance. Even 30 minutes of exercise are enough per day for 5 days for keeping the heart disease at bay. This is quite important for preventing the happening of this disease in men aged 45-64. You can do some brisk walking to get rid of some bad cholesterol and heart disease. Exercises should be encouraged in the family so that heart diseases are curbed. They can be made a part of get togethers and festival celebrations. Other kinds of exercises can be taking the dog for a walk, gardening, swimming and playing with your younger child. These exercises are mild cardiovascular exercises and can reduce the risk of a falling ill with a heart disease.

Its quite true that stress has a high amount of conjunction with heart disease. This fact has been in common knowledge for a long time, so people prone to tension have been trying to remain calm so as to not become a victim of any heart disease.

How much impact can the stress levels of a person have on the health of his heart depends on what type of stress is he exposed to, physical, mental or emotional. There has been no evidence on the association of heart disease with high levels of these kinds of stress so far although emotional stress has been linked to contraction of heart disease and an early demise. People who are not married die early than those who are. Having a spouse means higher emotional balance and succor. People who suffer from tragic changes like death of a spouse or divorce can get heart disease quite easily. The same is true in regard to an unanticipated loss of job which makes a person believe that he has no control over his life and as a result becomes anxious and depressed. People who are very short-tempered can also lose their health in a heart disease.

http://healthcareman-dobi.blogspot.com/search/label/cholesterol

Cholesterol

American Heart Association

Cholesterol Information 101

by Vincent Siew

in Health

(submitted 2009-11-27)

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Each year, the number of lives taken by heart diseases continues to go up, which makes the need for the American Heart Association cholesterol watch and information dissemination to be timely more important than ever. Here is an information sheet that aims to show you the basic information about cholesterol.

The Essentials Cholesterol is not necessarily a bad body fat. It is simply a fatty substance that floats on the blood. It cannot be dissolved in the blood and needs to be mobilized by two carriers, namely, ldl and hdl.

* Ldl or low density lipoprotein is considered a hazardous fatty substance, since too much of it will most certainly cause blockage on blood passages.

* To counteract the existence of ldl, hdl or high-density lipoprotein should be increased. Hdl has the ability to unclog and repair the damage done by the ldl cholesterol.

The Source

There are two major sources that cause cholesterol to increase.

* The first and most obvious source is from the food you eat. Certain food products such as processed foods and any animal meat is high on bad cholesterol. The good cholesterol, on the other hand, can be acquired through the intelligent intake of food rich in essential oils such as olive oil and when you have to take meat select lean cuts of meat.

* The second source, and which surely escapes the knowledge of a layman, is from the liver. Even without cholesterol intake, the liver produces a certain amount of cholesterol to sustain your bodily functions.

The Problem

According to the American Heart Association, cholesterol becomes a problem when the ldl cholesterol level becomes too high, and the hdl cholesterol count goes down.

Also, as you grow older, you might tend to have a drastic lifestyle change that usually translates to an unhealthy lifestyle. A quick check of what the average American has in their refrigerators would show that the urge to patronize unhealthy diet is high. Since you do not have direct control over the amount of cholesterol produced by your liver, you must control the cholesterol from foods that you eat.

The Solution

Battling off the bad cholesterol and staying safe from heart diseases is essentially an easy task. That is, if everyone keeps in mind the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.

The key is to understand that everyday meals should be balanced. You must aim to keep meat intake to a minimum. Leafy vegetables and fruits should be a stable part of every meal, and exercise should be undertaken as a daily regimen.

For the American Heart Association, cholesterol-related diseases can be prevented if every household begins to adopt a healthy outlook in their life.

If you want to get a greater impact in your attempt to manage your cholesterol levels, you might also like to try Bios Life. It is a fiber and nutrient drink. I have tried it and it works as I have found out that it combines all the four known approaches to lowering harmful cholesterol. The four approaches are as follows:

1. It helps to block the re-absorption of cholesterol in the gastro- intestinal tract

2. It helps to block the absorption of cholesterol from the food that you eat

3. It reduces the cholesterol that your liver produces

4. It enhances the breakdown of enzymes and removes the bad cholesterol.

All in all Bios Life is effective because it decreases the level of ldl and at the same time increase the level of hdl cholesterol. For more information and help, you might want to visit: american heart association cholesterol.

http://healthcareman-dobi.blogspot.com/search/label/cholesterol

Cholesterol

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Cholesterol Measurements May Be Made Easier Testing of vascular risk can be simplified, researchers say. TUESDAY, Nov. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Methods to gauge blood cholesterol to determine vascular disease risk can be simplified, researchers in England say. Their method measures levels of either total or high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good" cholesterol) in the blood or apolipoproteins (proteins that help transport cholesterol), without the need to have patients fast and without regard to another form of blood fat called triglycerides. "Expert opinion is divided" on which combination of measurements is ideal in gauging cardiovascular risk, explained John Danesh, of the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration Coordinating Centre at the University of Cambridge, and colleagues. In order to examine the association between major blood fats and apolipoproteins and coronary heart disease and ischemic stroke, the researchers analyzed data on more than 300,000 people without initial vascular disease who took part in 68 long-term studies. During the follow-up periods of the studies, there were almost 8,900 nonfatal heart attacks, more than 3,900 coronary heart disease deaths, over 2,500 ischemic strokes, 513 hemorrhagic strokes and more than 2,500 unclassified strokes, the study authors noted. The analysis of the data yielded a number of findings. First of all, risk tied to blood levels of non-HDL-C and HDL-C were nearly identical to those seen with the two apolipoproteins (B and AI), the team found. "This finding suggests that current discussions about whether to measure cholesterol levels or apolipoproteins in vascular risk assessment should hinge more on practical considerations (e.g., cost, availability, and standardization of assays)," Danesh and colleagues wrote. Secondly, risk assessments "were at least as strong in participants who did not fast as in those who fasted [before testing]," the team added, and risk was similar with non-HDL cholesterol as with directly measured LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Finally, measuring for triglyceride blood fats "provides no additional information about vascular risk given knowledge of HDL-C and total cholesterol levels, although there may be separate reasons to measure triglyceride concentration (e.g., prevention of pancreatitis)," according to the report in the Nov. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "The current analysis of more than 300,000 people has demonstrated that [blood fat] assessment in vascular disease can be simplified by measurement of either cholesterol levels or apolipoproteins without the need to fast and without regard to triglyceride," the researchers concluded. More information The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about heart and vascular diseases. (SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, news release, Nov. 10, 2009) Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved. HealthDayNews articles are derived from various sources and do not reflect federal policy. healthfinder.gov does not endorse opinions, products, or services that may appear in news stories. For more information on health topics in the news, visit Health News on healthfinder.gov. http://healthcareman-dobi.blogspot.com/search/label/cholesterol

Cholesterol

Household Chemicals May Affect Cholesterol Levels

PFCs are found in packaging, paper and exposures were evident in most people, researchers say.

MONDAY, Nov. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Chemicals used in food packaging, paper and textile coatings may affect blood cholesterol levels in people, U.S. researchers have found.

Previous studies have found that polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs) are present in the bodies of most people. In this new study, a team at the Boston University School of Public Health analyzed the association between serum cholesterol levels and four PFCs: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS).

The analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey revealed that people with levels of PFOS, PFOA and PFNA in the top 25 percent had higher total and non-HDL cholesterol (primarily the "bad" LDL cholesterol) than those with levels in the lowest 25 percent.

The association was most noticeable for PFNA, with a 13.9 milligram per deciliter difference in estimated cholesterol levels between people with the highest and lowest levels of the chemical, the study authors noted.

The researchers found little evidence of a link between PFC levels and body size or insulin resistance, according to the report in the Nov. 2 issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

"Though these results are based on cross-sectional data and are exploratory, they are consistent with much of the human epidemiologic literature and indicate that polyfluoroalkyl chemicals may be exerting an effect on cholesterol at environmentally relevant exposures," wrote first author Jessica Nelson and colleagues. "Our study affirms the importance of investigating polyfluoroalkyl chemicals other than PFOS and PFOA, particularly as industrial uses of PFOS and PFOA decline and other polyfluoroalkyl chemicals are substituted."

More information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has more about cholesterol.

(SOURCE: Environmental Health Perspectives, news release, Nov. 2, 2009)