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health cholesterol
erides and/or a low HDL level, if present. The treatment includes losing weight if needed, increasing physical activity, quitting smoking, and possibly taking a drug.
Have your blood cholesterol checked. All adults age 20 and older need to have their blood cholesterol checked at least once every 5 years. Ask your doctor to do a simple test to measure how much HDL and total cholesterol is in your blood.
Oddly, ingesting cholesterol will not raise the blood cholesterol nearly as much as eating a type of fat called “saturated fat.” Like cholesterol, saturated fat is primarily found in animal products like cheese, butter, cream, whole milk, ice cream, lard and marbled meats.
The answer is very simple and right in front of us. So many of us jumped on the low fat diet and assumed that if it’s low fat it can’t make us fat. Right? Wrong. We were so involved with the low fat concept that we forgot to count calories!
Bile acid sequestrants bind with bile acids that contain cholesterol in the intestines and are then eliminated in the stool. They are proven to reduce LDL by 10 to 20%. Small doses produce decent reductions in LDL. They are sometimes prescribed along with a statin to enhance reduction. When combined, their effects are counted together and lower LDL by more than 40%. They do not lower triglycerides.
To reduce your risk for heart disease or keep it low, it is very important to control any other risk factors you may have such as high blood pressure and smoking.
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