Health Risks of High Cholesterol
Medical evidence strongly indicates that high cholesterol levels can cause narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis), heart attack and stroke.
This is because cholesterol can build up in the artery wall (restricting the flow of blood to your heart, brain and the rest of your body.) It can also accelerate the development of a lethal blood clot in a blood vessel anywhere in your body!
Your risk of coronary heart disease (when your heart’s blood supply is blocked or interrupted) rises as your blood’s cholesterol level increases. Other factors, such as high blood pressure, lack of exercise, a family history of high cholesterol and smoking, increase this risk even more.
There are many factors that can increase your chance of having heart problems or stroke if you have high cholesterol.
Some risk factors, such as an unhealthy diet and smoking, can be altered by making changes to your lifestyle.
Other risk factors, such as having diabetes or high blood pressure, can also be treated with medication. Some risk factors, such as having a family history of stroke or heart disease, cannot be changed and that is why it is important for some people to be extra diligent when it comes to watching their bad habits and diet. In this case it may be all you can do to “beat the beast of cholesterol” off by taking measures to stay in control of how high your LDL levels are.
If you have inherited the condition you may be fighting an uphill battle to get your cholesterol down. If you have been diagnosed with high cholesterol then you may be looking for ways to change your diet so that you can improve your LDL to HDL ratio.
The worst fat for you is Transfats. These are processed fats. You can find transfats listed as an ingredient on most food labels and try to avoid them.
However keep in mind that there are more than forty thousand packaged foods on the market that contain this type of fat and that is not listed on the labels!!
The reason this type of fat is not listed is because food manufacturers have fought for years to keep it off ingredient labels. In 2000 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finally adopted regulations that required manufacturers to include transfat content on the packaging.
Transfats came into existence some years ago. They were invented in the fifties as a way of indulging our cravings for fatty foods without having to actually spend money on expensive natural sources of fat as an ingredient. The only problem is that these fats raise cholesterol, weaken the heart, cause diabetes and swell up your body.
In fact it is estimated that bad fats may be responsible for thirty thousand premature deaths in this country every year.