Alter Your Diet To Lower Cholesterol

If you are suffering from elevated cholesterol levels the first thing you need to is look at your diet. Studies show that by lowering the levels of LDL cholesterol in your body you will significantly lower the risk of contracting heart disease.

The first step is to lower the intake of saturated fats and cholesterol in your diet. Saturated fats have the biggest influence on the levels of serum LDL cholesterol in the body and there is a very close relationship between LDL cholesterol levels and saturated fats. For every one percent increase in the intake of saturated fats, the levels of serum LDL cholesterol rise by around two percent. This works the same in reverse, so for every one percent decrease in the intake of saturated fat the level of serum cholesterol in the body will drop around two percent. A reduction in the intake of dietary cholesterol does not have quite such a marked effect on the levels of LDL cholesterol in the body but it will go some way to reducing the levels.

Saturated fats should be substituted as much as possible with mono-unsaturated fats in a diet to lower cholesterol, in fact as much as 20% of the daily energy intake can contain mono-unsaturated fats as they have the desired effect of lowering cholesterol levels in the body and do not have a negative effect on the levels of HDL cholesterol or triglyceride. The best foods to eat with high levels of mono-unsaturated fats are plant and nut oil based foods.

Polyunsaturated fats also have the desired effect of reducing the levels of LDL cholesterol in the body. The only problem with including lots of polyunsaturated fats in the diet to reduce cholesterol is that they have the undesired side effect of the reduction in HDL cholesterol. It is recommended that the intake of polyunsaturated fats is limited to around ten percent of the daily energy intake. Some good sources of polyunsaturated fats are, vegetable oil, margarine and other products low in transfatty acids.

It is not essential to limit total fat intake as this does not have a negative effect on the reduction of serum LDL cholesterol as long as the amount of saturated fat consumed is reduced to guideline levels.

Carbohydrates have a very positive effect on the reduction of LDL cholesterol when used as a substitute for saturated fats. A high consumption of carbohydrates however, has the effect of reducing the levels of HDL cholesterol and increasing levels of serum triglyceride's which is a somewhat undesired effect. This can easily be combated by increasing the intake of soluble fibres to around five to ten grams a day. This can cause the levels of LDL cholesterol to be reduced by around five percent.