Managing High Cholesterol - Can You Do It Yourself?

High cholesterol is the second indicator of stroke, following on from high blood pressure.

Cholesterol is a fatty-like substance made by the human body and circulating through our bloodstream. Cholesterol has its part to play in our overall health, but if levels are too high it's not good. Cholesterol can create atheroma which sticks to the artery walls, causing them to thicken - this is called arterosclerosis and can be a contributor to ischemic stroke.

Unfortunately, there are no obvious symptoms of high cholesterol. It's a silent disease that remains hidden until it triggers something nasty like a stroke or heart attack. One researcher (Dr L Yong) has identified a symptom, but it doesn't seem to be commonly known. This symptom is flat yellowy looking bumps on the skin above your eyes. The medical term for this symptom is xanthelasma. Unless you're aware of this symptom, and it occurs, you are flying blind with knowledge about your cholesterol level. This means that it makes sense to get your cholesterol tested every so often as a part of proactive health management.

Cholesterol is carried in your blood, and so your doctor will take some blood and have it analysed to determine your cholesterol level. There are two measures of cholesterol, your HDL ("good" cholesterol) and your LDL ("bad" cholesterol).

If your "bad" cholesterol is too high, then the cholesterol deposits build up on the walls of your blood vessels. The longer it remains high, the more deposits build up and the greater your risk of a cardiovascular incident, like a heart attack or stroke. If your LDL reading is greater than 6.5, you are considered to have high cholesterol. This increases your risk of heart disease by a factor of 4.

Your body produces some cholesterol and you absorb some also from the food that you eat. This implies that diet has a part to play in managing your cholesterol.

Dietary Recommendations for Managing Cholesterol

Medical experts say that you can lower a high cholesterol reading by:

• Limiting fat to 25 - 35% of your daily calory intake (ideas for this include low fat dairy prodcuts, substituting margarine for butter and eating lean cuts of meat)
• LImiting the amount of cholesterol that you absorb through your diet to less than 200mg (we get dietary cholesterol through foods like poultry, eggs, dairy products and meat - egg yolks and offal are particularly high in cholesterol, whilst fish is generally lower than other meats, note that some shellfish is also high in cholesterol)
• Increasing the amount of fibre you eat
• Losing weight
• Increasing your exercise levels.

Further resources about managing cholesterol can be found here and here.