Why does Cholesterol matters?

Cholesterol has many important functions on your life and it’s produced in your liver. For example, it’s needed for making cell walls more flexible and also in production of several hormones.

But as the saying applies on every anything that, ‘Nothing too much is good for your health’, cholesterol as well as is not good in plenty quantities (In the wrong places). That can create concerns for your heath.

These is one of the disadvantages that cholesterol is alike fat so, it doesn’t dissolve in water. Instead of that it floats around the body. Lipoproteins carry fats and fat-soluble vitamins and along with them cholesterols too in your blood.

Though there are many effects and they differ from each other depending on the kind of lipoprotein. For example, presence of high level of LDL (low density lipoprotein) may result in deposits of cholesterol along blood vessel walls. This can lead to:

• Stroke
• Heart attack
• Clogged arteries
• Kidney failure
  

High density lipoproteins work the opposite thing. It carries away cholesterol from vessel walls. Thus, it can help to prevent these conditions. HDL and LDL cholesterols are often termed as good and bad cholesterols.

For keeping a good health and cholesterol level, there are many ways, using which you can increase HDL cholesterol and reduce LDL cholesterol.

Focus on monosaturated fats

The unsaturated fats that have at least one double chemical bond makes changes in their usability in body. Different than saturated fats in our body, the monosaturated fats have one double bond.

Well… Many people will recommend you to have a low-fat diet for effectiveness in controlling blood cholesterol and also for weight loss.

Researches and reports also show that reducing your fat intake may affect and reduce blood cholesterol levels. However, there can be potentially negative effects for having low fat diets. This includes as possible side effects like lowering levels of HDL (or good cholesterol) and increasing amounts of triglycerides.

Use polyunsaturated fats, especially omega-3s

Polyunsaturated fats are consisting of multiple double bonds which makes them differ for health conditions. In many researches, it has been seen that polyunsaturated fats are helping to reduce LDL or bad cholesterol which at the end reduce the risk of heart diseases.

This kind of fats are also useful for reducing risks of metabolic syndromes and in cases like type 2 diabetes.

The polyunsaturated fats like Omega-3 fatty acids are especially helpful for making your heart healthy. Many seafoods and supplements like fish oils contains omega-3 fatty acids. The high amounts of this substance can be found in the fishes like:

• Herring
• Mackerel
• Salmon
• Tuna fish from deep sea like bluefin or albacore
• Shellfish, including shrimps
  

More sources of Omega-3 include tree seeds and nuts (not peanut).

Avoid Trans Fats

Trans fats are also a kind of unsaturated fats but they had been gone through a process named hydrogenation. The process is done while making vegetable oil more stable.

This makes the trans fats not to fully saturate. So, they are called partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs).

We are giving some foods that possibly contain trans fats:

• Fried fast foods
• Pizzas
• Non-dairy coffee creamers
• Margarine and shortening
• Pastries and other baking goods
• Some of the microwavable popcorn
  

Eat soluble fiber

Soluble fibers can also help in this case like increasing the cholesterol benefits.

Some of the best sources for soluble fibers are:

• Fruits
• Peas
• Brussels sprouts
• Old serials
• Beans and lentils
  

Exercise

It is like a win-win to exercise for keeping your heart healthy. It not only keeps your physical fitness and makes you combat ready for obesity but also reduces the harmful LDL’s developing in your body. Also giving a boost to the beneficial HDL.

Maintain a healthy-for-you weight

Obesity or having excess weight has its own risks and flaws on health. With every excess fat of about 10 pounds can roughly produce 10 milligrams of cholesterol every day. Studies also show that losing weight like reducing the excess weight you have, can help you decrease cholesterol levels.

Avoid Smoking

Smoking itself make risks on heart bringing disease in several ways and also by changing how our body handles with cholesterol. Immune cells in smokers makes it harder the return of cholesterol from vessel walls to blood. This damage is mainly dealt because of tobacco tar not rather for nicotine.

Getting rid of this bad habit can possibly reverse these effects and the harms that may have already been done that you are unaware of.

Use Alcohol in moderation

It is very surprising that moderate levels of alcohol can prevent these conditions and can overall gain some benefit for your heart. Some researchers indicate about these results but yet this is a matter of debates in medical world. In the light of its harmful effects, many research recommends alcohol consumptions and effects on your cardiovascular health.

Plant Sterol and Stanols

As plants have hormones like humans, sterol and stanols can be considered plant version of cholesterol. They also act like cholesterol for plants.

However, they show significant results in method of reducing cholesterol levels. When consumed with diet, it competes with human cholesterol inside you. They’re consumed in diet and being absorbed they replaced the absorption of cholesterol.

Some butter and oil substitutes also contain sterol and stanol. Vegetable oils are a great natural example of it.

Try Supplements

Soluble fibers, fish oils, exercise and many more things that promote your healthcare is useful in improving your cholesterol levels. But there is another supplementary way like, coenzymes. They show promising results in highly improving cholesterol levels. Though its still being studied.