Heart 411

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How can you improve your cholesterol levels?

Although many people take statins (see below) to improve their cholesterol profiles, diet and lifestyle are important. Stated another way, don’t count on a daily pill to offset a diet filled with saturated fat and a lifestyle devoid of exercise. Through your choices and actions, you can make a difference in your cholesterol values.

Improve Your Cholesterol Profile

Some studies suggest that consuming soy protein and spreads fortified with plant sterols may also help to lower LDL. 

“I followed the recommendations, but I can’t get my LDL down. Why not?”

Diet is important, but there are other factors at play in determining your cholesterol values. For the most part, your body manufactures the cholesterol in your blood. Eighty percent of the body’s cholesterol is made by the liver, while only twenty percent comes from your diet. This explains why it can be so difficult to lower cholesterol by dietary interventions alone.

Understanding the limitations of dietary interventions can help people with high cholesterol levels accept the fact that they have to take cholesterol-lowering drugs. If your cholesterol level is 50 percent higher than normal, you are simply not going to reach your cholesterol goals by diet alone. In such a case, you need to combine a good diet with the right medication.

MORE: 10 Foods That Lower Your Cholesterol