Healthy eating can lower your cholesterol levels by 7-10 percent
If you are told that your cholesterol is too high, you may be shocked. But there is no need to panic. Here’s what you need to know about cholesterol.
Almost a quarter of the Dutch population has unhealthy cholesterol levels. It may be too high or the ratio between healthy and unhealthy cholesterol is not right.
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High cholesterol not the only risk factor for heart disease
The chance of your cholesterol getting too high increases with age. Too much cholesterol in your blood is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease: this fatty substance can stick to the blood vessel walls, causing them to slowly clog.
Cholesterol levels are not the only risk factor for cardiovascular disease. There are more than twenty factors that determine whether or not you will have a heart attack, such as smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and little exercise. High cholesterol is more likely to be weighed down when other risk factors are involved. The GP uses a table with which he or she estimates the risk of cardiovascular disease, called the risk profile. If the 10-year risk is high (more than 20 percent chance of cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years), medication is almost always required.
Tackling lifestyle is tackling the cause
Everyone with an elevated cholesterol level is first of all advised to eat a healthy diet, exercise more, stop smoking and lose weight if you are overweight. This is how it is stated in the treatment guideline for general practitioners. Eating healthy alone can lower cholesterol levels by about 17-0 percent.
Exercise raises HDL cholesterol levels. Losing weight is also beneficial: per kilogram of weight loss, the favorable HDL increases by approximately 0.01 mmol/l.
If you change your lifestyle, you tackle the root of the problem. Not infrequently, all risk factors are permanently reduced, including high blood pressure and obesity, for example. A pill can only fight the symptom (high cholesterol), but not solve it. The moment you stop swallowing, the cholesterol level will rise again.
Unsaturated fats are better
Cholesterol levels drop when you replace saturated fats in the diet with unsaturated fats. This means, for example, replacing fatty meat with fish or chicken, replacing butter with soft margarines and (olive) oil and bitterballen with unsalted nuts. The healthy unsaturated fats ensure that the cholesterol level decreases. A low-fat diet is therefore definitely not necessary if you have an elevated cholesterol level.
You can also opt for products that are enriched with plant sterols. These fatty substances occur naturally in small amounts in plant products, such as nuts and seeds. They are sometimes added extra to special margarine and dairy products. With a daily intake of 2.5 to 3 g of plant sterols per day, in combination with a healthy diet and lifestyle, cholesterol can decrease by 7-10 percent.
Fiber also has a beneficial effect on cholesterol levels, especially those from oatmeal.
When medicines?
If the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease is more than 20 percent, and the LDL cholesterol is higher than 2.5 mmol/l, cholesterol-lowering drugs are prescribed in addition to the lifestyle advice. This also applies to people over 70. Sometimes the doctor does not take the cholesterol-lowering medication, for example in old age, or if there are many other ailments or medicines are taken.
Statins most commonly taken
The first drug prescribed for high cholesterol is simvastatin. In 2016, 1.14 million Dutch people took this drug. Statins inhibit the production of cholesterol in the liver and lower the cholesterol and fat levels in the blood. The effect is strong: statins can lower cholesterol levels by 25 to 45 percent. The effect is measurable in the blood after four to six weeks.
About one in a hundred people suffer from side effects, such as muscle pain (usually in the calves and lower back), nervous disorders or gastrointestinal complaints. Consult with your doctor in case of severe muscle pain; there are also other drugs that lower cholesterol levels. Examples are bile acid sequestrants, fibrates, nicotinic acid derivatives and lomatapide. These also sometimes cause side effects, such as constipation, stomach complaints or palpitations.
The food supplement ‘red yeast rice’ contains a small dose of natural statins. There is debate as to whether this supplement is better considered a drug, also because of the same potential side effects as statins.
How to influence your cholesterol level with food
Some foods lower cholesterol, while others raise it. Here you will find seven foods and their influence on cholesterol.
The dietary advice for high cholesterol focuses on replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat. But there are also studies that show no unhealthy effects of saturated fats. And one saturated fat is not the other. For example, full-fat dairy has been shown to protect against diabetes and provide satiety for longer than low-fat dairy. There are doctors who therefore say that it is okay to eat full-fat yogurt or use butter.
And one more thing: the focus of scientists nowadays is much more on the role of sugar. sugars and carbohydrates have an unfavorable effect on blood fats, especially on the triglycerides in the blood.
Be kind to your heart
So the last word has not yet been said. The best advice is to make your entire diet friendly to the heart. That means foods high in unsaturated fats (olive oil, nuts, fish), and lots of vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains. And avoid too much salt, sugar and unhealthy products with saturated fats, such as fatty snacks, sausage, cookies and pastries. But now and then some full-fat dairy is no problem at all.
Sources):
- Plus Magazine
