HealthTip: Know Your Cholesterol Risk

High blood cholesterol can be a risk for heart disease or stroke through causing blockages in blood vessels. It is a common health issue in the developed world, but risk factors that you may have control over include:

• Diet: consuming foods high in fat and cholesterol- can increase circulating blood cholesterol levels
• Being overweight or obese- can increase risks of heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome
• Getting insufficient exercise- can cause difficulty in balancing levels of bad (LDL) and good (HDL) cholesterol

Risk factors we may not have control over include:

• Genetic predispositions to high cholesterol (for example, a history of high cholesterol, or hypercholesterolemia, in the family)

If your lifestyle includes any of these risk factors, you may want to consider speaking with your physician or dietitian to determine what small day-to-day changes could be helpful for you!

Information Sources:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_115877.html
http://www.livingwellwithcholesterol.ca/about-cholesterol/what-is-cholesterol/are-you-at-risk