9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

9 ways to lower your risk of high cholesterol

Prevention is key when is comes to a healthy heart. Improve your cholesterol levels by following these tips

Slide 1 of 10Next

Prevention strategies

Cholesterol is necessary to make cell membranes as well as hormones, and your body produces this cholesterol. What you eat also contributes to blood cholesterol levels, but it's not so much this as the saturated fat in your diet that raises your cholesterol. Some cholesterol is 'bad' (LDL attacks arteries and contributes to plaque buildup), while some is 'good' (HDL escorts the bad cholesterol out of the body). Only about half of people who have heart attacks have high cholesterol, but it's still important to keep your levels healthy. For every one percent drop in LDL, heart attack risk falls by two percent; every one percent rise in HDL reduces your risk of a fatal heart attack by three percent.