Reprinted from the Health District's quarterly publication mailed to district residents (Fall 2001)

Many people have heard about the new cholesterol guidelines, but may not know how it affects them.

Earlier this summer, the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) updated its existing guidelines for treating high cholesterol in adults, offering a broad set of recommendations covering everything from screening to diet and exercise. Included in the report were recommendations for more aggressive treatment of cholesterol and high triglycerides in all adults.

The NCEP guidelines also raised the minimum level of HDL, or good cholesterol, a person should have from 35 mg./dL. to 40 mg./dL. and recommended that healthy adults make their first cholesterol test a full lipid profile, which includes total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides.

Since what we eat helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels, naturally the NCEP report revisited guidelines related to diet.

The report recommends that a person’s daily diet include less than seven percent of calories from saturated fat, up to 10 percent of calories from polyunsaturated fat, up to 20 percent of calories from monounsaturated fat, total fat from 25-35 percent of total calories, and dietary cholesterol of less than 200 mg.

Although the NCEP doesn’t go into detail about what we should eat, we do know that our diet plays a big part in helping us keep our blood cholesterol numbers within a healthy range. We know eating saturated fats raises our blood cholesterol levels, and that we should eat less of them. These are the fats that are found primarily in animal foods—meat, cheese, and full-fat dairy products.

We also know what foods help lower our blood cholesterol and are healthy for our heart. These are soy foods, soluble fiber, fruits and vegetables, monounsaturated fats and the omega-3 fatty acids.

And, of course, we know keeping tabs on our blood cholesterol is important.

Why?

High blood cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease. In fact, the higher your blood cholesterol level, the greater your risk for developing heart disease or having a heart attack. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women and men in the United States. Each year, more than a million Americans have heart attacks, and about a half million people die from heart disease.

Eating healthy is one of the important components in helping to keep blood cholesterol within acceptable levels.

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