Blood and Your Cholesterol

High cholesterol is considered one of the three key heart disease risk factors, along with smoking and high blood pressure.

A soft fat-like substance found naturally in the body, cholesterol circulating in the blood is deposited in the inner walls of the arteries, blocking the flow of blood. Most coronary heart disease is the result of blocked arteries.

Blood cholesterol is determined by several factors, including the foods you eat and genetic makeup. The liver produces all the cholesterol your body needs, and also processes it and recycles it into other substances.

How Can You Lower Your Cholesterol?

A diet rich in vegetables, fruits and cereal grains can positively impact your level of cholesterol. Other dietary considerations include choosing fish, poultry, and lean cuts of meat, and trimming fat from meat and skin from chicken before cooking. Eating fewer eggs and less organ meats such as liver, brain and kidney will also help.

Choosing salad dressings, cooking fats and margarines from vegetable products such as corn, olive and canola oils (those containing polyunsaturated vegetable oils) may also lower the level of blood cholesterol.

To lessen your risk of heart disease, the American Heart Association recommends limiting cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams per day, and reducing your total fat intake to about 30 percent of calories. In addition, exercise regularly, practice stress management, and do not smoke.

The Blood Center recognizes that it is important that you know your cholesterol level, so that you can make the appropriate changes necessary to improve your health. After every blood donation, you will receive a reading of your cholesterol level by mail!

Is Your Cholesterol Too High