High Blood Cholesterol and Hyperlipidaemia

Limit total fat intake, high cholesterol foods and carbohydrate. Keep total fat intake between 20 to 35 percent of calories for adults. Make choices that are lean, low fat or fat-free. Choose fish, skinless poultry and lean meat. Avoid animal fat.

Certain food items, apart from fat, known to contain higher cholesterol, include shellfish, crabs, lobster, egg yolk, squid and prawns. While it is prudent to consume these in moderation, one need not abstain totally. Total dietary moderation is more effective than omitting one or two items but still overeating overall. For example, it is okay and even good for growing children to eat an egg a day.

Other preventive measures:

• More fruits, vegetables and fibre. Foods high in fibre can help reduce lipid levels. Aim for ‘2+2’: 2 servings of fruits and 2 servings of vegetables per day.
• Maintain a healthy body weight. Excess weight increases blood cholesterol.
• Exercise regularly. This increases HDL and reduces LDL.
• Control alcohol intake. Excess alcohol increases lipid levels.
• Control smoking, diabetes and hypertension. Hypertension, diabetes, smoking and high cholesterol work together to cause atherosclerosis, control of all these four together will lessen the total risk. Smoking also lowers HDL levels.