Cholesterol Isn’t All Bad
Cholesterol is often described as a “waxy” substance found naturally in our own cells and in animal-based foods. It gets a bad rap when there’s too much of it in your blood (aka the medical condition, hypercholesterolemia). But in reality, having normal levels of cholesterol is important: The body needs cholesterol to carry out various functions, including making hormones, forming cell walls, and producing bile acid to help your body absorb nutrients from food. It’s so important, in fact, that your liver makes 80% of the cholesterol currently in your body, notes Alanna Cabrero, RDN, registered dietitian and founder of Alanna Cabrero Nutrition. But when cholesterol levels in the blood go above the normal, healthy range, it often leads to an increased risk of heart disease. A specific type of cholesterol—low-density lipoprotein (or LDL)—poses concern.
High Cholesterol, Explained
There are two types of lipoproteins that carry and circulate cholesterol around the body, explains Jasmine Westbrooks, RD, a registered dietitian in North Carolina and co-founder of Eat Well Exchange. Cholesterol carried by low-density lipoproteins, or LDL, is the harmful kind when its levels in the blood are high. This is because LDL brings cholesterol to your blood vessels and lines them with fatty deposits—one of the multiple risk factors for heart disease and stroke. The target is to have LDL levels at less than 100 milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL), Westbrooks says. People on cholesterol-lowering medications may be recommended a target of less than 70 mg/dL. Besides a low LDL level, you also need to ensure your high-density lipoprotein levels, or HDL (known as “good cholesterol”), is also within their recommended range. “HDL is like the garbage truck,” Westbrooks says. “It goes to pick up additional, circulating cholesterol and brings it to your liver, and your liver gets rid of it.” Unlike LDL, HDL in most people actually needs to be increased in order to meet the target of above 40 mg/dL for men and above 50 mg/dL for women, with over 60 mg/dL being ideal.
How Diet Impacts Cholesterol Levels
Whether or not you’re genetically at higher risk of developing hypercholesterolemia, everyone should maintain a diet to balance the LDL and HDL levels in the blood. LDL rises when you eat trans fats and excessive amounts of saturated fats, says Westbrooks. Saturated fats are found in animal-based foods, and trans fats are mostly in processed foods. The American Heart Association recommends that only 5 to 6% of your total dietary caloric intake consists of saturated fats. This is equivalent to 13 grams of saturated fat per day if your total caloric intake is 2,000 calories per day. Using this example of 2,000 calories, a person should aim for 2 grams or less of trans fat per day. You might assume limiting dietary cholesterol is the best approach. But experts say that high saturated fat intake has more impact on your LDL levels. Even if dietary cholesterol does have some impact, there are no additional dietary guidelines you need to follow. “The moment you start reducing animal fats [in your diet], you’re naturally going to start decreasing the amount of dietary cholesterol you eat, since cholesterol is only in animal foods,” says Cabrero.
