Good-Diet-Culture: A Natural Means of Preventing Bad-Cholesterol By Peter Owinje

Manage A Good Health Carefully!

The word ‘Management’ as it were, is an essential global concept. It’s worthy of note that, management is not only essential in business organizations or industries, but also in all non-business-activities, like using food to achieve desirable health benefits like healthy living and growth. Put different, healthy food resources management may be described as food consumption method of managing or using various natural food items to promote healthy living.

Contrarily, inadequate management of cholesterol levels to properly keep them in the healthy range due to poor diet may lead to complex health problems. Cholesterol is a fatty substance made or produced by the cells in the liver and deposits or discharges it into the bloodstream. However, the solid deposits may stick to the arterial walls and with time, it may become bigger in size causing the blood vessels to be narrowed thereby, reducing the easy flow of blood in the body. This’ dangerous to human health and it may lead to chronic heart diseases. Therefore, your cholesterol levels should be well-managed by means of healthy diet culture.

In the view of the reasons discussed above, healthy diet and eating  it at the right are an essential means to having a healthy lifestyle and enjoying healthy living. On the other hand, poor diet culture or lifestyle may lead to various chronic health problems. For example, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that, almost 178,000 people are dying every year in the U.S. from excessive alcohol drinking. CDC also noted, in one of its published articles that, nearly 25 million adults (age 20 and above) in the U.S. have high cholesterol levels of above 240 mg/dL.–(medical tests report results in milligram (mg) per deciliter (dL). To further justify the foregoing assertions, different health problems related to steady increase in cholesterol levels are notably linked to poor diet or food consumption. In addition, high consumption of food items rich in saturated fats e.g. palm oil, meat fat, butter, coconut oil etc., has the potential to increase or raise the blood cholesterol levels, while in the same vein, high consumption of food items rich in unsaturated fats reduces your blood cholesterol levels.

So, what’s saturated fat and unsaturated fat?

Saturated Fat

Saturated fat is a fatty substance that’s not easily absorbed or dissolved in any given temperature and pressure. For example, if you put any morsel or a piece of butter in a very hot water, you will observe that the morsel or butter doesn’t esily dissolve. It maintains its solid state in such a temperature.  Putting differently, saturated fat remains solid in a given temperature and it’s unable to form any product. This kind of fat raises the level of cholesterol in the blood stream and it’s simply referred to as bad cholesterol.

Unsaturated Fat

Contrarily, unsaturated fat, is fat that’s capable of dissolving or absorbing more of something or substance to form any other beneficial substance, that often comes from a plant based food items like peanut, walnut, soybean etc. Unsaturated fats tend to reduce the level of bad cholesterol in the blood, and this kind of cholesterol is referred to as good cholesterol.

However, it was noted by the World Health Organization (WHO), that an abnormal raise in cholesterol levels is a major cause of disease burden in both the developed and developing countries and a significant risk factor for both ischemic heart disease (IHD) or Coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke. Clinical studies have also shown that, a high level of cholesterol is a notable risk factor for heart and vessel diseases. Healthy and acceptable total cholesterol levels should be below 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) for adults from age 20 years and above while the healthy level for children should be under 170 mg/dL.

To this junction, it should be explicitly clear that, there are two major types of cholesterol which are Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), that’s also referred to as ‘Bad’ cholesterol because it’s identified as a risk factor of chronic diseases like strokes, heart diseases etc. and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) which is also known as ‘Good’ cholesterol that promotes good health.   The bad Cholesterol is a harmful fatty particle or substance that’s often formed or produced by the liver and other tissues and its steady increase can cause complex health problems, particularly if it gets into the blood circulation.

Why Elevated Cholesterol Is Dangerous!

If there’s a reasonable amount of bad cholesterol in the blood vessels as noted above, it can prevent sufficient oxygenated blood from reaching the different tissues and organs in the body causing more health problems.  In addition, when the cholesterol that sticks to the arterial walls becomes lager in size, can break into smaller pieces and thereafter move into different part of the body through blood vessels. This therefore makes blood circulation more difficult which may result into a damage, heart attack or stroke.

World Health Organization (WHO), reveals that one third of ischemic heart disease– which is the (shortage of blood flow to the heart), is attributable or connected to high cholesterol levels, globally, and it’s estimated that 2.6 million people around the world died as a result of their steady increase in cholesterol levels. The World Heart Federation (WHF) noted in one of its publications that cardiovascular disease is subjected to or accounted for an estimated 18.6 million deaths every year and it’s a leading cause of death around the world. However, needless to say that high cholesterol level is identified as a significant risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Additionally, in 2019, almost 4.4 million deaths were linked to high levels of bad or unhealthy cholesterol.

Furthermore, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals the following heart disease facts in the US:

* ‘One person dies every 33 seconds from cardiovascular disease’.

* ‘About 695,000 people died from heart disease in 2021’. This means one death caused by cardiovascular disease occurred in every five deaths occurrence in that year.

* In the year 2021, 375,476 people died as a result of coronary artery disease (CAD). The report further reveals that about one in twenty adults in the US aged 20 and above suffered from coronary artery disease in that year.

* It’s also revealed that someone often has a heart attack every 40 seconds in the US.

* Further still, CDC reveals that ‘Every year, about 805, 000 people in the United States have a heart attack.’  Painful enough, CDC reveals that one in five heart attacks in the US are silent, i.e. ‘The damage is done, but the person is not aware of it.’

However, in the United Kingdom, a notable published article on March 2024 revealed that as at the end of the year 2023, more than 1, 862, 500 people were living with GP diagnosed of coronary heart disease (CHD) in England. While, in the end of 2023, more than 1, 152, 000 people were diagnosed of stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) in England.

Furthermore, in Canada heart disease is identified as the second leading cause of death, killing over 50,000 people every year. It’s further stressed that, ‘One person dies in Canada every five minutes from heart conditions, stroke, or vascular cognitive impairment.’ ‘Nine in 10 Canadians have at least one risk factor for heart conditions, stroke or vascular cognitive impairment.’ Lastly, in the year 2016, 91, 524 people died of heart conditions, stroke or vascular cognitive impairment in Canada.

. . . Kindly remember! That a high cholesterol levels is a notable factor among others that can cause heart disease!

Importance of Good Cholesterol   

Despite, the health problem caused by bad cholesterol, studies also reveal that good blood cholesterol has certain essential health benefits. For example, good cholesterol is an essential substance, for the production of the following:

• Production of bile acids i.e. ( an acid made by the liver that works with bile— which is yellow or greenish fluid produced by the liver that flows into first part of the small intestine called (duodenum) to break down and absorb fats);
• Production of vitamin D from sunlight –( fat-soluble vitamin produced in the skin that’s essential for normal bone and tooth structure and often depends on exposure to sunlight);
• Production of progesterone— which ( is a female hormone that prepares the uterus(the womb) to receive and sustain fertilized eggs or to maintain pregnancy amongst other functions);
• Production of estrogens – (they are female hormones like ‘(estradiol, estrone, estriol), including, intermediary production of different androgens – which is (a male sex hormone e.g. (androsterone, testosterone);
• Production of mineralocorticoid hormones – which is ( A group of hormones that regulates water balance and electrolytes e.g. ions like sodium and potassium in the body, such as aldosterone, which is also produced from  corticosterone a steroid ‘derive’ from cholesterol and glucocorticoid hormones which is (cortisol) in human – are an essential substance for digestion of fatty foods in the body including  protein and carbohydrate processes (digestions), in other words, it helps to regulate blood glucose concentrations and blood pressure.

To be honest, good cholesterol has many essential functions to promote your healthy living.

Furthermore, there are different food items that can reduce cholesterol in your body and also prevent the formation in the digestive system. Some plant food items contain substances i.e. a group of organic compounds called sterols and stanols which hinder or prevent the human body from absorbing bad cholesterol.

Food Items that promote Healthy Cholesterol

It’s worthy of note that, there are food items that can reduce triglycerides and the bad cholesterol while promoting the ‘good’ cholesterol levels in human body. These items include oats, whole grains, beans, okra, nuts—( they are also good for the heart), apples, strawberries, citrus fruits, soy, fish, avocado, garlic, legumes, cocoa—(cocoa powder alone not chocolate with excess added sugar that may cause heart health problem), and vegetables amongst others. Additionally, cholesterol-free and low-fat fruits and vegetables are the underlying base or bedrock of a good diet and essential means for healthy living.

Notable Ways to Prevent Bad Cholesterol and Promote Good Cholesterol

It’s revealed that excessive body weight can result into excess body fat which can stimulate the growth or accumulation of bad cholesterol i.e. (LDL) thereby leading to an increase in the body levels. If you are in doubt whether you are gaining excessive weight or excess body fat or not, you can consult your doctor to help you to estimate or calculate your body mass index (BMI) to decide if your weight is healthy and safe or otherwise, your doctor can tell you what to do to keep a healthy weight.

Moreover, excessive alcohol drinking and smoking may increase the risk of heart disease. For example, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that, almost 178,000 people dying every year in the U.S. from excessive alcohol drinking. Hence, it’s advisable to reduce your alcohol intake or quit smoking if you do! It’s worthy of note that early stage of heart disease and stroke cases or issues can be averted by refraining from already identified common risk factors in this articles including unnecessary drug use and unhealthy diet. In essence, embracing healthy living culture is a rule of the thumb. Additionally, the liver makes sufficient cholesterol which your body requires. Therefore, don’t over step your boundary by consuming any unnecessary additional cholesterol through various unhealthy food items and drinks, if you do, it’s nothing but embarking on an unprofitable venture!

However, it’s equally important and desirable to note that preventing and ending the issue of high bad cholesterol levels in the blood involve not only controlling diet but also one’s weight, regular exercise, and use of appropriately prescribed medication. Also the World Health Organization (WHO), reveals that: ‘A healthy diet helps to protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. Unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are leading global risks to health’. Credited to WHO.

In view of the foregoing, it’s advisable to check your cholesterol level or lipid profile every five years when you are over twenty years of age.

Thank you!

Image credited to pixabay.