High Cholesterol? Here are the Top 12 Non-Drug Strategies to Increase Your HDL Levels
Think you’ve heard it all when it comes to cholesterol? Well, even the most cholesterol-savvy may be in for a surprise. It turns out that perhaps the most important aspect has to do with making sure you have enough cholesterol – the good kind, that is. Cholesterol is composed of two types: the healthy “HDL” (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol and the lousy “LDL” (low-density lipoprotein) variety. Most Americans focus on reducing LDL cholesterol as a key part of their treatment. A new study, however, found that having too little HDL cholesterol is at least as damaging when it comes to heart disease as having too much LDL, and it may even be more predictive of heart disease. In fact, the most common cholesterol problem among those with heart disease is too little HDL. That’s because HDL cholesterol works to remove LDL cholesterol from the arteries. Even if their total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels are normal, people with reduced levels of HDL have an increased ri...