How to lower Cholesterol – A look at statin
Despite the fact that cholesterol is needed in the body, there is a continue bad publicity of cholesterol in the public media. Cholesterol is produced by our liver and needed for building cell membranes. Consumption of animal products like meat cheese and milk may increase your cholesterol level. Thus eating too much of foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol will naturally goes up.
For the average person, a cholesterol level over 200 mg/DL is considered high, putting them at risk for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. If your cholesterol level reaches 200 or higher, your doctor will usually advise you to get it back down to a healthy range. The first step in this process is by making changes to your diet and exercise routines.
However, if this does not prove successful, your doctor may prescribe you a cholesterol-lowering drug to assist you with getting your levels within a normal range. Here is a look at how some of these cholesterol drugs work.
The most commonly used drugs for reducing cholesterol are known as statins. Statins are designed to increase the number of LDL receptors you have in your liver, so that the LDL cholesterol ends up there instead of clogging up your arteries. By having less LDL in your bloodstream, you will reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other coronary diseases.
Atrovastatin is one of the commonly used statin based drug, it is market under the name Lipitor. As Lipitor can be synthetically created, it is easy and cheap to produce in large quantity, making it a preferred choice for doctors.
The one downside to statins is that although they are good at reducing LDL, or bad, cholesterol, they do not always work as well with reducing your triglyceride levels or with improving your HDL cholesterol levels. So taking statins alone may not be effective enough to solve your high cholesterol problem.
An alternative to statins is niacin, also known at vitamin B3. Vitamin B3 can help in the increase of HDL (good) cholesterol and has shown to have the effect of lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol as well. These 2 properties will help in the prevention of heart disease.
Another option to look into is plant sterols, a chemical that is found in many of the fruits and vegetables that you eat. Plant sterols are the plant equivalent of cholesterol, and can block the absorption of cholesterol in the digestive track.
Beyond pills or supplements, however, the best option for treating your cholesterol problem is through diet and exercise. Lower fat diets, particularly those that avoid the use of saturated fats and animal products, and diets that are high in fruits, grains, and vegetables are most effective.
Adding exercise to your routine and lowering your weight will also help your heart to get stronger. Reducing or eliminating smoking and alcohol consumption will also help improve cholesterol levels and reduce heart risks.
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