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Things That Can Cause High Cholesterol

High cholesterol has often dubbed a disease that can only afflict the elderly or obese people. In fact, high cholesterol can also be experienced by people who are young and thin. Therefore, it is important for you to know what causes cholesterol to rise to find out how much your risk is, as well as avoiding the risk of complications in the future. Then, what causes high cholesterol? Check out the following explanation.

Various causes and risk factors for high cholesterol

In fact, there are many things that can be the cause of high cholesterol. Starting from daily habits that can actually be prevented to certain medical conditions.

1. Increasing age

One risk factor for high cholesterol is age. The more you age, the more likely you are to experience this condition. For example, men whose age is 45 years old and women who are older than 55 years, have a higher risk of experiencing high cholesterol and heart attacks.

However, that does not mean at the age mentioned, you will definitely experience the condition. When age becomes a risk factor for high cholesterol, this is usually influenced by changes in body function and metabolism which also decreases. So, no wonder that most elderly people have higher LDL cholesterol than young children.

However, that does not mean young people can not experience this condition. Moreover, this condition often does not show certain symptoms. Therefore, you still have to maintain normal cholesterol levels, even though you are still young. One of them is by maintaining a healthy diet.

2. Accustomed to unhealthy eating patterns

Launch the British Heart Foundation, one of the causes of cholesterol is unhealthy eating habits. Indiscriminate eating and snacks can be a cause of high cholesterol levels in the blood.

Eating foods that are rich in saturated and trans fats can indeed increase levels of fat in the body. The problem is, the higher the level of fat in the body, the higher your potential for experiencing high cholesterol.

Saturated fats are easily found in food. You can find it in beef, lamb, butter, cream, and cheese made from 2% milk.

Meanwhile, foods made from plants and have high cholesterol content are coconut and coconut oil. Consuming too much-saturated fat can be a cause of high cholesterol levels.

Not only that, but trans fat is also fat that has been processed by the factory and added to hydrogen to make vegetable oil thicker. Similar to saturated fat, this fat can also be a cause of high cholesterol levels.

This is due, this fat can increase bad cholesterol levels and actually reduce levels of good cholesterol in the blood. Because the body still needs fat intake, replace the intake of saturated fat and trans fat with unsaturated fat.

You can find it in olive oil, olives, nuts like walnuts and almonds, and omega-3 fatty acids in fish. The reason is unsaturated fat can help you control cholesterol levels in the body.

Consumption of excess sugar and alcohol intake
When you are diagnosed with high cholesterol, maybe you just focus on limiting eating fatty foods. However, many of you do not pay attention to sugar and alcohol intake.

In fact, the excess calories you may get from sugar and alcohol will turn into cholesterol triglycerides that can increase bad cholesterol (LDL) in your blood.

One way to keep your cholesterol level balanced is by reducing all sugar intake, including sugary drinks, alcohol, and processed carbohydrates such as bread and pasta.

Although often seen negatively, in fact, the body needs cholesterol. The body gets cholesterol from two sources, namely by making it yourself in the liver and from the food consumed.

When your cholesterol intake decreases, your body will produce more cholesterol to meet its needs. Therefore, limiting your consumption of cholesterol foods can actually cause your cholesterol to surge even though you are already living a healthy life. You can still consume this type of food as long as the amount is reasonable.

In addition to consuming foods that are rich in unsaturated fats and reducing sweet foods and drinks, you also need to adjust your diet. Do not let you wrong in determining food restrictions.

Usually, to avoid cholesterol, you avoid eggs that contain high cholesterol. In fact, when avoiding it, you actually miss the high protein found in eggs.

You may eat one egg a day, but it is not recommended to eat steak and a glass of milk afterward. That is, make sure that you do not avoid any food. The most important thing is to determine the right boundary.

How to determine the right diet is to get used to eating foods that are good for cholesterol. For example, reducing foods high in cholesterol even though it doesn't stop eating them altogether and increasing foods rich in fiber. Yes, fibrous foods can reduce cholesterol.

3. Lazy to move

Are you aware that lazy to move can be one of the causes of increased cholesterol levels in the blood? Try to think about how much time you spend sleeping or sitting idle while checking your cellphone, watching television, or just playing games.

Especially if you are an office employee who spends time sitting quietly in front of a computer for hours. Yes, lack of active movement and lazy to exercise can be one of the causes of your cholesterol levels increase.

Especially if this is supported by food choices that are not healthy and rich in fat. Because the pile of fat will continue to settle in the blood vessels and does not burn through physical activities such as sports.

In addition, exercise can also help you reduce cholesterol levels in the blood. Therefore, avoid the habit of lazing and start exercising regularly.

4. Overweight

Being overweight can be one of the causes of high cholesterol levels. Because being overweight is usually a sign of excess fat levels in the body. These conditions can be a cause of high cholesterol levels come along.

In addition, being overweight can increase the risk of heart disease that occurs due to increased cholesterol. For example, the risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack, to heart failure. Meanwhile, many factors can be the cause of being overweight, which also leads to an increase in cholesterol levels. For example, lazy to exercise, eating habits rich in fat, to lack of sleep.

If you really don't want to experience high cholesterol levels, you can avoid the cause of this condition by maintaining the ideal body weight. This is an effort so that the levels of good cholesterol or HDL and bad cholesterol or LDL levels in the body become stable.

To find out if your weight has been classified as exceeding the normal limit, try to measure it with a Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator. If your BMI is 30 or more, then you are already in the overweight category.

Therefore, by trying to maintain your ideal body weight, it means that you have taken care of your body's health to avoid various other diseases that may arise due to high cholesterol levels.

5. Have certain diseases

Another cause of high cholesterol is the history of the disease you have. There are several diseases that have the potential to cause high cholesterol levels in the blood. Therefore, you also must be careful with all the health conditions that you have.

Some of these health conditions may be the cause of cholesterol, so you should be aware of:

  • Diabetes.
  • Liver disorders and kidney problems.
  • High blood pressure (hypertension).
  • Disorders of the thyroid gland.

There are also certain drugs that can cause an increase in bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol. Some of these drugs include progestins, anabolic steroids, and corticosteroids.

Feeling not doing the things above, but cholesterol levels remain high? It could be that the cause of high cholesterol that you experience is a family health history. The reason is, this condition can be derived from father, mother, even grandparents. A condition that can cause you to experience increased levels of cholesterol in the blood called familial hypercholesterolemia.

Yes,  familial hypercholesterolemia is a genetic disease that occurs because there is damage to chromosome 19. Gene mutations inherited from parents can control every cell in our body so that it cannot quickly eliminate LDL cholesterol, or it can also cause the liver to produce too much LDL.

This condition causes the body is unable to move bad cholesterol or LDL from the blood. This also causes LDL levels to continue to increase in the bodies of people who experience them.

The severity of this condition is usually influenced by how much LDL cholesterol levels are in the blood. If family history is the cause of high cholesterol in the blood, you need to be careful. In addition, the higher the level of bad cholesterol in the body, the higher the risk of narrowing of the arteries at a young age.

Immediately do a blood test to check how high your cholesterol level is so that you can immediately take medication for the right cholesterol. If left unchecked, you may experience various health problems that are complications of cholesterol.

One cause of high cholesterol can be characterized by several conditions, such as the following:
  • The patient experiences xanthoma in several parts of the body including the hands, elbows, knees, ankles, and around the cornea of ​​the eye.
  • Chest pain or other symptoms of coronary heart disease that appear at a young age.
  • One or both calves often feel cramps when worn on foot.
  • Pain in the toes and can't be cured.
  • Symptoms such as stroke, for example, difficulty speaking, hands or feet feel weak, to the loss of body balance.
Even though this condition is hereditary in your family, it does not mean that this condition cannot be overcome. As with other causes of cholesterol,  familial hypercholesterolemia can also be overcome by lifestyle changes and various medications used for cholesterol treatment.

To overcome this condition, the most effective thing is to maintain a diet. You are advised to reduce your intake of foods rich in saturated and trans fats. Change the source of fat by eating foods that are rich in unsaturated fats.

In addition, avoid foods high in cholesterol and increase fiber intake which can reduce cholesterol levels in the body. Balance also with regular physical activity such as sports, at least as much as 150 minutes a week. You can share it by exercising regularly for 30 minutes five times a week. Reduce smoking and alcohol intake which can increase cholesterol in the body.

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