To some extent, people who have naturally higher levels of HDL cholesterol are at lower risk of heart attack and stroke. It's less clear whether that same benefit holds true for people who increase their HDL levels with medications.
Lifestyle changes known to increase HDL, such as moving more, quitting smoking or improving your diet, have been shown to lower the risk of heart attacks, However, medications that specifically increase HDL levels have failed to reduce the rate of heart attacks.
This may be caused by genetic factors. HDL levels are typically lower in people who have metabolic syndrome — a cluster of conditions that include obesity, increased blood pressure and high blood sugar levels. Besides helping you lose weight, increased physical activity can lower your triglycerides, the most common type of fat in your body, while increasing your HDL levels.
Benefits can be seen with as little as 60 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise a week. Foods prepared with shortening, such as cakes and cookies, often contain trans fats, as do most fried foods and some margarines.
Limit saturated fat, found in meats and full-fat dairy products, as well. If you smoke, find a way to quit. Moderate use of alcohol has been linked with higher levels of HDL cholesterol. For healthy adults, that means up to one drink a day for women of all ages and men older than age 65, and up to two drinks a day for men age 65 and younger. However, if you don't drink, don't start drinking to raise your HDL cholesterol levels.
Too much alcohol can cause weight gain, and might increase your blood pressure and triglyceride levels. HDL levels are sometimes improved by drugs used to lower LDL and triglyceride levels — such as prescription niacin; fibrates such as gemfibrozil Lopid ; and certain statins, particularly simvastatin Zocor and rosuvastatin Crestor.
But clinical trials for several drugs specifically designed to increase HDL levels were halted early because they didn't reduce the risk of heart attacks. Drugs containing testosterone and other anabolic steroids can lower your HDL cholesterol levels.
Avoiding these drugs may help increase your HDL numbers. There is a problem with information submitted for this request. Sign up for free, and stay up-to-date on research advancements, health tips and current health topics, like COVID, plus expert advice on managing your health. Error Email field is required. Error Include a valid email address. To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information and to understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your e-mail and website usage information with other information we have about you.
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Other research suggests that high HDL cholesterol may be harmful if you are having dialysis for kidney disease, as it may make inflammation and tissue damage worse. If your total cholesterol is over 7. Find out what the numbers mean. Try to adopt a healthy diet and lifestyle and manage any other health problems you have that can lead to heart disease.
For example:. This is especially important for women leading up to, during and after the menopause. There are no medications that specifically target high HDL cholesterol, so the main thing is to lower your risk of heart disease overall. We need more research to fully understand how HDL cholesterol works to develop ways to prevent and treat heart disease.
This means studying how HDL lipoproteins work, and how this can be improved on, as simply raising the amount of HDL in the blood does not prevent disease. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Continue Find out more. How high is too high? Current recommendations for healthy levels of HDL cholesterol 1. What causes high HDL cholesterol? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options.
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