High cholesterol

Risk factors for high cholesterol

There are many things that can affect your cholesterol level. The most important things are what you eat and your

genes
Your genes are the parts of your cells that contain instructions for how your body works. Genes are housed on chromosomes, structures that sit in the nucleus at the middle of each of your cells. You have 23 pairs of chromosomes in your normal cells, each of which has thousands of genes. You get one set of chromosomes, and all of the genes that are on them, from each of your parents.

genes.

What you eat: Eating a lot of saturated fats and trans fats is likely to increase the amount of cholesterol in your blood.

Source:
Ball M, Mann J.
Lipids and heart disease: a guide for the primary care team.
2nd edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK; 1994.

¹ Researchers aren't sure how this happens.

Source:
Cliff WJ, Schoeff GI (editors).
Coronaries and cholesterol.
Chapman and Hall, London, UK; 1989.

² Trans fats are found in hard margarine and have the same effect on your body as saturated fats. See A guide to fats in food.
Your genes: Some people seem to be able to eat lots of fatty food without getting abnormal levels of lipids in their blood. But other people have to be very careful about what they eat. This difference may be caused by differences in their genes (the basic material in all cells that controls how cells grow and behave). Differences in genes may affect how much cholesterol your body makes and how it handles the fat in the food you eat.
Lack of exercise: Not getting regular exercise can increase triglycerides and reduce good cholesterol. See More about cholesterol and triglycerides.
Being overweight: Putting on weight can have the same effect on cholesterol as not exercising.
Getting older: Cholesterol tends to rise as we get older.
Drinking alcohol to excess: Drinking a lot of alcohol on a regular basis can increase your cholesterol and triglycerides.
Severe lipid disorders: Some lipid disorders are inherited, which means that faulty genes are inherited from one or both parents. People with one of these disorders have high levels of lipids and are more likely to have heart or circulation problems, even when they are quite young. These types of lipid disorders are rare. To learn more, see Inherited lipid disorders.

Sources for the information on this page:

Ball M, Mann J.Lipids and heart disease: a guide for the primary care team.2nd edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK; 1994.

Cliff WJ, Schoeff GI (editors).Coronaries and cholesterol.Chapman and Hall, London, UK; 1989.

This information was last updated on Nov 06, 2008

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