The #1 Thing to Avoid if You Have High Cholesterol, According to Experts
How swapping out saturated fat for healthier options can help lower your numbers and improve heart health.
An estimated 25 million Americans are living with high cholesterol—making it one of the most common chronic conditions in the U.S.1 At the same time, two-thirds of us eat too much saturated fat (experts recommend a max of 10% of daily calories)2. Spoiler: These stats are not a coincidence.
“There are genetic factors that can cause high cholesterol, but what has been understood more and more is that high saturated fat intake in general is correlated with elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels,” says Stephen Juraschek, MD, PhD, a clinician investigator at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. There’s also good evidence that lifestyle factors, like dietary changes, can help lower those levels for many people, he adds.
So let’s take a look at what the research says about the link between cholesterol and saturated fat, and the eating tweaks that may help bring your numbers down.
