You’ve seen it on the news, food packaging, health websites, and in the doctor’s office — high cholesterol is bad for your health. It’s common knowledge that your risk of heart disease significantly increases when your cholesterol levels are high. With everything you do know about cholesterol, there are few things you might not have heard.

Genetics Play a Role
If you have a family history of heart disease, having high cholesterol can seriously increase your risk. Your arteries will be more prone to building up the plaque that can lead to heart disease. However, those without a family history of this disease won’t be affected by high cholesterol as much (lucky you).

Men vs Women
Men in their 40s and 50s tend to have higher cholesterol levels than women, but that changes around age 60. At this age, women will start to see an increase in their cholesterol levels. Eventually, at age 70 and 80, there will be more women than men with high cholesterol. This is most likely due to the lack of estrogen, so it’s important for women to be aware during their retirement years.

Cholesterol-Free Foods
Just because food is advertised to be cholesterol-free, doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. The food item may say that it contains zero percent cholesterol, but you could still end up increasing your cholesterol level from this food. Saturated, dairy, and trans fats should be monitored because they will eventually turn into cholesterol once they’re broken down in the body.

It’s important to know as much as you can about cholesterol in order to prevent an increased risk of heart disease. For other useful tips and information, visit our blog! If you’re interested in learning more or visiting The Arbors Assisted Living community, schedule a tour by contacting one of our five convenient locations:

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