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The Good Changes in diet, supplements, and exercise can have a dramatic effect on cholesterol. *

The Not-So-Good Adjusting HDL ("good" cholesterol) upward while decreasing LDL ("bad" cholesterol) can be difficult. Many approaches tend to increase or decrease all the measures.

Issues Opinions on ideal cholesterol levels vary. Extremely-low levels of cholesterol are not desirable
(low cholesterol and anxiety, depression, stroke), and neither are high.The division of cholesterol into Total, LDL, and HDL is probably simplistic. Newer cholesterol tests (offered by Life Extension and others) provide much more useful detail on blood lipids, but are expensive. A reasonable fallback is the simpler approach of raising HDL, lowering LDL, and keeping our total cholesterol between 180 and 200 (ideally, close to the lower number, if you can maintain a high HDL number). Also, while cholesterol levels matter, the blood factor C-Reactive Protein seems more important to longevity and heart health.

Useful Nutrients Many supplements and herbs seem to affect cholesterol. In fact, so many that it can
be a little confusing (see table below for a sorted list). But good places to start are policosanol, curcumin, and pantethine. Another product that benefits blood lipids, and is patricularly important when cholesterol drugs are taken (which tend to deplete it) is coenzyme q-10.  Even better, recent research suggests cocoa and dark chocolate are helpful.

Testing Regular cholesterol blood tests are a good idea, particularly if your cholesterol numbers are
poor. Get the high-end tests mentioned above if you can. Another option, though, is home testing,
which can be particularly useful if you are testing frequently. Cholesterol kits similar to the blood-drop
diabetic testers are available and easy to us.