10 Ways to Help Boost Your 'Good' Cholesterol

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10 Ways to Help Boost Your 'Good' Cholesterol

Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD

By Elaine Magee, MPH, RD

WebMD Weight Loss Clinic - Feature

At the risk of sounding like a certain 20-something socialite, HDL is hot!

Recent advances in research have brought more attention to the blood lipid (or

fat) we often call " good " cholesterol.

" Good " cholesterol doesn't refer to the cholesterol we eat in food, but to

the high density lipoprotein cholesterol circulating in our blood. It's one of

the blood fats measured in the lipid panel blood test doctors perform. And it's

the component you want more of, because increasing HDL helps lower your risk

of heart disease.

A recent report from an expert panel of the National Cholesterol Education

Program (NCEP) notes that although LDL or " bad " cholesterol has gotten most of

the attention, there's growing evidence that HDL plays an important role.

Here are a few fast facts about " good " cholesterol from the NCEP panel:

HDL cholesterol normally makes up 20%-30% of your total blood cholesterol.

There's some evidence that HDL helps protect against the accumulation of

plaques (fatty deposits) in the arteries.

Research suggests that a 1% decrease in HDL cholesterol is linked to a 2%-3%

increase in heart disease risk.

In prospective studies - that is, studies that follow participants for a

certain period to watch for outcomes -- HDL usually proves to be the lipid risk

factor most linked to heart disease risk.

HDL cholesterol levels are thought to have a genetic factor in some people.

Women typically have higher HDL cholesterol levels than men. About a third of

men and about a fifth of women have HDL levels below 40 mg/dL. (Doctors

consider levels of less than 40 mg/dL to be low.)Researchers from the

Netherlands

who analyzed 60 studies concluded that the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL

(in which your total cholesterol number is divided by your HDL number) is a

better marker for coronary artery disease than LDL measurement alone.

" Boosting HDL is the next frontier in heart disease prevention, " says P.K.

Shah, MD, director of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Shah says that if the new drugs designed to increase HDL levels prove

effective, they could potentially reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes

by

80% to 90% -- and save millions of lives. HDL-boosting drugs are now being

tested.

How Does HDL Help?

Experts aren't yet sure exactly how HDL cholesterol helps reduce the risk of

heart disease. But a few possibilities have emerged.

The NCEP says that high HDL levels appear to protect against the formation of

plaques in the artery walls (a process called atherogenesis), according to

studies in animals.

Lab studies, meanwhile, suggest that HDL promotes the removal of cholesterol

from cells found in abnormal tissues, or lesions, in the arteries.

" Recent studies indicate that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory

properties of HDL also inhibit atherogenesis, " says the NCEP report.

10 Ways to Increase Good Cholesterol

What many people don't know is that some diet and lifestyle changes may help

to increase " good " cholesterol levels.

Here are some of the contenders:

1. Orange Juice. Drinking three cups of orange juice a day increased HDL

levels by 21% over three weeks, according to a small British study (at 330

calories, that's quite a nutritional commitment). This study could be

highlighting an

effect from high-antioxidant fruits and vegetables. Stay tuned in the years

to come.

2. Niacin. There is some evidence niacin (vitamin B3) helps increase HDL.

Poon, MD, chief of cardiology at the Cabrini Medical Center in New York,

says people with low HDL levels might benefit from taking 500 milligrams of n

iacin each day, building up to 1,000 milligrams a day. But he warns that

supplemental niacin " can have some side effects and is not for everybody,

particularly for people who already have high HDL levels. " He says anyone taking

niacin

supplements should be monitored by a doctor. Short of supplements, many foods

contain niacin as well. Here are a few:

Food Amount of niacin

White-meat chicken, 3.5 oz cooked 13.4 mg

Mackerel, 3.5 oz cooked 10.7 mg

Trout, 3.5 oz, cooked 8.8 mg

Salmon, 3.5 oz cooked 8 mg

Veal, 3.5 oz cooked about 8 mg (ranges from 6.4-9.3)

Dark-meat chicken, 3.5 oz cooked 7.1 mg

Lamb, 3.5 oz cooked 6.6 mg

White-meat turkey, 3.5 oz cooked 6.2 mg

Ground beef, 3.5 oz cooked 5.3 mg

Peanuts, 1/4 cup 5.3 mg

Pork, 3.5 oz cooked about 4.8 mg (ranges from 4.1-5.4)

Peanut butter, 2 tablespoons 4.4 mg

Beef steak, 3.5 oz cooked about 4.1 mg (ranges from 3.6-4.5)

3. Glycemic Load. The glycemic load is basically a ranking of how much a

standard serving of a particular food raises your blood sugar. And as the

glycemic

load in your diet goes up, HDL cholesterol appears to go down, according to a

small recent study. Along these lines, the NCEP report recommends that most

of our carbohydrate intake come from whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and

fat-free and low-fat dairy products. These foods tend to be on the lower end of

the glycemic scale.

4. Choosing Better Fats. Replacing saturated fats with monounsaturated fats

can not only help reduce levels of " bad " cholesterol, it may also increase

levels of " good " cholesterol, according to the Food & Fitness Advisor newsletter

from Cornell University's Center for Women's Healthcare.

5. Soy. Add heart health to the list of potential benefits from soy. A recent

analysis found that soy protein, plus the isoflavones found in soy " raised

HDL levels 3%, which could reduce coronary heart disease risk about 5%, " says

Mark Messina, PhD, a nationally known soy expert. Messina notes that soy also

may lead to a small reduction in LDL cholesterol and triglycerides (another type

of blood fat), and a possible enhancement in blood vessel function. Other

studies have shown a decrease in LDL cholesterol (about 3%) and triglycerides

(about 6%) with about three servings of soy a day. That adds up to 1 pound of

tofu, or three soy shakes.

6. Enough Time. Make sure you give soy some time. An analysis of 23 studies

on soy found that improvements in HDL cholesterol were only seen in those

studies lasting longer than three months.

7. Alcohol in Moderation. Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, especially

with meals, appears to do two things to help reduce heart disease risk.

According to researcher Byung-Hong Chung, PhD, it increases HDL cholesterol

levels,

and enhances the movement of cholesterol deposits out of cells in the artery

walls.

8. Aerobic exercise. At least 30 minutes on most days of the week is the

exercise prescription that can help raise your HDL, according to many health

care

professionals.

9. Stopping smoking. Experts agree that kicking the habit can increase your

HDL numbers a bit, too.

10. Losing weight. Being overweight or obese contributes to low HDL

cholesterol levels, and is listed as one of the causes of low HDL, according to

the

NCEP.

Published November 2005.

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