Blood Cholesterol

Regular exercise can reduce your blood cholesterol levels, but what happens if you stop working out?When Dr. Gustav Schonfeld of Washington University in St. Louis asked several regular runners to stop running for several weeks, he found their blood cholesterol levels rose significantly after they stopped exercising.When you stop exercising for just a couple of weeks, your blood level of cholesterol will return to its previous state. Then you will have to work even harder to control your cholesterol level by restricting fat even more or by beginning to take medicine.

A team of 30 volunteers from Johns Hopkins plans to partner with Baltimore City schools to offer city teens screening for early signs of heart disease. The free exams will look for key risk factors including obesity, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, diabetes and family history of disease. With the findings, officials hope to curb increasingly common bad eating and exercising habits before they become engrained. Hopkins officials already had been screening Maryland athletes for heart abnormalities and decided to expand the program to some 2,000 13-year-olds expected to attend a high school fair at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute Nov. 13 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. "One of the surprise findings from our other heart screenings was that basic risk factors for cardiovascular disease are too common among Maryland high-school students, and these students and their parents are simply unaware that they face a serious health problem," said Dr. Theodore Abraham, a cardiologist at the Johns Hopkins Hospital who is spearheading the screening efforts.

Q: I have heard that it may be dangerous when the amount of cholesterol is too low in either the diet or the blood. Is that true?A: No, not for normal people. In general, the lower the total blood cholesterol level, the smaller the risk of coronary artery disease. You may be referring to one particular fraction of blood cholesterol, the high density lipoprotein cholesterol, or HDL cholesterol. Because HDL protects against coronary artery disease, low levels can be dangerous.Some years ago, several reports raised fears about the possible risks of low cholesterol levels.

He's an office worker who runs at least 30 miles a week and has already logged marathons in 38 states. She's an artist who spends much of her day on her feet preparing for shows -- with breaks to walk the dog. They're slim and healthy 50- somethings. But, to their utter annoyance, they both have high cholesterol. Kelly Kietzke and Diane Getty of South Baltimore know they can't overcome their genes. They could re-evaluate their diets. But what to strip? What to add? Their meals already seemed pretty healthful.

Adults who eat a large bowl of oat bran cereal every day can reduce their blood cholesterol levels by a moderate amount, an analysis of 10 studies has found.Cholesterol levels fell an average of 2 percent to 3 percent in the 1,278 adults studied. There were larger drops in people with higher blood cholesterol levels.The study, being published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was conducted by Cynthia M. Ripson and Dr. Joseph M. Keenan of the department of family practice at the University ofMinnesota.

A high school football coach can watch students as they walk down the school's corridors and tell which children have the ability to run fast. Those with flat feet, bowed legs and pigeon toes have a built-in advantage.When you run, you land on the outside bottom part of your foot and naturally roll inward. The vast majority of people who are told they have flat feet really have normal arches. But they usually roll inward far more than normal. Their feet only appear to be flat because their arches roll inward so far you can't see their soles touching the ground.

If you have high blood cholesterol - like an estimated 100 million Americans - then chances are you're trying to change the way you eat. Your blood cholesterol level has a lot to do with your risk of getting heart disease, which is the country's No. 1 killer. Diet often is the first defense before a doctor turns to drugs to lower cholesterol levels. Losing weight, exercising and cutting down on "bad" fats are the cornerstones of a cholesterol-lowering lifestyle. WHAT TO EAT The four types of food that help lower "bad" cholesterol.

Chocolate, despite its high saturated fat content, won't raise your cholesterol level, according to a study done by P.M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D. of the Nutrition Department of Penn State University.Untangling the fat-cholesterol mystery has been a long process. Answers become more clear as research becomes more refined. Years ago we thought that high blood cholesterol came from eating too much cholesterol.With time, researchers learned that saturated fats, such as butter, beef fat, lard and coconut oil, raise blood cholesterol much more than the actual cholesterol you eat. Now, more detailed studies show there are several different saturated fats, and their effects on blood cholesterol differ.

Q: I've been feeling too tired to exercise. My doctor thinks I have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). What can you tell me about it?A: Doctors sometimes cannot find a valid reason for unexplained weakness and tiredness. In some cases, a patient is depressed. Depression saps drive and strength. For others, doctors will conduct extensive tests, often finding nothing -- no anemia, no diagnosable infection such as mononucleosis, no mineral deficiency, no hidden cancer and no low-thyroid function.

Q. My children and I enjoy fast food restaurants. Is my wife correct when she warns us that eating there is not healthy?A. It is certainly possible to get nutritious foods at a fast food restaurant, but you must make careful choices in order to avoid meals that are too high in calories, salt and fat.Most nutritionists recommend the intake of fat should be less than 30 percent of total calories. The fat content exceeds 30 percent of calories in many popular fast foods: for example, it's about 43 percent in a cheeseburger, about 50 percent in a hot dog, taco or french fries, and from 24 to 38 percent in cheese pizzas.

If you have high blood cholesterol - like an estimated 100 million Americans - then chances are you're trying to change the way you eat. Your blood cholesterol level has a lot to do with your risk of getting heart disease, which is the country's No. 1 killer. Diet often is the first defense before a doctor turns to drugs to lower cholesterol levels. Losing weight, exercising and cutting down on "bad" fats are the cornerstones of a cholesterol-lowering lifestyle. WHAT TO EAT The four types of food that help lower "bad" cholesterol.

My question is regarding canola oil, which is noted as being healthful. I would like to know the name of the plant that is used to produce this product. The ingredients label of my bottle states only "canola oil."- Delores Biles, Downers Grove, Ill. Canola oil comes from a variety of rapeseed. But canola oil is not the same as rapeseed oil, which has lots of erucic acid, a fatty acid that has caused tumors and cardiac lesions in animal studies. According to a Federal Drug Administration spokeswoman, Canadians began a rapeseed-hybridization program in the 1960s to reduce the oil's erucic-acid content, in hopes of marketing it as an edible oil. By the late 1970s they had developed what is now known as canola, then called low erucic acid rapeseed oil. In 1985 the FDA recognized that rapeseed oil with erucic acid levels below 2 percent was generally recognized as safe.

These days, fewer people are dying from heart disease, yet it is still the No. 1 killer of both men and women. Although age, gender and genes are beyond our control, we can significantly reduce our risks through lifestyle choices. Loss of only 10 percent of body weight, regular aerobic exercise and quitting smoking lead the list. Food choices, of course, can make a significant difference.Nutritional factors that affect your cholesterol:Saturated fat is the single most important factor affecting blood cholesterol levels.

Chocolate, despite its high saturated fat content, won't raise your cholesterol level, according to a study done by P.M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D. of the Nutrition Department of Penn State University.Untangling the fat-cholesterol mystery has been a long process. Answers become more clear as research becomes more refined. Years ago we thought that high blood cholesterol came from eating too much cholesterol.With time, researchers learned that saturated fats, such as butter, beef fat, lard and coconut oil, raise blood cholesterol much more than the actual cholesterol you eat. Now, more detailed studies show there are several different saturated fats, and their effects on blood cholesterol differ.

Q: I am taking medication for high cholesterol and wonder whether my 7-year-old son should have his cholesterol checked.A: Many pediatricians include a measurement of cholesterol as one of their standard blood tests. If the pediatrician hasn't already done so, have your son's cholesterol checked in the near future. There is about a 50 percent chance that your son also has high cholesterol, which can be inherited by half the offspring of an affected father or mother.You should be aware that the cholesterol value is considered abnormal at lower levels in children than in adults.

DALLAS -- For people trying to control their cholesterol levels, eating right is usually not enough. They also have to get up off that couch, start exercising and lose weight, according to new federal guidelines.The recommendations are the first revision of the landmark 1988 report on cholesterol that created the craze for butter substitutes and nonfat foods. Both sets of guidelines were crafted by the National Cholesterol Education Program, a 25-member panel now headed by Dallas researcher Dr. Scott Grundy.

After my recent column on margarine and butter, a number of women asked me about cholesterol and fat. The scientific information on cholesterol and fat is confusing, so I asked my colleague, Dr. Benjamin Caballero, director of the division of nutrition at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Heath, to explain what we should be doing about cholesterol and fat in our diets to improve our health.Why is there concern about cholesterol levels?Studies have repeatedly shown that people with high blood cholesterol levels are at increased risk for coronary heart disease.

WASHINGTON -- Blood cholesterol levels among adults dropped significantly over 12 years, and about half of all Americans now have readings in the desirable range, experts said today.Results from a new national health survey showed a 4 percent decline in the average cholesterol level, from 213 milligrams per deciliter of blood in 1978 to 205 milligrams in 1990. A level below 200 milligrams is considered desirable. The survey also found that the proportion of adults with very high blood cholesterol levels fell to 20 percent from 26 percent.

WASHINGTON -- Blood cholesterol levels among adults dropped significantly over 12 years, and about half of all Americans now have readings in the desirable range, experts said today.Results from a new national health survey showed a 4 percent decline in the average cholesterol level, from 213 milligrams per deciliter of blood in 1978 to 205 milligrams in 1990. A level below 200 milligrams is considered desirable. The survey also found that the proportion of adults with very high blood cholesterol levels fell to 20 percent from 26 percent.

What do Leopold Stokowski, Nadia Boulanger, Pablo Casals and Arturo Toscanini have in common? They all conducted major orchestras when they were in their 90s. Symphony conductors have a lot of reasons to live a long life. They're fit, and they derive satisfaction from the adulation they receive from their audiences.You, too, can become fit by conducting. Although you may not be able to find an orchestra to conduct, you can still turn on a radio, or a tape recorder, pick up a stick and start conducting.