How To Take Care Of Your Heart

If you were told that you can add years to your life, get your cholesterol levels back to normal and protect yourself from heart disease and atherosclerosis, all for free would you believe it?

No need for the latest "fashionable" supplement or designer drug. No need to worry about unwanted drug side-effects and expense. You don't even have to be too concerned about your "bad" LDL cholesterol! Yes, you read correctly.

It sounds too good to be true, but it isn't ... Every day the evidence is piling up that links an increased risk of heart disease and stroke more strongly to low levels of the "good" HDL cholesterol rather than to high levels of the "bad" LDL. Studies have clearly shown that for every one-milligram rise in HDL, the risk for developing cardiovascular disease falls by 2 to 3 percent. There is a really simple, zero cost way of increasing your HDL by 5mg - that means a 15% reduction in the possibility of suffering from heart disease!

For some time it has been known that HDL cholesterol is a so-called negative risk factor, meaning high levels zeros one of your other risk factor on your overall health profile. But this latest evidence takes the HDL issue one step further.

The good news is that it is quite easy to increase levels of HDL and while doing so often levels of the so-called "bad" LDL decrease. So, you actually get twice your money's worth. In fact, the HDL actually cleans up the potentially harmful cholesterol from your arteries and sends it off to the liver where it is eliminated. But it doesn't end there, it also acts as an antioxidant that helps stop oxidation the bad cholesterol. Inflammation has also been receiving a lot of press coverage as being one of the culprits for heart disease, well guess what? HDL is also an anti-inflammatory agent, helping to repair what artery disease. It can also help keep blood clots from blocking arteries.

So now all the buzz is on the good guy, which unlike LDL, that should be a low as possible; the higher your level of HDL cholesterol the better for your health. So now you can give your health a natural, zero cost boost and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.

So, what should your HDL cholesterol levels be?

For some time it has been known that people who live into their 90's without evidence of heart disease, typically have very high levels of HDL. You should do your best to get your HDL levels up to at least 60 milligrams; levels below 40 mg for men and 50 mg for women, according to the most important international health institutions, are associated with an increased risk of heart disease.