TRUE or FALSE?

  1. The body needs cholesterol.

  2. The best way to reduce cholesterol is to limit cholesterol-rich foods, such as eggs.

  3. To lower your cholesterol, you should stop eating all meat.

  4. Any total cholesterol level below 240 is fine.

  5. All vegetable oils are good for the heart.

  6. Lowering cholesterol can help people who have already had a heart attack. 7. Exercise can raise good cholesterol.

  7. Women don’t need to worry about high levels of cholesterol and heart disease.

THE ANSWERS

Question 1: True. Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance that the body uses to build cell membranes and make steroid hormones, such as estrogen, testosterone and cortisone. The problem isn’t cholesterol per se, but excess cholesterol–particularly the “bad” LDL cholesterol, which contributes to plaque buildup in the arteries.

Question 2: False. Although so-called dietary cholesterol does raise blood cholesterol in most people, the chief culprit is saturated fat. The most effective way to control blood cholesterol is to reduce foods high in saturated fat, such as full-fat cheese, cream, butter and meat.

Question 3: False. Red meat is high in saturated fat, which can raise cholesterol. But according to the National Institutes of Health, lean cuts of meat can be part of a healthy diet. Trim the fat and reduce your daily intake to 6 ounces–the size of a deck of cards. (A heart patient should limit intake to 5 ounces.)

Question 4: False. For most people, total cholesterol should be under 200, not 240. But cholesterol comes in two basic forms. In general, “bad” cholesterol (LDL) should be below 130–unless you have heart disease or diabetes, in which case you should aim even lower. However, a low level of “good” HDL cholesterol–under 40–raises the risk for heart disease.

Question 5: False. The tropical oils–palm, palm kernel and coconut–are high in saturated fat and raise cholesterol levels. “Trans-fats”–the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils found in hard margarine and many baked products–also raise blood cholesterol. Focus instead on the other vegetable oils, including olive and canola, which contain mostly mono- unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Question 6: True. People who have had one heart attack are at higher risk for a second, but lowering cholesterol can greatly reduce that risk. If you have heart disease, your LDL level should be less than 100.

Question 7: True. “Exercise should be part of any program for heart health,” says Dr. Ronald Krauss, chair of the American Heart Association’s Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism. Half an hour a day is recommended. Other measures that can help raise HDL include losing weight and stopping smoking.

Question 8: False. Before menopause, women tend to have lower cholesterol levels than men. But afterward, their levels go up, along with their risk for heart disease. For both men and women, heart disease is the leading cause of death.