Cholesterol

Earlier this week I received a call from the doctor's office informing me that my lipid count was too high. I was preoccupied at that moment so I really had no idea what the nurse was talking about until she said, "low cholesterol diet and vigorous exercise at least three times a week." Oh. Well, since all of my family has high cholesterol, I was not very surprised with the news. Fortunately my cholesterol is not so high that they immediately recommend drugs.

My brother is a doctor-to-be and so I mentioned my cholesterol to him and he recommended a book to learn about diet changes that will lower my cholesterol. While waiting for this book to arrive I have been looking up research related to cholesterol, diet, and exercise. Currently I have discovered that while it is certain that exercise improves one's cholesterol, there is some controversy as to how, how much it improves cholesterol, how much and what kind of exercise are necessary, and what type of cholesterol (HDL or LDL) is affected.

Recent studies, this one in particular, show that High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) increase with increasing exercise session duration (the longer you exercise the better). As I understood the article, the intensity of exercise correlates with Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) concentration, so the harder you exercise, the better.

Most of the studies I have come across so far are studies of obese or "at risk" populations. I have been searching for studies of "healthy" population. I will let you know what I find.