Wisdom

High cholesterol is a common health issue. According to Public Health England 60% of adults in England have high cholesterol. Making diet and lifestyle changes can help reduce your levels and therefore your chances of the associated health issues.

Are you one of the 1 in 4 people worldwide with high blood pressure? Because high blood pressure (hypertension) rarely causes any symptoms, it is estimated that some 5.5 million people in England alone have undiagnosed high blood pressure.

Q. My GP says my cholesterol levels are too high and has advised me to take statins. I’ve read about the side effects of these drugs and would prefer to take a natural approach. What alternatives are there?

Cardiovascular disease is responsible for around 160,000 deaths a year in the UK alone, and a further seven million people are living with the disease. It is an umbrella term that is used to describe a range of diseases that affect the heart and circulatory system. Cardiovascular disease, or CVD, includes strokes, heart failure, atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathy.

Cholesterol is a type of fat or lipid found in all cells in the body. It forms part of the cell’s outer layer and is transported around the body in blood attached to a protein.

Your heart beats around 70 times a minute, non-stop for around 80 years or more, pumping more than 10 million litres of blood around 100,000km of blood vessels every year.