Tips for balancing cholestoral

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is often called “good” cholesterol, but really it’s great: for every point you add to your score, you get a 2-3% drop in your risk of heart disease. Cholesterol-cutting statins aren’t very effective at raising HDL – but, happily, these foods are:

Dark chocolate
In a recent study, volunteers who ate 100g of dark chocolate (70% cocoa) every day for a week raised their HDL by 9%. That’s a load of chocolate (about 2300kJ), but Paul Gurbel of Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, the study’s co-author, says eating smaller daily doses (say 15g) over an extended period of time should also help.

Salmon
HDL rose 4% in adults who ate two 115g servings a week for four weeks, according to a study by Loma Linda University in California. Other fatty fish – mackerel, herring, sardines – should deliver similar benefits, researchers say.

Berries
HDL levels rose 5% when adults ate a cup of frozen berries each day for eight weeks.

Eggs
Healthy adults who ate an egg every day for 12 weeks increased HDL as much as 48% in a Thai study. Eggs are rich in lecithin – which, animal studies have shown, raises HDL.
 

Crush your thirst for soft drinks

Knock back a few soft drinks and you may push up your blood pressure. According to a new study, adults who consumed more than 74g of fructose per day – the amount in two-and-half soft drinks – increased their likelihood of developing high blood pressure by 36%. That’s in addition to a bloated risk of obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.

And diet soft drinks may not be any safer. In a recent Harvard Medical School study, women who drank two or more servings of artificially sweetened soft drinks daily were found to have double the risk of kidney function decline, which can destroy that organ. For all soft drinks, the devil is in the dose, so make soft drink a special treat, or at least practise portion control.