04-02-2008, 05:35 AM
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Family Member
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 48
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Cholesterol
Just read this article and I thought I would pass it along for you guys:
MORE than 3000 lives could be saved annually if every Australian lowered their cholesterol level by just 10 per cent, Sydney researchers have found.
Doctors at the George Institute in Camperdown have called for urgent national action after their research showed thousands of deaths from cardiac arrest and stroke could be prevented each year if people spent half an hour a day exercising and ate less saturated fats.
More than 25,000 people die annually from cardiac arrest and 12,000 from stroke, with raised cholesterol one of the major contributing factors, but the institute's director of nutrition and lifestyle, Rachel Huxley, said the study's findings could slash the death rate. "These are quite significant findings," she said yesterday. "Reducing your cholesterol levels by 10 per cent is really quite achievable, and it can be done in a couple of weeks," she said.
'We're not talking drugs; we're talking simple diet and exercise changes that an individual can make to lower their low-density lipoprotein [LDL]."
She said people should lower their saturated fat intake, particularly full-fat dairy products, convenience meals, takeaway foods, confectionary, cakes and biscuits, which are the biggest contributors to LDL in Australia.
"If we could cut down on those food items we could make a substantial contribution to reducing the amount of saturated fats that we consume and the number of people that are dying," she said. One in two adults have a cholesterol reading above the recommended level.
But, Dr Huxley said, researchers found that even small reductions in cholesterol could substantially reduce heart attacks and strokes. "A 5 per cent reduction still brings substantial benefits," she said.
Free cholesterol tests are available nationally from April 7-12, see http://www.testthenation.com.au
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