What should you do to reduce your cholesterol level from 208.5?

Answer 1

Eat more healthily, exercise, and possibly take statins prescribed by your GP/family doctor. However, to be fair, the upper limit on cholesterol is 200, so you're not too far over. If you're already living a fairly healthy lifestyle, there's probably not much more you can do without statins. However this level probably doesn't make you the first candidate in line for statin therapy either, since your cholesterol is only raised a tiny amount.

If your life-style's slightly unhealthy, try to eat more fruit and veg, and less fat (on meat, butter, chocolate, nuts, cakes, chips, crisps, takeaways and biscuits etc... the usual offenders). Try to fit some exercise into your daily routine. You don't need to become a health nut to lower your cholesterol - changing little things will help.

Don't be fooled into buying the so called "healthy oils" (E.g Flora Cuisine) - if you are a person who would benfit from these oils, you are eating too much oil to begin with. It would be far better to cut down on the amount of oil you are eating, as opposed to switching to something claiming to be "healthier". It's a similar story for the "healthy margarines" I'm afraid.

Cholesterol lowering yogurts (e.g Benecol)'s health claims proved to be unfounded, under the new EU regulations of heath labelling on products. So far only soluble fibre in oats have actual "proof" that they can help lower cholesterol. (Note, the "can", as in "may", not "Will".)

All in all, the market of special cholesterol lowering foods isn't really worth delving into - most of it's ineffective and overpriced. (Plus, if it actually worked, doctors would be prescribing it).

It does look like you should be able to reduce your cholesterol to within normal limits without the help of statins - you don't need to lower it that much.