coach: how can I lower my cholesterol?
Our experts answer your health questions. This week: lowering cholesterol and reading on a tablet.
7:00AM BST 16 Apr 2013
Comment
Q: I have been trying to lower my cholesterol – it was tested at 6.5 six months ago, even though I’m a regular exerciser and only 39. I’ve cut out shellfish, alcohol and most dairy products, but it’s not going down. What else can I do?
James Henson, by email
A: Sara Stanner writes:
In the UK, a total blood cholesterol level of 5mmol/l or less is recommended but two-thirds of adults in Britain have a level above this. The good news is that for many people it can be lowered by small changes to the diet, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking and exercising regularly. It sounds like you have a healthy lifestyle and are making some appropriate dietary changes to help lower your cholesterol, but there may be more you can do.
Although some foods such as shellfish and eggs contain dietary cholesterol, this doesn’t raise your blood cholesterol much. Your cholesterol levels are mainly influenced by other fats that you eat and it is far more important that you cut down on saturated fats. Reduce your intake of butter, fatty meat and meat products, full-fat dairy products and biscuits, cakes and pastries made with coconut oil, palm oil and butter.
Opt instead for foods that contain a relatively high proportion of unsaturated fat, such as vegetable oils (sunflower, corn, soyabean, rapeseed, olive), nuts and seeds, and oily fish (mackerel, herring and salmon). Foods that contain soluble fibre, such as oats, beans, pulses, lentils, nuts, Quorn, fruits and vegetables can help to lower cholesterol. Soy is low in saturated fat and provides fibre so you could try adding tofu to stir-fries instead of meat or salads, or switch to soya milk.
You can also buy products with added plant sterols and stanols. These are found naturally in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and legumes but the quantities are too small to achieve a blood cholesterol-lowering effect. Foods enriched with these substances are widely available (look at the packaging of spreads, yogurts) and can be included as part of a healthy diet.
Ditch the tablets?
Q: I have read somewhere that working on a PC late into the evening can affect your sleep because the screen of a PC emits a light similar to daylight. The brain thinks that it is still daytime and subsequently will not switch off. Is this correct? I have a tablet on which I store books and read before going to sleep. After about an hour I wake up again and find it hard to go back to sleep. Do you think reading the tablet is having this effect?
John Harris, Gloucester
A: Dr Dan Rutherford writes
Thank you for your fascinating question. For almost all of man’s evolution night has meant darkness, and the time to sleep. The electric light bulb banished this relationship and, boon though it has been to extend “daylight” at will, we may well be suffering subtle consequences on brain and body function.
Research is just beginning to uncover a relationship between the colour spectrum of evening light and the body’s “biological clock”, including sleep rhythms. Nasa recently revealed its efforts to combat astronaut insomnia aboard the International Space Station with LED light panels that change from blue in the morning to red at night.
You may well be on to something with the possibility that the light spectrum of various reading devices might have different effects on sleep quality. Taking a lead from Nasa, may I suggest you try your own Earth-bound experiment using red-coloured plastic film over your tablet at bed time and letting us know if you sleep better thereafter?
Reader's response
The child with a fear of water will almost certainly have developed it from a previous incident in water. He must first learn breath control in order to submerge again, starting in the bath or a bowl of water on the kitchen table where he feels safe.
