High cholesterol levels may run in some families. But most often, high blood fat levels are caused by an unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity. High blood fat levels rarely produce symptoms or warning signs. When cholesterol levels are very high, some people develop skin growths called xanthomas. In some cases, a high blood fat level may be associated with an undiagnosed medical condition, like diabetes.

Saturated fat is the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol. The American Heart Association recommends that you limit your saturated fat

intake to 7–10 percent of total calories (or less) each day. If you have coronary heart disease or your LDL cholesterol level is 100 mg/dL or

greater, your doctor should recommend the Therapeutic Lifestyle Change (TLC) Diet. It recommends 25–35 percent of calories from fat, with less

than 7 percent coming from saturated fat. Cholesterol is limited to less than 200 milligrams a day.

In addition to the LDL produced naturally by your body, saturated fat, trans-fatty acids and dietary cholesterol contribute to blood cholesterol. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats don't. Some studies suggest they might even help lower LDL cholesterol slightly when eaten as part of a low-saturated-fat diet. Trans fat, like saturated fat and dietary cholesterol, raises the LDL (or "bad") cholesterol that increases your risk for CHD. On average, Americans consume 4 to 5 times as much saturated fat as trans fat in their diet.Although saturated fat is the main dietary culprit that raises LDL, trans fat and dietary cholesterol also contribute significantly.

For adults age 20 years or over, the latest guidelines from the National Cholesterol Education Program recommend the following optimal levels:

*Total cholesterol less than 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl)

*HDL cholesterol levels greater than 40 mg/dl

*LDL cholesterol levels less than 100 mg/dl

Trans fats can be natural or artificial. Small amounts of trans fat occur naturally in beef and dairy foods. Artificial trans fats are made when hydrogen gas reacts with oil. They can be found in cookies, crackers, icing, potato chips, stick margarine and microwave popcorn. About 80

percent of trans fat in American’s diet comes from factory-produce partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Companies like using trans fats in their foods because they’re easy to use, inexpensive to produce, and last a long time. Trans fats give foods a desirable taste and texture.Partially hydrogenated oils are attractive to food manufacturers for several reasons. Partial hydrogenation reduces rancidity and consequently increases product shelf life and decreases refrigeration requirements Many restaurants and fast-food outlets use trans fats to deep-fry foods because oils with trans fats can be used many times in commercial fryers.

Trans unsaturated fat from foods may adversely affect the risk of coronary disease by raising LDL cholesterol levels and lowering HDL cholesterol levels, increasing lipoprotein levels, raising triglyceride levels,and interfering with essential-fatty-acid metabolism. Hence, it is not

surprising that the relative risks in this and other studies are larger than would be predicted solely on the basis of the effect of trans unsaturated fatty acids on blood lipids.

A higher dietary intake of saturated fat and trans unsaturated fat is associated with an increased risk of coronary disease, whereas a higher

intake of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats is associated with reduced risk. These findings reinforce evidence from metabolic studies

that replacing saturated fat and trans unsaturated fat in the diet with unhydrogenated monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats favorably alters the lipid profile, but that reducing overall fat intake has little effect.

When it comes to fat, trans fat is considered by some doctors to be the worst of them all because of its double-barreled impact on your cholesterol levels. Unlike other fats, trans fat — also called trans fatty acids — both raises your "bad" (LDL) cholesterol and lowers your "good"

(HDL) cholesterol.Trans fat not only increases levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol in the bloodstream, but it also decreases levels of ‘good’ cholesterol."

Your body uses cholesterol to produce many hormones, vitamin D, and the bile acids that help to digest fat. It takes only a small amount of

cholesterol in the blood to meet these needs. If you have too much cholesterol in your bloodstream, the excess may be deposited in arteries,

including the coronary (heart) arteries, where it contributes to the narrowing and blockages that cause the signs and symptoms of heart disease.

A high LDL cholesterol level in combination with a low HDL cholesterol level significantly increases your risk of heart disease, the leading killer of men and women.

What is becoming clearer and clearer is that bad fats, meaning saturated and trans fats, increase the risk for certain diseases while good fats, meaning monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, lower the risk. The key is to substitute good fats for bad fats.Cholesterol in the bloodstream is what's most important. High blood cholesterol levels greatly increase the risk for heart disease. But the average person makes about 75% of blood cholesterol in his or her liver, while only about 25% is absorbed from food. The biggest influence on blood cholesterol level is the mix of fats in the diet.

Many foods qualify for and use the Food and Drug Administration’s claims that relate to heart health (low in fat, high in soluble fiber or containing whole grains). Look for these claims on products. Another option is to look at the Nutrition Facts panel on food products and select foods with lower levels of total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, sodium and calories. Look for foods that have higher levels of fiber and whole grains. Try some of these heart healthy items:

# Minute Maid Premium HeartWise Orange Juice -Added phytosterols may reduce total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol

# Kashi Heart-to-Heart cereal — High in fiber, low in fat, sodium and calories

# Triscuits Baked Whole Wheat Crackers— Have the FDA’s whole-grain heart-health claim and no trans fats

# Rold Gold Heartzels— Contain few trans fats, low in calories and less sodium than other pretzels.

# The intake of fat can be reduced to 30% of the total energy intake. A maximum of 1/3 of the fat should be "hard" fat (saturated and trans fat), mainly by reducing intake of margarine, butter and other spreads and replace high- fat dairy products by lean products.

# Trans fat is found in many kinds of margarine and other foods, especially fast food, but it is actually worse for your arteries than lard. Americans, particularly teens, are eating large amounts of it in the form of fried, fast food. Trans fat developed from the notion that saturated fats are not good for you, so therefore, anything else must be better, and margarine was promoted.

# Food labels list calories by the amount in each serving size. Serving sizes differ from one food to the next, so to figure out how many calories you're eating, you'll need to do 3 things:

1. Look at the serving size.

2. See how many calories there are in one serving.

3. Multiply the number of calories by the number of servings you're

going to eat.

# The Nutrition Facts panel can help you choose foods lower in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. To lower your intake of saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol, compare similar foods and choose the food with the lower combined saturated and trans fats and the lower amount of cholesterol.With the addition of trans fat to the Nutrition Facts panel, you can review your food choices and see how they stack up.

# Consider fish. Most fish are lower in saturated fat than meat. Some fish, such as mackerel, sardines, and salmon, contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are being studied to determine if they offer protection against heart disease.

# Choose lean meats, such as poultry without the skin and not fried and lean beef and pork, not fried, with visible fat trimmed. Ask before you order when eating out. A good tip to remember is to ask which fats are being used in the preparation of your food when eating or ordering out.