Harvard Medical School Guide to Lowering Your

Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA. Consumer health text provides a guide to managing cholesterol levels and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Discusses good vs. bad cholesterol, cholesterol management through diet and exercise, how cholesterol levels impact overall health, and cholesterol-lowering drugs. Softcover.

Mason W. Freeman, M.D., is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the chief of the prestigious Lipid Metabolism Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Christine Junge is a writer who specializes in medical topics.

Preface

ix

Acknowledgments

xv

CHAPTER 1 Understanding Cholesterol: The Good, the Bad, and the Necessary

1

(12)

What Is Cholesterol?

2

(1)

A Lipoprotein by Any Other Name

2

(2)

You Mean My Body Makes Cholesterol?

4

(5)

The Other Source: Diet

9

(3)

Why You Need to Know

12

(1)

CHAPTER 2 Heart Disease Primer

13

(14)

What Is Heart Disease?

13

(4)

How Heart Disease Happens

17

(4)

What a Heart Attack Feels Like

21

(2)

What to Do if You're Having a Heart Attack

23

(2)

A Heart Attack Plan

25

(2)

CHAPTER 3 If You Know You Have Heart Disease

27

(18)

Medications

28

(6)

Procedures to Open Blocked Arteries

34

(8)

Alternative Remedies

42

(2)

Choose the Treatment That's Right for You

44

(1)

CHAPTER 4 Risk Factors for Heart Disease

45

(38)

Unavoidable Risk Factors

45

(5)

Avoidable Risk Factors

50

(16)

Emerging Risk Factors

66

(13)

How Heavily Should You Weigh Any Risk Factor?

79

(4)

CHAPTER 5 When You Visit Your Doctor

83

(26)

Inaccuracies in the Tests

85

(5)

When to Treat Cholesterol

90

(16)

Step 1: Considering Your Cholesterol Levels

92

(3)

Step 2: Determining if You Have Heart Disease or Diabetes

95

(1)

Step 3: Measuring Your Risk Factors

96

(1)

Step 4: Calculating Your Heart Attack Risk

96

(1)

Step 5: Finding Your Treatment Category

97

(5)

Step 6: Determining Your Treatment

102

(4)

Personalizing the NCEP Guidelines

106

(3)

CHAPTER 6 A Diet to Lower Your Cholesterol

109

(20)

Benefits of Adopting a Heart-Healthy Lifestyle

109

(1)

Your Cholesterol-Lowering Diet

110

(16)

What About Dietary Cholesterol?

126

(1)

Finding the Diet That's Right for You

127

(2)

CHAPTER 7 An Exercise Program to Lower Your Cholesterol

129

(16)

The Benefits and Risks of Exercise

129

(2)

A Program to Get You Started

131

(7)

How Much Should You Exercise?

138

(1)

Fitting Exercise into Your Life

138

(2)

Designing the Right Program

140

(1)

Sticking with Exercise

141

(4)

CHAPTER 8 Drug Treatment

145

(30)

Reductase Inhibitors (Statins)

146

(18)

Other Drugs

164

(7)

How to Save Money on Drugs

171

(4)

CHAPTER 9 Treating Other Lipid Problems

175

(12)

Elevated Triglycerides

175

(4)

A Problem in Two Parts: High LDL and High Triglycerides

179

(5)

Low HDL

184

(3)

CHAPTER 10 Special Considerations for Seniors, Children, and People with Heart Disease or Diabetes

187

(10)

If You're a Senior

187

(4)

If Your Child Has High Cholesterol

191

(2)

If You Have Heart Disease

193

(1)

If You Have Diabetes

194

(3)

CHAPTER 11 On the Horizon

197

(12)

Increasing HDL Levels

197

(2)

High-Tech Scans

199

(4)

Over-the-Counter Statins

203

(2)

Genetics, Lipids, and Heart Disease

205

(2)

Progress Takes Time

207

(2)

CHAPTER 12 Alternative and Complementary Approaches to Lowering Cholesterol

209

(14)

Coenzyme Q10

212

(1)

Plant Sterols and Stanols

213

(3)

Policosanol Alcohol

216

(1)

Soy

217

(1)

Red Yeast Rice

217

(1)

Green Tea

218

(1)

Guggul

218

(1)

Chromium

219

(1)

Quercetin

219

(1)

Soy Lecithin

219

(1)

Garlic

220

(1)

Vitamins C and E

220

(2)

The Bottom Line

222

(1)

Afterword

223

(2)

Resources

225

(6)

Index

231

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Harvard Medical School Guide to Lowering Your Cholesterol

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials