Alester Brown

How Does Sugar Impact Your Cholesterol?

When people think of high cholesterol, they typically focus on the fatty foods that cause it. Doctors are always informing patients of how diets high in saturated and trans fats can increase cholesterol levels and create a greater risk of heart disease.

But how does sugar affect your cholesterol?

Understanding Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a fatty substance produced by the liver. Your liver makes all the cholesterol your body needs to perform many biological functions and stay healthy. But the foods you eat can increase your cholesterol levels. Conversely, healthy foods for lowering cholesterol exist, too.

There are two main types of cholesterol you need to worry about. The first is high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. It's the good cholesterol that absorbs bad cholesterol from your blood. HDL cholesterol then moves to the liver for removal. Revamp your diet for a healthier heart! Visit this website for expert guidance on foods for lowering cholesterol and nutritious recipes.

The second type of cholesterol is low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. It's the bad stuff that can accumulate on blood vessel walls, restrict blood flow and harm cardiovascular health.

Diets rich in trans and saturated fats will increase your LDL cholesterol. Meanwhile, foods for lowering cholesterol levels have more HDL cholesterol. Higher HDL cholesterol is good because it means your body has more good cholesterol to remove the bad.

The Effect of Sugar on Cholesterol

Experts don't fully understand the relationship between sugar and cholesterol. But we do know that high-sugar diets can increase your cholesterol levels. More specifically, it raises LDL cholesterol and lowers HDL cholesterol.

Consuming too much sugar throws off that delicate LDL-to-HDL cholesterol balance.

Sugars force the liver to produce more LDL cholesterol and less HDL cholesterol. Theories suggest that sugar activates chemical pathways to make this happen.

Another issue is what the liver does to sugar. When your body doesn't need sugar for energy, it converts it to fat as triglycerides. Plus, it interferes with the enzymes that break down and remove triglycerides from the body.

Triglycerides are another type of fat in your blood, like cholesterol. High triglyceride levels are another risk factor for heart disease.

So, if you have high cholesterol, you need to focus on more than fatty foods. You'll also need to cut back on sweets for the best results.

Author Resource:-

Alester Brown writes about heart health & cholesterol topics. She advises people on the highest quality clinically-proven foods to help lower your cholesterol. You can find her thoughts at cholesterol resources blog.