Your body gets cholesterol from two sources: your liver and foods that you eat. Therefore, when you check your cholesterol and you find that it is beyond the normal level of 5 millimoles per liter, you will immediately blame your bad eating behavior. But what if after you have changed your diet, your cholesterol is still persistently at high level? You will certainly want to blame another source of your cholesterol, right? Well, it is okay if you want to blame your liver for producing too much cholesterol. In fact, genetic factor, which anomalously causes your liver to produce too much cholesterol, is one of the most prevalent reasons why your effort to cut down your cholesterol ends up in failure. However, you need to know that this is not necessarily the cause of your failure. There are several other factors that may contribute to your failure. Understand them if you want to find the best solution for your cholesterol problem.
Your Liver Might Anomalously Produce Too Much Cholesterol
Let’s start with blaming your liver. Some people have a genetic trait that makes their liver produce more cholesterol than normal. If one or some of your relatives have ever struggled with cholesterol or heart problem, it is very likely that you also have cholesterol problem called hypercholesterolemia. This problem occurs when HMG-CoA reductase enzyme in your body is uninhibited, resulting in high level of cholesterol production in your liver. If you have this genetic trait, you can do nothing to reduce your cholesterol. Even after you change your diet and perform regular exercise, your cholesterol level will not drop if you genetically have hypercholesterolemia.
You can, however, take a drug called statin to inhibit the enzyme. At molecular level, statin is similar to HMG-CoA reductase enzyme. Therefore, it can replace the enzyme and prevent cholesterol from being formed. Statin is available at the market with many brand names, including Lescol, Lipitor, Altocor, Mevacor, Pravachol, Livalo, Zocor, and Crestor. Be sure to consult your doctor before taking any of those drugs because only your doctor can confirm that the cause of your hypercholesterolemia is genetic and because you don’t know the side effects that this drug may cause.
Should You Cease Your Diet Program and Exercise after Taking Statin?
Although your exercise and diet program may be unable to lower your cholesterol level, they still contribute to the improvement of your health, especially the health of your heart. Besides, they also help you keep your body slim and vigorous. Therefore, keep performing aerobics, strength training and flexibility exercises while controlling your diet to make sure that your body is always healthy. Let statin do its job, but don’t abandon your already proper lifestyle because it is also important.
Other Possible Factors of Your Hypercholesterolemia
As said earlier, there are other possible factors that may cause your hypercholesterolemia. If you have avoided cholesterol-rich foods but you still consume those containing trans fat and saturated fat, your diet program may fail to cut down your cholesterol level. If you have taken statin but you still indulge, the drug may still fail to do its job. Many people often overlook those factors when they try to lower their cholesterol. Try not to overlook them if you want to keep a check on your cholesterol level.