People with hyperlipidemia have elevated cholesterol or triglyceride levels. While elevated high-density lipoprotein, or HDL -- also known as the "good" cholesterol -- causes no concern, elevated low-density lipoprotein, or LDL -- the undesirable type of cholesterol -- can increase the risk of heart disease. High trigylcerides, a type of fat stored in the cells for use as an energy source at a later time, may also increase the risk of heart disease, although the connection isn't as clear as it is with high LDL. Dietary modifications help reduce hyperlipidemia.
Needs
Your body needs cholesterol to function properly; in fact, your liver manufactures around 3,000 mg of cholesterol per day, explains author and pediatrician William Sears, M.D. Since your liver makes plenty of cholesterol, you don't need to add cholesterol in your diet. Keep your dietary intake of cholesterol below 300 mg to keep your levels within normal limits.
Relationship
While diet does play a part in hyperlipidemia, your liver and other cells make around 80 percent of the cholesterol in your blood, with only 20 percent coming from diet. However, changing your diet can help reduce the cholesterol your body makes as well as reducing the amount of cholesterol you take in through your diet. In most people, the liver compensates for dietary cholesterol intake by lowering production. For about 30 percent of people, however, this feedback system doesn't work properly and they continue to make cholesterol even when their diet supplies cholesterol, according to Dr. Sears.
Foods to Eliminate
Reducing the amount of saturated and trans fats in your diet and substituting unsaturated fats, particularly omega-3 fatty acids, can help reduce your lipid levels. Saturated fats, found in meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products, enter the bloodstream after eating. If you have high cholesterol, you may fall into the 30 percent of people whose liver still makes cholesterol even if your diet supplies it, so cutting back on saturated fats helps lower your levels.
Foods to Add
Certain foods help reduce your cholesterol levels by eliminating lipids in the intestine so they can't be absorbed. Fiber, for example, reduces LDL levels. Eating foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as fatty cold-water fish, flaxseed and canola oil, lower triglyceride levels. Eating nuts, such as walnuts or almonds, cooking with olive oil rather than vegetable oil, and eating foods fortified with plant sterols or stanols, which block cholesterol absorption in the intestine, also helps lower LDL, MayoClinic.com reports.
Results
A number of studies have shown benefits of dietary changes in decreasing hyperlipidemia. In 2006, the University of Toronto reported that 60 people who followed a plant-based diet that included plant sterols, soy, almonds and fiber for one year lowered their cholesterol by 20 percent, Health Castle reports. Eating fortified foods, such as margarine, orange juice and yogurt drinks with added plant sterols, may reduce LDL cholesterol by more than 10 percent, MayoClinic.com states.
