More than 16 percent of Americans have high blood cholesterol levels. High cholesterol increases your risk of heart disease, the No. 1 killer of Americans. To lower your cholesterol and improve your heart health, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute created the National Cholesterol Education Program and diet guidelines known as the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes to help.
National Cholesterol Education Program
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute introduced NCEP in November 1985 as a means to educate Americans and reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels. Its educational efforts target both health care professionals and the general public. Since starting the program, the percentage of Americans getting their blood cholesterol levels checked rose from 35 percent in 1983 to 75 percent in 1995. In addition, physicians are recommending diet and drug therapy to lower blood cholesterol at levels recommended by the NCEP.
NCEP and Diet
Initially the NCEP developed two diet guides known as Step I and Step II. Step I was intended as an initial diet plan to help those with high blood cholesterol begin to lower their numbers. It recommended reducing total fat to less than 30 percent of calories, saturated fat to less than 10 percent of calories and cholesterol to less than 300 mg a day. Step II was intended to be more restrictive and recommended if the Step I diet plan did not improve levels. The Step II diet limited saturated fat to less than 7 percent of calories and cholesterol to less than 200 mg a day.
Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes
In May 2001, NCEP updated its diet guidelines and changed the Step II diet to the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet plan. The TLC plan is designed for those with blood cholesterol levels greater than 240 mg/dL. In addition, the TLC diet is also designed to act as a therapeutic diet for people with diabetes, insulin resistance, metabolic disorder, coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease and other blood lipid disorders.
Diet Guide
The TLC diet provides specific guidelines to help you improve your heart health. It recommends you continue to limit your saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent of calories and total cholesterol to less than 200 mg a day. Total fat intake can range from 25 to 35 percent of calories, with up to 10 percent from polyunsaturated sources, and up to 20 percent from monounsaturated sources. It also suggests you keep trans fat intake as low as possible because it can increase low-density lipoprotein, bad cholesterol, levels. The diet plan also recommends you include 2 g of plant sterols or stanols a day, which can be found in fortified margarines, yogurts and orange juice. You should also aim for 10 to 25 g of soluble fiber a day, from foods like oatmeal, pears and brussels sprouts. The TLC diet also recommends you control your calorie intake to maintain a healthy weight.
