Incidence of high cholesterol among young adults: Here's how to manage

With serious diseases like heart attacks occurring so commonly among the younger population, it is time to think about the risk factors associated with it. While on one hand we discuss at length about the factors that are driving premature deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, when it comes to solutions we cease to think.

High cholesterol is one of the most potential risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. There are several factors that lead to this complication in individuals and one of the most prominent reasons is lack of physical activity and consumption of imbalanced food which are the common traits of every youngster’s life.

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This draws attention towards adopting a proper strategy to deal with the high cholesterol in young people.

A study conducted among 2,508 children in 2015 in Delhi had found that 23 percent of them had cholesterol levels higher than normal. The children were aged between 14-18 years.

As per the study, high prevalence of atherogenic lipid profile (the one that causes heart attacks and stroke), notably low HDL levels (good cholesterol), and high BMI has been seen in the Indian adolescent population.

Of all the children who participated in the study, 2.3 per cent were overweight and 3.8 per cent were obese.

What was more shocking was that almost half of them had low levels of good cholesterol.

While this is only about Delhi, it should be dealt with taking the entire country’s youth into consideration.

Recent studies have reported that high cholesterol is present in 25-30% of urban and 15-20% rural subjects.

The occurrence of cases of premature heart attacks has raised questions on the health of the youth and the factors which are making the youth prone to such fatal health complications.

Unhealthy lifestyle for sure!

The fast paced lifestyle that the youth is leading currently is one of the major reasons behind premature cardiovascular diseases and high cholesterol.

Skipping meals to attend a meeting, waking up late at night, and sleeping till late in the morning has compelled youngsters to compromise on their food and dietary habits. Due to this, youngsters these days are more inclined to indulge in processed and junk foods; they are more interested in having foods that can save time from cooking.

A balanced diet comprises carbs, proteins and fats and seasonal fruits for providing the body the right amount of antioxidants and phytonutrients.

To prepare a balanced diet one needs to have a mindful approach towards food. A fast paced life is unavoidable these days, but what the youth needs to learn about is time management.

Learn to fix your meal timings and sleep timings. The youth needs to know that irrespective of the nature of the work they have, they should not compromise on their sleep and meals.

An imbalanced meal will lead to craving and subsequently indulgence in unhealthy food.

As per Dr. Ashutosh Shukla, Senior Director-Internal Medicine & Medical Advisor Max hospital, Gurugram, physical activity is essential to keep high cholesterol at bay. Dr Shukla recommends doing cardio or aerobic exercises for a minimum of 2 hours and 30 minutes every week (it can be 1 hour 15 minutes of vigorous intensity activity per week as well).

He also recommends increasing fiber in diet. "Fiber comes in two varieties that are soluble and insoluble. Soluble fibers dissolve in water and insoluble does not. Few examples of soluble fiber are barley, nuts, beans, flaxseed and fruits such as apples, berries, citrus fruits and pears. Few examples of insoluble fiber are fiber found in whole grain vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes and celery. Both the forms of fiber are very useful for cholesterol," he says.

On fats and oil, he suggests replacing saturated fat with unsaturated vegetable oil, especially monounsaturated fats like olive oil, sesame oil, peanut oil and canola oil.

• 4-5 servings of fruits and vegetables each daily.
• 3 servings of whole grains per day where one serving means one slice of whole grain bread. Or one can have either a cup of cooked whole grain cereals or half cup of cooked brown rice.
• 1 ounce (4-5 servings) of nuts per week, one serving means one-fourth cup of nuts or 2 tablespoons of peanuts.
• One egg per serving few times a week
• Avoid Processed meat
• Avoid Highly refined and processed grains and sugars must be avoided
• Quit smoking.
• Practice stress management through meditation or other stress reduction techniques.

While adopting a healthy lifestyle is obvious, one should also take regular medical checkups.

Dr Shukla recommends lipid profile done after fasting for 10-12 hours. "The most common abnormalities in India are borderline high LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides," he adds.

High cholesterol is a silent killer. It never shows early symptoms and by the time the symptoms are visible, it is either too late or else needs lots of restriction to bring it back to normal.