The conservative position for cholesterol concerns is still lifestyle. Many doctors today feel cholesterol-lowering drugs, which may be accompanied with serious problems for the liver, should not be prescribed unless the signs for heart disease already exist. Unfortunately, for women, heart disease is a growing problem and quite often over-looked in a woman’s overall health care. Surprisingly, there are drugs prescribed to women with no clinical experience on women. The heart disease issues become even murkier for women during menopause as the link between estrogen and cholesterol levels are theorized, all in the absence of clinical studies on women.

There is no controversy about the dietary recommendations for preventing heart disease – a diet low in fat and rich in vegetables, fruits and grains. Los fat diets alone do not cause a drastic reduction in overall cholesterol levels. You need grains, high fiber vegetables and fruits.

What about that group of individuals who really do all the right eating and have that genetic predisposition to high cholesterol levels in the blood? In addition to cholesterol lowering drugs, there are medicinal herbal formulas whose plant components have the ability to bond with lipids and allow the body to remove the lipids through the elimination process.

The good news is that for every 1% increase in HDL levels, there is a corresponding 2% decline in the incidence of heart disease. The combination of good nutrition, regular exercise and natural herbal therapy will never let you down.