Why cholesterol is bad for you Living with high cholesterol means you have too much of a fatty substance known as cholesterol in your blood. Over time this can build up in the blood vessels causing blockages. For this reason having high cholesterol is a major risk factor for potentially fatal medical emergencies, such as strokes and heart attacks .
There are several factors that can raise your cholesterol, with diet being one of them. Specifically, eating too much saturated fat can raise your cholesterol levels. For this reason, the Government advises that men should only eat 30 grams of saturated fat, while women should eat 20g and children even less.
READ MORE 'I'm a dermatologist - here is when a pimple is actually skin cancer' Fatty meats such as bacon are full of saturated fat that can raise your cholesterol levels (Image: Getty) However, the NHS warns that “most people in the UK eat too much saturated fats”. Perhaps it is unsurprising then that many Brits have high cholesterol, with data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) stating that six in 10 people in England are affected by the condition. A key way to tackle your cholesterol levels is to therefore cut back on the amount of saturated fat you consume.
“To reduce your cholesterol, try to cut down on fatty food, especially food that contains a type of fat called saturated fat,” the NHS says. Don't miss..
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