Cholesterol, High Cholesterol

The Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes Diet plus exercise:

The effect of adding 30 minutes of daily exercise at 50-75% of age-predicted maximum heart rate, to a Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes Diet (TLC) for 6 months was examined by Welty, FK et al. The authors of the study randomized participants with high-normal or stage 1 hypertension to either a treatment diet rich in fruit, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, reduced saturated/total fat or a control diet low in fruit, vegetables, and dairy products with fat content typical of the average US diet. A TLC diet with the addition of exercise assisted 89% of participants to reach an LDL cholesterol goal of under 130 mg/dL without lowering HDL levels or needing to add or increase lipid lowering therapy. The authors emphasized that exercise and weight loss should be encouraged with the TLC diet to achieve the LDL goal. Mean total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides decreased by 9.2% (p=0.08), 9.3% (p<0.018), and 18.8% (p<0.05), respectively; mean HDL cholesterol increased 2.6% (p=0.41). Women had a 12.3% reduction in LDL cholesterol and an 11.4% increase in HDL cholesterol compared with a 7.9% reduction in LDL cholesterol and no change in HDL cholesterol in men. Additionally, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) decreased 9% (p<0.001) and 13%, respectively (p <0.0001). These BP reductions were two-fold greater than in the Diet and Systolic Hypertension study (DASH) The addition of exercise also achieved a 50% reduction in angina. (6)