Is high blood lipids caused by eating too much meat? Rumor: Not true! Tell you the truth about high blood lipids

Many people believe that the reason for high blood lipids is eating too much meat. As a result, many people stop eating meat, but their blood lipids are still high. Why is this?

1. Blood lipids are divided into two categories

Blood lipids are not actually an indicator, but can be subdivided into 4 indicators or even 7 small indicators. The blood lipids we usually refer to are the four blood lipids, which have four indicators: total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, and triglycerides.

Simply put, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein belong to the cholesterol category; triglycerides belong to another category.

When total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and triglycerides increase, they will increase blood vessel garbage, aggravate atherosclerosis, and cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. However, high-density lipoprotein will reduce blood vessel garbage, alleviate atherosclerosis, and prevent and control cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Therefore, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and triglycerides are bad blood lipids, and high-density lipoprotein is good blood lipids.

There are two main reasons for the increase of these bad blood lipids. One is abnormal metabolism and the other is unhealthy diet. However, the reasons for the increase of cholesterol and triglycerides are not the same.

2. Causes of elevated triglycerides

The main reason for increased triglycerides is unhealthy diet. When eating a lot of fat, especially animal fat, the triglyceride level in the body will increase significantly. When too much carbohydrates, especially finely processed grains, enter the body, it will cause blood sugar to rise and synthesize more triglycerides.

What does this mean? Eating too much fatty food, fried food, and high-sugar food will increase triglycerides. So it's not just eating too much meat that will increase blood lipids, fried food, high-sugar food, and even eating too much steamed bread and rice will also increase triglycerides.

Besides, not all meat increases triglycerides. For example, poultry, especially fish, does not increase triglycerides, but rather reduces them.

Therefore, it is not accurate to say that eating meat will increase triglycerides.

At the same time, smoking, alcoholism, mental stress or anxiety, heredity, diabetes, obesity, kidney disease, liver disease, etc. may cause increased triglycerides.

Most people have elevated triglycerides due to an unhealthy diet, so if you find that triglycerides, a blood lipid, are elevated, most high triglycerides can return to normal after controlling your diet and increasing exercise. Only when triglycerides are higher than 5.6, in order to prevent acute pancreatitis caused by elevated triglycerides, do you need to take lipid-lowering drugs to reduce triglycerides to normal as soon as possible.

3. Causes of elevated cholesterol

Among cholesterol, what we are most concerned about is low-density lipoprotein, because when low-density lipoprotein increases, it will significantly increase vascular garbage, aggravate atherosclerosis, and aggravate cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

There are also two reasons for increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol: one is diet and the other is genetics.

Some people will definitely ask, why is it that after most people’s cholesterol or low-density lipoprotein levels increase, their cholesterol or low-density lipoprotein levels are still high after controlling their diet and increasing their exercise?

This is because 25% of the increase in low-density lipoprotein is caused by diet, and the other 75% of the increase in low-density lipoprotein is synthesized by the liver's own metabolism. This is why cholesterol may be high even if you have a healthy diet, and cholesterol may also be elevated in thin people.

Regarding elevated blood lipids such as cholesterol, in addition to living a healthy life and exercising regularly, we can only take lipid-lowering drugs to reduce blood lipids to normal levels when necessary.

In short, high blood lipids are not caused by eating too much meat. At least eating fish not only does not increase blood lipids, but also helps to control blood lipids. Furthermore, even if fried foods, desserts, steamed buns and rice noodles are not meat, eating too much of them will increase blood lipids. Finally, as for cholesterol, even if you have a healthy diet, your blood lipids may increase due to genetic factors.

Therefore, only by clearly understanding the different reasons for elevated blood lipids can we accurately lower blood lipids and reduce the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases!