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good cholesterol should be above 70 for the best defense against strokes and heart attacks. Among the best ways to boost brain–protective good cholesterol are weight loss, improving your diet, and taking certain supplements, such as fish oil. Getting even one extra hour of moderate exercise per week can also increase HDL, a recent study found, working out several times a week is even better. If you smoke, here's yet another reason to snuff out the habit: quitting can boost HDL levels by up to 10 percent. Myth #7: Food is heart-healthy if it has zero mg of cholesterol. Fact: Some cholesterol-free foods are extremely unhealthy. Since the liver produces cholesterol, it's only found in animal- based foods, such as meat, eggs, or dairy products. erefore, foods that don't come from animals can truthfully be labeled "cholesterol-free," even if they contain ingredients that can elevate cholesterol in the bloodstream, such as trans fats, which the Mayo Clinic calls "double trouble," because these foods boost bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol. Watch out for this misleading marketing ploy and check food labels to make sure the items you're buying are genuinely heart-healthy. e best foods for your heart are those that are low in sugar and saturated fat, but high in fiber. A recent study of nearly 400,000 people ages 50 and older found that a high-fiber diet reduced the risk of death from cardiovascular causes by 59 percent during the nine-year study. Other research suggests that eating more fiber – and less red meat – would prevent about 45 percent of cancer cases in the United States. Myth #8: Low cholesterol is always a sign of good health. Fact: While the health risks of high blood levels of LDL cholesterol are commonly touted, most people don't know that low LDL has been linked to increased risk for certain disorders. For example, a 2012 study found that people who develop cancer typically have lower LDL levels during the 18 years prior to their diagnosis than people who don't get cancer. In the study, cancer patients were compared to a control group of cancer-free patients, matched by age, gender, smoking status, blood pressure, diabetes, and body mass index. None of the patients had taken statins. irteen earlier randomized clinical trials evaluating statin therapy that included newly diagnosed cancer patients also reported a link between low LDL and a slightly higher rate of cancer (about one additional case per 1,000 patients), sparking medical debate about whether statins boost cancer risk. However, the 2012 study suggests that an as- yet-undetermined biological mechanism – not cholesterol- lowering drugs – appears to be the link between low LDL levels and cancer risk. A recent study by French researchers found that older men with lower levels of LDL had nearly double the risk for developing clinical depression over the next seven years, while in older women, low HDL was linked to increased depression risk. e researchers suggest that careful management of HDL and LDL levels, through a combination of diet and medication, may help prevent depression in the elderly, but that different treatments are needed according to the patient's gender. e study also found that in men, both LDL levels and genetic factors play a role in vulnerability to depression. Myth #9: Children can't have high cholesterol. Fact: Not only can kids develop high cholesterol, but in rare cases, they can even have heart attacks, as happened to a woman we know who suffered from familial hypercholesterolemia and had her first heart attack (of several) at age 16. In 2011, an expert panel convened by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) advised screening all American children for high cholesterol before age 11, a recommendation endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Previously, the AAP and National Cholesterol Education Program had only advised cholesterol screening for children with a family history of high cholesterol or heart disease. A 2010 study, however, found that this approach missed about 36 percent of kids with elevated levels. e researchers evaluated health information on more than 20,000 fih-grade students in West Virginia, 29 percent of whom had no red flags from family history, so they wouldn't have been checked under the government guidelines then in place. e rationale for the NHLBI panel's guidelines is that kids with high cholesterol typically continue to have elevated lipids in adulthood, so it's preferable to detect and treat the condition early in life, typically through lifestyle changes such as a healthy diet and more exercise. e guidelines remain controversial, however, since other medical groups continue to recommend that screening start at age 20 and older. Page 20 | Abby's Magazine - www.AbbysMag.com