Does Alcohol Raise Cholesterol Levels? Know in Detail!

Each individual born on this planet wants to be in the best of health and the secret to it is taking nutritious food and regular exercising. There is no alternative to nutritious food and regular exercise when you talk about ways to remain in shape both physically and mentally. There are a few individuals who are lucky enough to remain in shape as almost every individual is facing a health issue.

When we talk about the common health issues, high cholesterol has become a common health issue which is making people spend sleepless nights. It is because they know they know that high cholesterol comes with the risk of health problems like cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart attack, stroke, and liver disease. No one wants these health problems and that’s why they continuously look for ways to lower their cholesterol levels.

What makes an Individual’s Cholesterol Levels to Shoot Up?

Your dietary and drinking habits are behind your high cholesterol levels. If you eat outside food regularly, it can be the reason, or drinking alcohol can also be the reason behind your increasing cholesterol levels. These two things can be behind the shooting up of cholesterol so you should replace your dietary and drinking with healthy habits.

Being an alcohol consumer, you may have a question in your mind, does alcohol raise cholesterol levels? Yes, drinking alcohol can be the reason behind your increasing cholesterol levels and before coming to any conclusion, it is important to ensure it and we will discuss it in detail here. Let’s talk about the science behind alcohol and cholesterol.

Important Things to Know About Alcohol Consumption

• Light to moderate consumption of alcohol raises good cholesterol or HDL, but drinking alcohol comes with numerous risks that outweigh any potential benefits.
• Heavy consumption of alcohol increases bad cholesterol or LDL and triglycerides, which further increases the risk of heart disease and other health issues.
• To minimize the health risks caused by alcohol consumption, such as Cancer, it is recommended to avoid its consumption; however, if you can’t then try to have 1-2 drinks per day.

Light to Moderate Alcohol Consumption

People who like to drink don’t know what is called light to moderate consumption or heavy alcohol consumption. If you are a man and drink less than 14 drinks per week or a woman and drink less than 7 drinks per week, you fall in the category of light to moderate use of alcohol. As said, light to moderate consumption of alcohol raises HDL and HDL cholesterol lowers the amount of plaque and inflammation in the arteries. It means you have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke.

But it does not mean that you should run to a nearby bar because according to the American Heart Association, there is no research that proves a cause-and-effect link between drinking alcohol and better heart health. It clearly states that skipping alcohol is the best thing you can do.

Heavy Alcohol Consumption

As you already know having less than 14 drinks per week for a man or less than 7 drinks per week for a woman is considered as light or moderate consumption of alcohol and above this range, the consumption is termed as heavy alcohol consumption. If you drink more than 14 drinks a week for men and 7 drinks a week for women, alcohol no longer remains beneficial.

As said, heavy drinking raises your LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which can give you heart problems and other health issues.

How much can alcohol raise cholesterol?

How alcohol raises cholesterol varies from person to person and depends on other factors, such as liver function. An individual’s liver enzymes vary based on their genetics and can affect one’s body process both alcohol and cholesterol. It has been proven in research that the more amount of alcohol drinkers consume, the higher their cholesterol levels tend to go up. Further, when the cholesterol levels of an individual go up, there is a decline in normal liver function.

Usually, people consume alcohol is consumed by mixing it with sugary drinks, and your body ends up storing extra calories as fat in the form of triglycerides.

People who are heavy drinkers always have high cholesterol levels and their families are concerned about this habit of theirs. They research cholesterol-lowering exercises and let the person who is a heavy drinker perform these exercises on a regular basis.

How to Lower Your High Cholesterol Levels?

Performing cholesterol-lowering exercises are not enough and you need to have a look at your dietary habits because those are also behind your high cholesterol levels. Have a close look at what you have been eating lately and if there is something that is raising your cholesterol levels, immediately eliminate it from your dining table.

Try to replace your foods with something that is high in calories and low in cholesterol. The question is, which are the foods that are considered as high calories low cholesterol foods? There are several foods items that are high in terms of calories and low in cholesterol and those foods include:

• Fruits such as Avocado, Banana, and Dates
• Nuts and Seeds such as Walnuts, Almonds, and Chia Seeds, which are high in calories and loaded with fiber content.
• Grains and Starches such as Brown Rice, Quinoa, and Oats, all of which are high in terms of calories and have cholesterol-lowering properties.
• Legumes such as Chickpeas and Black Beans, which are both high in terms of proteins and calories and are cholesterol-free.
• Oils and Spreads such as Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, and Peanut Butter, which are rich in calories and contain no cholesterol.

Replacing your foods with the ones listed here will surely lower your cholesterol levels; however, not every individual is comfortable in replacing the foods. If you are one of those individuals, there is no need to worry at all as you can count on natural cholesterol-lowering pills such as one from the brand called Naturachol. These pills are completely natural as their ingredients include Red Yeast Rice Extract, Oatmeal, and Olive Oil.

Bottom Line

The bottom line is that consumption of alcohol affects your cholesterol level and consuming light to moderate amounts does not cause any health issues; however, drinking beyond these levels is not good for your health.

Heavy consumption of alcohol raises your cholesterol levels and increases the risk of health problems such as heart attack, stroke, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, and others. Moreover, we have talked about how to lower your cholesterol levels. Hope you liked reading this post; share your feedback in the comments section.