The habits you develop in your daily life contribute to your health in both positive and negative ways. If you want to make some positive changes in your lifestyle to contribute to your health, start by choosing nutritious foods, getting plenty of exercise and avoiding smoking. Alcohol consumption is also important since thinking about
how to cure a hangover is not the only problem derived from its intake.
In moderate amounts, red wine is often linked to healthy cholesterol levels. But drinking more hard liquor, beer, mixed drinks and excessive red wine has a negative impact on your cholesterol levels.
At NoWorriesRecovery, we want you to understand the connection between alcohol and cholesterol. Here's some information about cholesterol and how drinking alcohol affects your heart health. And if you are also concerned about your weight, do not hesitate to consult
which alcoholic drinks have the least calories .
Your body needs just the right amount of cholesterol
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that travels through the blood. At persistently high levels, it is linked to an increased risk of heart disease. But cholesterol is not bad in and of itself. In fact, your body needs cholesterol to function properly.
The problem is that your body only needs a small amount of it, and your liver produces enough to meet your body's needs.
What role does cholesterol play in health?
Cholesterol has some important functions in the body. It participates in the production of hormones and vitamin D. It is also incorporated into bile acids, which facilitate digestion and absorption of vitamins. Cholesterol also contributes to the production and maintenance of cell membranes.
In other words, you need cholesterol for good health.
Where does all the extra cholesterol come from?
Although the body produces all the cholesterol it needs, you also get some from your diet. Cholesterol is found in foods of animal origin, such as beef, chicken, fish, and cheese. Therefore, for a long time it was thought that dietary cholesterol contributed to raising blood cholesterol.
Patients used to be advised to limit their consumption of foods such as egg yolks if they had high cholesterol. We now know that dietary cholesterol in the quantities that Spaniards usually consume has very little influence on blood cholesterol levels.
What causes high cholesterol?
Regarding diet, saturated fats are the factor that most influences cholesterol levels. A diet rich in saturated fats has a powerful influence on increasing low-density lipoproteins, a harmful form of cholesterol.
Lifestyle can affect cholesterol levels by influencing how the body breaks down cholesterol. For example, it is well known that smoking increases cholesterol and another blood fat called triglycerides. Alcohol consumption also influences cholesterol levels.
Alcohol and cholesterol
The relationship between alcohol consumption and cholesterol levels is complex, and we still don't know everything. We do know that red wine contains polyphenolic compounds that can reduce the bad form of cholesterol, LDL. Moderate consumption of red wine is linked to healthy cholesterol levels.
But this is no reason to start drinking red wine if you don't already, since the same polyphenols in red wine are found in nutritious foods like grapes.
The effect of moderate consumption of other types of alcohol is less clear. Study results have provided conflicting evidence, with some showing no effect, while others show that moderate consumption of other types of alcohol can increase levels of HDL, a good form of cholesterol.
In any case, drinking more than a moderate amount of alcohol can have the opposite effect by increasing total cholesterol and triglycerides.
Recommendations for alcohol consumption
If you currently drink, limit yourself to moderate consumption, meaning up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men.
Healthy cholesterol levels
What is healthy cholesterol? The goal is a total cholesterol level less than 200 mg/dl and an LDL level less than 100 mg/dl. You should aim for high HDL levels. An optimal level is greater than 60 mg/dl. Levels vary depending on age, sex and weight.
Maintaining healthy cholesterol levels is key to maintaining your overall health. We don't have the remedy to lower cholesterol, but if you want to feel new after drinking alcohol you should try our hangover pills. Composed entirely of natural ingredients, they will help you metabolize alcohol better so you can enjoy the day after the party.