Your friend or relative has just been told that they have high cholesterol and that if they don’t do something to control it now then they increase their risk of having heart problems in the future. Whilst this news can be very scary to some, others will ignore their diagnosis and carry on as before.

How can I help them?
Your role as someone who loves them is to both support and encourage them. This is especially important as the changes they need to make to their lifestyle are something that they need to continue for the rest of their lives. Here are just some of the things you can do to help:

• Enjoy healthy meals together
• Exercise together
• Make sure they take any treatment the doctor has given them
• Tell them how great they’re doing.

And remember that by eating healthily and exercising you will also help improve your own health and reduce your risk of heart problems.

	20% or more of cholesterol comes from food and up to 80% is made by the liver. To reduce cholesterol and keep it low your friend or relative will need to make changes to their lifestyle AND keep taking any treatment their doctor gives them.

My parent has high cholesterol, will I?
A small number of people have high cholesterol caused by a rare condition that runs in families called familial hypercholesterolaemia. About 1 in 500 people have this condition.

Although high cholesterol levels can run in families this does not mean that you will automatically have high cholesterol just because your Mother or Father does. But you should still watch your cholesterol levels regularly and follow a healthy lifestyle.

You can learn more about cholesterol here.