What kind of diet is recommended as treatment for hyperlipidemia?
Low cholesterol diets have been divided into low (Step I diet) and lower (Step II diet). They can be begun sequentially or if conditions are bad enough to warrant drug therapy, you can go directly to Step II when treatment is begun. Step I diet contains no more than 30 percent of calories from fat, less than 10% of calories from fatty acids, and less than 300 mg of cholesterol per day. A Step II diet restricts further by limiting the calories from saturated fatty acids to less than 7% a day and the cholesterol to less than 200 mg per day. This diet decreases LDL cholesterol concentrations 8-15%. Why not just take medication to lower my cholesterol in case my diet plan is less than perfect? Different drugs are used as treatment for hyperlipidemia but the most common ones are in a class called “statins”. They are similar to building blocks of cholesterol and act as competitors so that real cholesterol is not manufactured. These would include: lovastatin (Mevacor®), pravastatin (Pravachol
