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Many years of scientific studies have shown a close relationship between cardiovascular disease and cholesterol levels. Your doctor may request a lipid profile—a test that shows the levels of LDL (bad cholesterol), HDL (good cholesterol), and triglycerides in your blood—to assess your risk for developing heart disease.

When doctors measure cholesterol levels in your blood, what they see is a combination of what your body makes and what you eat. Because you cannot control how much cholesterol your body produces, other than with medications, restricting saturated fat in your diet can have a major impact on lowering your cholesterol.

Limiting saturated and trans fats in your diet has the biggest impact on lowering your cholesterol. Restricting fatty meats, choosing low-fat or nonfat dairy products, and avoiding butter and margarine play a major role in helping to maintain healthy cholesterol levels.

Even though you have low total cholesterol levels you can still be at an increased risk for heart disease, especially if you have a family history of vascular disease that begins at an early age.

Your risk also increases if you have metabolic syndrome, which is defined by having three or more of the following:

• abdominal obesity, meaning your waist is more than 40 inches for men or 34 inches for women
• blood pressure over 130/85
• triglycerides over 150
• HDL less than 50 in a woman or less than 40 in a man
• high blood sugar levels

No. Fish oil has the ability to lower triglycerides, but not LDL cholesterol. However, there may be other potentially protective effects from fish oil, such as making your blood less likely to clot.