Only your doctor can answer them for you. These questions are important as one out of two people in this country die of heart disease or stroke. A cholesterol abnormality is one of the major risk factors for the development of these diseases. More importantly, recent studies have shown that correcting risk factors can actually reverse already present coronary heart disease. If your cholesterol is high, your doctor will want you to first normalize your weight, eat a low fat diet, exercise and be sure to have adequate soluble fiber in your diet.
Soluble fiber is present in whole grain breads and oat cereal.
Most of us get less than half the fiber recommended by dieticians. All of these measures will reduce cholesterol. Adequate fiber intake for instance, either by diet or taking the proper dietary supplement can lower cholesterol by up to 20 to 30 percent. If you own best efforts don't bring your cholesterol to a satisfactory level, prescription drugs are available to your physician and he may choose to recommend one or more to you.