Snacking on fatty foods sends cholesterol higher

Research shows a quarter of people regularly miss lunch at work, with many snacking instead on high fat foods that are bad for the heart.

This snacking pattern is sending cholesterol levels sky high, according to Developing Patient Partnership.

Manual workers were most likely to snack on fatty foods, they found.

High cholesterol is one of the main risk factors for heart disease.

Simple dietary changes can make enormous savings in saturated fat Dr Jennifer Poulter

A healthy level is considered to be below 5mmol/litre.

It is estimated that only a third of adults in the UK have a cholesterol below this level.

A 10% reduction in blood cholesterol halves the risk of heart disease in a person aged 40.

People can lower their cholesterol cutting back on saturated fat in their diet.

The researchers looked at the eating habits and cholesterol awareness of 2,000 adults in the UK.

Nine out of 10 people said they snacked between meals, with a third saying they snacked because they were bored.

Fatty snacks

Nearly half said they snacked on chocolate or crisps, a third snacked on cakes and pastries and a fifth ate pies and sausage rolls between meals.

Cost appeared to be another important reason why people chose high fat snacks.

More than a quarter said healthier snacks were too expensive to buy.

One in ten said they found healthy snacks boring.

Manual workers were most likely to skip meals and graze on fatty snacks. They are also the group with the highest risk of heart disease.

The premature deaths rate from heart disease for male manual workers, such as factory workers and labourers, is 58% higher than for male non-manual workers, figures show.

Knowledge about cholesterol was poor.

Cholesterol awareness

Nearly three quarters did not know what a healthy blood cholesterol level should be.

Over a third, rising to almost half of manual workers, did not know how to lower cholesterol.

Nutritionist and author of the report Dr Jennifer Poulter said: "Simple dietary changes can make enormous savings in saturated fat, which is the crucial step in keeping cholesterol levels down."

Experts recommend saturated fat should make up only 10% of daily energy intake. This roughly translates to keeping below 30g of saturated fat per day if you are a male manual worker or less than 22g per day if you are a woman.

A quarter pounder beef burger plus a pint of whole fat milk and four digestive biscuits would provide 30g of saturated fat for example.

Reducing risk

The DPP said savings in saturated fat could be easy - using low fat spread on bread and lean fillings, such as chicken, in sandwiches for example.

Dr David Wrigley from the DPP said: "By simply keeping a check on the saturated fats in the foods we eat every day, it is easy to take control of our cholesterol levels and safeguard out health."

Dr John Reckless from Cholesterol UK recommended simple changes to eating, exercise and lifestyle habits.

A spokeswoman for the British Heart Foundation said: "People lead busy lives but that needn't mean sacrificing their health for fatty snacks. Why not opt for fruit instead, which is cheap, readily available, tasty and healthy.