RA and high cholesterol

Lizziew

Hello everyone,

I have RA and have just been diagnosed with high cholesterol. I was wondering if anybody else with RA has high cholesterol. I am a vegan, so eat no animal products, so this is really disappointing for me.

any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated

Thank you

stickywicket

Hi and welcome. I have RA too. I don't have high cholesterol but, unfortunately, the two can coincide as we are not immune to other medical problems just because we have arthritis. (Though it would be nice if we were, wouldn't it?😀)

I'm not a vegan but I believe vegans can, indeed, have high cholesterol. Admittedly, the fats of meat, cheese etc are omitted but there can be quite a lot of the 'wrong kind' of fats in processed foods - even baked beans, I believe.  It is possible to eat a vegan diet that is high in fat and hydrogentaed oils, is highly processed and contains little fibre. Plus, some people have a genetic disposition towards high cholesterol anyway. I hope you're not one of them because I imagine that would be hard to correct but, assuming you can do something about yours with just dietary tweaks, I'd start by just aiming for fresh foods and cutting out anything processed. Good luck.