Would you like to live longer AND maintain superior brain health? Then you need to learn to raise & increase to your HDL cholesterol levels…

Interestingly, in what has been referred to as the "Methuselah Syndrome", people with very high HDL levels tend to have exceptionally long, healthy life spans (greater than 100 years), with amazingly intact brain function.

As most of you probably already know, there is a "good" cholesterol, and a "bad" cholesterol. LDL is generally considered to be the bad, while HDL is considered to be the good.

Many scientists believe HDL removes excess cholesterol from your blood vessels and helps keep them open. How does this relate to brain health? If you’ve been reading the Smartkit site from the beginning, you’ll know that one of the key concepts for preserving intelligence and brain power as you get older is: Keep the blood vessels open and free of atherosclerosis. As the brain’s pipes clog and get more narrow, blood flow diminishes, and brain cells don’t work as well as they should. Memory, concentration, creativity, and problem solving ability all plummet.

Therefore, for those interested in extending lifespan AND keeping their brains and hearts healthy, I figured I’d put together an updated list on 13 ways you can increase your HDL naturally, without any prescription drugs:

• Eat more curry (Curcumin is the effective agent). One study noted a 29% increase in HDL
• Grape Juice significantly increases HDL, according to a study out of Boston University School of Medicine
• Eat foods high in Vitamin B3 (Niacin). Extended release niacin supplements also work. A recent study in the American Journal of Cardiology shows it can raise HDL by almost 8% in just 3 months time
• Eat more oranges. A study out of the University of Western Ontario showed a 21% increase in HDL
• Aerobic exercise has been shown to significantly raise HDL levels
• Decrease the amount of refined sugars and carbohydrates in your diet
• Eat more raw yellow or white onions. Dr. Victor Gurewich of Tufts University found that a raw onion per day can raise HDL as much as 30%
• Avoid trans fats
• Macadamia nuts. One study out of the University of Newcastle showed an HDL increase of 8%.
• Polyphenols in Olive Oil. One recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed the higher the polyphenol content in olive oil, the higher the HDL is raised.
• Eat more fish. Fish oil supplementation has also shown to work
• Cranberries may increase HDL. A recent study published in the British Journal of Nutrition showed cranberry juice significantly boosted HDL
• Stop Smoking. In just 8 weeks, your HDL will begin to significantly rise.

Tags: aerobic-exercise, atherosclerosis, Cholesterol, cranberries, curcumin, curry, fish-oil, grape-juice, HDL, LDL, life-span, macademia-nuts, Methuselah, niacin, olive-oil, onions, oranges, polyphenols, trans-fat, vitamin-b3