More than half of UK adults are thought to suffer with high cholesterol – yet they might not even know it.

Cholesterol is a natural fatty substance found in your blood. If you have higher levels of it (above the recommended healthy limit of 5mmol/L) it can increase your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

Yet you probably wouldn’t know if you have higher levels, as it doesn’t usually cause any symptoms. The main way to tell if they’re high is to have a blood test.

Certain groups are more at risk of high cholesterol, including the over-50s, men, postmenopausal women, and people of South Asian or sub-Saharan African origin.

The issue can also run in families, which is why experts recently stressed how crucial it is to ask the older generations about their health.

Another major risk factor is lifestyle – per the NHS, high cholesterol can be caused by eating fatty food, not exercising enough, being overweight, smoking, and drinking alcohol.

On the topic of diet, Professor Dr Mehmet Temel Yilmaz, an endocrinology and metabolic diseases specialist from Acibadem, said: “High cholesterol causes all sorts of health........

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