Information Literacy

1. Running Head: CHOLESTEROL TREATMENT AND MANAGEMENT
1
Cholesterol Treatment and Management
John P. Doe
IL 100
Professor Santos
Fall 2016

2. CHOLESTEROL TREATMENT 2
Topic: Cholesterol Treatment and Management
Thesis statement:
High Cholesterol can be lowered with a low fat diet and a daily thirty minute exercise schedule.
Maintaining this diet and exercise schedule can reduce the need for using cholesterol lowering
drugs such as Lipitor.
Search strategy and evaluation of resources:
Source 1:
I began my research by looking at the website of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, CDC.gov, to get a broad overview of high cholesterol. Statistics on the cholesterol
web page indicate that 32% of adults have high blood cholesterol (Centers for Disease Control,
2010). In addition to giving a detailed description of what cholesterol looks like in the body, the
website also listed all of the risk factors associated with high cholesterol including the link to
heart disease. The site provides coverage that is suitable and appropriate for my information
needs. The FAQs webpages answer important questions about symptoms of the disease, risk
factors, and the different types of cholesterol. Their recommendations for managing and
controlling cholesterol include the subjects of my thesis statement which are a healthy diet and
exercise. The CDC website is a reliable and authoritative source because it is a resource from a
government agency, the Centers for Disease Control which provides accurate information and
statistics. As we learned in class, sites with the domain extension .gov can generally be relied
upon to have credible information. This website also provided links to other important websites

3. CHOLESTEROL TREATMENT 3
such as the American Heart Association’s website where information about the connection
between high blood cholesterol and heart disease was found. The American Heart Association is
an organization with a very good reputation for publishing accurate, reliable information which
is written by doctors. Overall, we can trust the accuracy of the CDC website.
Source 2:
Next, I went on the Bramson ORT library catalog and did a keyword search for
cholesterol. I selected the book The Truth about Statins. This book discusses the possible side
effects of taking statins to lower cholesterol and the alternatives to them. It advocates a
Mediterranean diet. The author, Dr. Barbara Roberts (2012) explains that saturated fats such as
those found in red meat are linked to heart disease but monounsaturated fats such as those found
in olive oil are good for lowering cholesterol. The last chapter of the book is especially helpful.
It includes heart healthy foods and recipes. Overall, the book is a good source. The language is
easy to understand. Dr. Roberts draws on her own experience treating her patients. She is an
expert in this field. She is an MD and the director of the Women’s Cardiac Center at the Miriam
Hospital (Roberts, 2012).
Source 3:
I also searched Ebsco’s Academic Search Premier database and selected an article
entitled “Which lifestyle interventions effectively lower LDL cholesterol?” by the authors
Powers, Saultz & Hamilton. In this article, weight loss, diet and exercise are recommended by
doctors as ways of lowering high cholesterol. Specifically, the authors report that aerobic
exercise lowers LDL-cholesterol (Powers, Saultz, & Hamilton, 2007). The statistics included in
this article are the findings of clinical trials and can be verified. The list of references at the end

4. CHOLESTEROL TREATMENT 4
of the article were all written by experts in the field and many of the articles can be found in
authoritative, reputable sources such as JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association).
Source 4:
I also looked at the book 101 Ways to lower your cholesterol: Easy tips that allow you to
take control, reduce risk, and live longer. This book was published in 2010 and discusses a diet
and an exercise plan that can lower LDL cholesterol without using drugs. It educates readers on
how to maintain healthy HDL cholesterol levels. HDL cholesterol is the type of good cholesterol
that will fight the bad LDL in your body (Archer & Edelberg, 2010). I found this book at the
Brooklyn Public Library after searching their catalog. Shirley Archer is a health & wellness
expert who served at the Stanford Prevention Research Center at Stanford University School of
Medicine from 1992 to 2006.
Source 5:
For my final source, I searched on Gale’s Academic One File. I searched for “managing
cholesterol.” I selected the article entitled “Nonpharmacological cholesterol-lowering approach:
Managing cholesterol naturally.” It recommends using “functional” foods to lower your
cholesterol such as “green vegetables, fruits, avocado, fish oil, almond and nuts” (Mahmood,
2015, p. 193). It is published in CHRISMED Journal of Health and Research which is a
respected, scholarly journal.

5. CHOLESTEROL TREATMENT 5
References
Archer, S. & Edelberg, D. (2010). 101 Ways to lower your cholesterol: Easy tips that allow you
to take control, reduce risk, and live longer. Avon, MA: Adams Media.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Cholesterol. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/index.htm.
Mahmood, L. (2015). Nonpharmacological cholesterol-lowering approach: Managing cholesterol
naturally. CHRISMED Journal of Health and Research, 2(3), 193. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA419360524&v=2.1&u=nysl_me_brams
on&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=076f52d31ae5b386ff1f4257415865e9
Powers, E., Saultz, J., & Hamilton, A. (2007). Which lifestyle interventions effectively lower
LDL cholesterol? Journal of Family Practice, 56 (6), 483- 485.
Roberts, B. H. (2012). The truth about statins: Risks and alternatives to cholesterol-lowering
drugs. New York, NY: Pocket Books.