Did you know, contrary to the common belief that the condition is mainly associated with the high-fat diet and the inactive lifestyle of these days, that hyperlipidemia can partly be caused by your genetics? You might be one of these cases if you have a high cholesterol level even though you’re not obese, don’t smoke or drink, and eat a lot more vegetables than meat. A recent study showed people with genetic variations leading to familial hyperlipidemia are a whopping 22 times more likely to have coronary artery diseases than those without. If you have any of LDLR, APOB, and PCSK9, which are the genes known to cause familial hyperlipidemia, you’re more likely to have a build-up of LDL, the so-called “bad” cholesterol. The implication of these findings is that people with those genes have a bigger risk of cardiovascular diseases than others; they should be very strictly careful about these conditions.