High cholesterol mainly refers to the total cholesterol in blood plasma is higher than the normal value. High cholesterol is mainly related to poor living and eating habits, mental stress, diseases, drugs and genetic factors. Short-term elevation can have no special performance, while long-term elevation can easily induce coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction and other diseases. Common causes of high cholesterol as well as hazards include the following: I. Common causes: 1. Poor living and eating habits: Long-term consumption of excessive saturated fatty acids and high cholesterol foods, including animal offal, pork, whole milk, egg yolk, etc., may cause high cholesterol. In addition, people who are sedentary and lack of exercise are also prone to high cholesterol; 2. Mental stress: prolonged mental stress, anxiety, depression, etc., tend to raise cholesterol levels in the plasma; 3. Diseases: diseases such as hypothyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, myeloma, polycystic ovary syndrome, etc., can often cause secondary high cholesterol; 4. Drugs: long-term use of glucocorticoids, progesterone, thiazide diuretics and other drugs can cause abnormally high cholesterol; 5. Genetic factors: If patients with high cholesterol have a family history, it may be caused by familial hypercholesterolemia, which is a hereditary disease. II. Hazards: 1. High cholesterol, especially high LDL cholesterol, can be deposited in the blood vessel wall and be engulfed by macrophages, inducing the development of atherosclerosis, which can lead to coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction, hypertension, myocardial infarction and other diseases in the long run, thus threatening the life and health of patients; 2. High cholesterol can accelerate the development of prostate cancer in men and induce serious kidney diseases such as kidney failure; 3. High cholesterol may adversely affect human bone health, increasing the chances of osteoporosis and fractures.