While hereditary factors can influence your cholesterol levels, there are ways to regulate them through your lifestyle.

This includes the foods you are eating from day-to-day.

To help get you started, why not try these four foods, which have each been found to help regulate cholesterol.

Garlic

For generations garlic has been used to promote good health. As with other members of the onion family, it can be used to lower cholesterol and protect the heart.

Scientists believe that traditional Mediterranean diets featuring a high garlic content help make it so heart-friendly.

Garlic can be used liberally in cooking, baking and in fresh salads.

Oats

Unsifted and unprocessed grains and cereals are rich in B vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre, but are low in fat and cholesterol.

Oats and oat bran have a high soluble fibre content, assisting in actively lowering blood cholesterol.

It's easy to incorporate oats into your diet by having a bowl of porridge or muesli to begin your day.

Olive oil

Olive oil and olive products are rich in vitamin E and monounsaturated fatty acids, helping to lower 'bad' cholesterol and increase 'good'.

Those with raised cholesterol levels are advised to monitor these levels, something olives and olive oil will promote.

Adding a tablespoon or two of oil to your salads or cooking helps you to boost your good cholesterol, or alternatively you could try making olives your new mid-afternoon snack.

Fat-free dairy products

Fat-free yoghurt and other fat-free dairy products allow you to gain all the important attributes of dairy foods, such as calcium, without gaining the high saturated fat.

Calcium is essential for the healthy working of the heart, as well as for preventing diseases such as osteoporosis.

Once the fat is removed from a dairy product, almost all the cholesterol is taken out too, meaning that fat-free milk, yoghurt and cottage cheese are all great options if you're looking to control your cholesterol.