major onces are: saturated fat and trans fat. Make sure it contains little saturated fat and almost no trans fat. Saturated fat riases the levels of bad cholesterol and trans fat gets rid of your body's good cholestrol and increases the bad ones.

Hell, everyone gets this wrong and continues to do so in the face of overwhelming evidence. I understand your confusion. Your question is what affects Cholesterol. First and foremost its SUGAR! Glucose, syrups, white sugar,brown sugar, cheap honey etc processed carbohydrates and even excess of any grain based carbohydrate as they will still convert to glucose in the body. As for fats, its the Hydrogenated trans fats that are incredibly bad. There are no real natural bad fats to speak off, even saturated fats are not the number one enemy. That prize will always belong to sugar and all its variations, unless you have just exercised intensely for an hour but that's another story. Start checking the labels for sugar content and all its disguises. As for sodium, by cutting down on grain based carbohydrates and sugars, you will not retain so much sodium within the excess water so many people carry around, hence, instant health benefit. Hope this helps. Simon