I am male, 40 years old, 5? 11?, 178 lbs, and healthy.  I had my
total cholesterol a year ago at around 200 mg/L with HDL around 40
mg/L.  Triglyceride was normal.  My risk then was 200/40=5.  I started
eating low-fat low-crab diet and exercising.  My total cholesterol
fell to 175 mg/L and the good cholesterol fell also to 29 mg/L.  Now
my risk has increased to 175/30=6.03 (Triglyceride remained normal).  
It seems to me that whatever I do I cannot make my HDL go higher.  No
food is able to raise my HDL level.  I?ve tried Almonds, Walnuts,
Avocados, Garlic Fresh and Pills, Olive Oil, Whisky, and Red Wine, and
many many others for months.  None of
these have helped.  I tried Niacin, Salmon Oil, fish oil, flax oil, and Metamucil
fiber and others for months and that didn?t help either.  I have spent
numerous hours of
research on the net to find a food or vitamin with proven ability to
increase HDL and have tried them all in vain.  I really don?t want to
take drugs for this condition.  Therefore my question is: Do you know
of a magical food or vitamin that can increase HDL?

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Clarification of Question by sammaria-ga on 20 May 2005 15:17 PDT

I would like to increase HDL by at least 50% to 44 mg/L

Have you tried cranberry juice? It worked for me.

http://heartdisease.about.com/od/cholesteroltriglycerides/a/cranHDL.htm

I tried that for a while also but with no good results. How many
points did it increase your HDL?

Cranberry juice helped my HDL go from 32 to 42. Niacin helped me a
bit, too, but the side effects were unpleasant. Everyone's system
seems to be different; I do not believe there is any "magical food or
vitamin" that will raise everyone's HDL.

Niacin was the classic vitamin used to reduce overall cholesterol, but
it produces an unpleasant 'flushing' effect that is the result of
histamines. You basically feel itchy and have red flushing over your
body. If you take niacin, start with a low dosage and take either
aspirin or an antihistamine prior to taking it. Niacin is quite
effective, but be careful because if your liver function is impaired
it may cause additional damage.

You can increase your HDL by doing exercise, but it seems from your
experience that you may have reached a plateau. Since it's really your
ratio that matters, try and reduce your total cholesterol rather than
raising your HDL. 175 is not really high, but it's not that low,
either.  You may simply have a congenitally higher cholesterol. Like
that TV commercial says, it's part genetics, part environment.  If the
genetics isn't helping, try harder to avoid foods that contain
cholesterol (even though most cholesterol is produced by the body
itself).  Try also to eat foods high in anti-oxidants and avoid simple
sugars, since there seems to be a connection between the oxidative
damage caused by sugars (their breakdown releases of so-called free
radicals, which themselves are like tiny bulldozers, damaging
epithelial tissue) and the fatty plaque that often clogs arteries (one
theory holds that the plaque is the body's attempt to repair the
oxidative damage).

I agree that there probably isn't a "magical" food to raise HDL, and
everyone's response to various drugs and foods is a little different,
as you've found.

You might be interested in this article in the journal Circulation
(published by the American Heart Association):
Denke MA.  Dietary prescriptions to control dyslipidemias. 
Circulation. 2002 Jan 15;105(2):132-5.

The free full text can be found here:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/105/2/132?ck=nck
or in PDF format:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/105/2/132?ck=nck

Best,

            -welte-ga

An overlooked factor with hard-to-raise HDL fractions is frequently
your sodium or protein/phosphate status.  Although different studies
have shown conflicting results, choline and lecithin have the
potential to improve HDL cholesterol by raising sodium (choline), and
phosphorus (lecithin).

http://www.acu-cell.com/pna.html

As long as your blood pressure is ok, and you are not
sodium-sensitive, choline bitartrate may be a worthwhile supplement to
consider.  Lecithin could be another candidate - including to lower
VLD triglycerides -  as long as you don't have a history of gout, and
your phosphorus or protein levels are not too high.
The problem with supplements is the same as with drugs in that there
is frequently a narrow window of a remedy working - versus causing
major side effects if the amounts taken are over a "safe" limit (as is
often seen with niacin).  This safety margin unfortunately varies from
person to person.