He followed online advice to eat just meat and dairy. It sent him to the hospital.

Ever wonder what would happen if you only ate meat and cheese?

One man in his 40s ended up at a Florida hospital with cholesterol coming out of his body. He told doctors he ate 6 to 9 pounds of cheese, sticks of butter, and hamburgers every day, according to a paper published in JAMA Cardiology on Wednesday.

For about 8 months, the man ate a high-fat, meat-heavy diet, taking diet advice from the internet, according to Dr. Konstantinos Marmagkiolis, an interventional cardiologist at Tampa General Hospital who treated the man.

The diet was meant to manage the man's weight and improve overall well-being, said Marmagkiolis, the author of the JAMA paper and a collaborative associate professor of cardiology at the University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine.

The man appeared to have achieved this − albeit with complex side effects on his body. He lost weight, increased energy and improved mental clarity, the journal article said.

But last spring, he showed up at Marmagkiolis’ hospital with smooth yellowish nodules on his palms, elbows and the soles of his feet.

His cholesterol levels exceeded 1,000 mg per deciliter, far higher than his baseline level, between 210 and 300 mg. Normal cholesterol ranges for adults are below 200 mg, five times lower than what the man had, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Marmagkiolis diagnosed the man with xanthelasma, or cholesterol deposits that build on the skin. The man granted researchers permission to publish information about his medical situation, though not his identity.

Xanthelasmas, which occurs in about 1% of women and 0.3% of men, usually shows up as yellow growths on eyelids near the nose. It is harmless in itself, but can indicate that the person is very likely to develop heart disease or have a heart attack in the future, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

The body needs cholesterol to build cells and make vitamins and certain hormones, but too much of it can cause fat to collect in arteries, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.

The body makes its own cholesterol in the liver ‒ typically enough for survival.

Meat and dairy products, which are often recommended in high-protein diets like the one the man consumed, are also high in cholesterol.

The man's case highlighted the effect diet can have on cholesterol levels, the article said, and why it’s important to manage cholesterol levels.

It's also a warning sign for both doctors and people considering these kinds of diets.

"Not everybody can tolerate those diets," Marmagkiolis said. "If they do, they have to keep an eye on their cholesterol."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: He tried an online diet. Then cholesterol seeped out of his hands.