Cholesterol plays a very important role in your body and health. By understanding the different types and levels of cholesterol, and learning what affects them, you will be able to take better care of it and enjoy years of good health.
What is cholesterol and where does it come from?
Cholesterol is a waxy substance vital to many bodily processes. It often has negative connotations, and indeed in certain instances these are justified, but cholesterol is essential to the body. Most of the body’s cholesterol is produced in the liver, but dietary intake accounts for a portion too.
Too Much of a Good Thing
Excess cholesterol in your body accumulates in your arteries and causes them to narrow-a condition known as atherosclerosis. Eventually, blood flow can become completely blocked, resulting in heart attack or stroke.
Check Your Cholesterol
Men older than 35 and women older than 45 should have their cholesterol checked regularly. This can be done by a simple blood test at your doctor’s office. The results are in the form of a lipid profile, which reports LDLs, HDLs, triglycerides, and total cholesterol level.
Healthy Cholesterol Levels
Knowing your cholesterol level can help you determine if you are in a healthy range or if you need to start taking corrective action against your cholesterol. Your total cholesterol level will fall into one of the following categories:
Optimal: less than 200 mg/dL. Your risk of heart attack is considerably low, unless you have other risk factors like smoking or diabetes. This doesn’t give you license to feast at McDonald’s however; prevent your cholesterol levels from increasing by eating foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol. If you are young and stay healthy, you probably won’t need to get your cholesterol checked again for another five years.
Borderline high risk: 200-239 mg/dL. About a third of Americans are at this stage. This stage doesn’t necessarily mean your risk for heart attack is high; for example, pre-menopausal women and fit younger men may have higher HDL cholesterol levels with relatively low LDL cholesterol levels. If your total cholesterol is at this level, you’ll want to monitor it every two years, and start a healthy diet and exercise routine in the meantime.
High risk: 240 mg/dL or more. A fifth of Americans fall into this category, which suffers double the risk of heart attack than those at optimal cholesterol levels. At this point your health practitioner will conduct more detailed tests and present treatment options to getyour cholesterol under control.
Good and Bad Cholesterol
HDLs, or high-density lipoproteins, are the good cholesterol that keeps your body healthy. LDLs (low-density lipoproteins) and triglycerides are dangerous when their levels are high. Your cholesterol test will determine your levels of each type.
Fortunately, HDLs work to filter LDLs and triglycerides from the blood. HDL levels can be increased by exercising. Exercising can also lower LDL levels as can eating a diet low in animal products (the source of dietary cholesterol).
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=183
