Facts To Consider Concerning Your Cholesterol

High blood cholesterol can affect anyone. It’s a serious condition that increases the risk for heart disease, the number one killer of Americans—women and men. The higher your blood cholesterol level, the greater your risk.

Risk factors are conditions or behaviors that increase your chance of developing a disease. For heart disease, there are two types of risk factors—those you can not change and those you can.
Fortunately, most of the heart disease risk factors can be changed.

Risk factors you can not change:

> Age—45 or older for men; 55 or older for women
> Family history of early heart disease—father or brother diagnosed before age 55, or mother or sister diagnosed before age 65

Risk factors you can change:

> Smoking
> High blood pressure
> High blood cholesterol
> Overweight/obesity
> Physical inactivity
> Diabetes

Know Your Cholesterol Level:

You can have high cholesterol and not realize it. Most of the 65 million Americans with high cholesterol have no symptoms. So it’s important to have your blood cholesterol levels checked. All adults
age 20 and older should have their cholesterol levels checked at least once every 5 years. If you have an elevated cholesterol, you’ll need to have it tested more often.

Talk with your doctor to find out how often is best for you.

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance found in the walls of cellsin all parts of the body, from the nervous system to the liver to the heart. The body uses cholesterol to make hormones, bile acids,
vitamin D, and other substances.

The body makes all the cholesterol it needs. Cholesterol circulates in the bloodstream but cannot travel by itself. As with oil and water, cholesterol (which is fatty) and blood (which is watery) do not mix. So cholesterol travels in packages called lipoproteins, which have fat (lipid) inside and protein outside.

Two main kinds of lipoproteins carry cholesterol in the blood:

> Low density lipoprotein, or LDL
This is what the experts call the “bad” cholesterol because it carries cholesterol to tissues, including the
arteries. Most of the cholesterol in the blood is the LDL form. The higher the level of LDL cholesterol in the blood, thegreater your risk for heart disease.

>High density lipoprotein, or HDL
The experts call this the “good” cholesterol because it takes cholesterol from tissues tothe liver, which removes it from the body. A low level of HDL cholesterol increases your risk for heart disease.

If there is too much cholesterol in the blood, some of the excess can become trapped in artery walls. Over time, this builds up and is called plaque. The plaque can narrow vessels and make them less
flexible, a condition called atherosclerosis or “hardening of the arteries.”

If the coronary arteries become partly blocked by plaque, then the blood may not be able to bring enough oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle. This can cause chest pain, or angina.

Some cholesterol-rich plaques are unstable—they have a thin covering and can burst, releasing cholesterol and fat into the bloodstream. The release can cause a blood clot to form over the plaque, blocking blood flow through the artery—and causing a heart attack.

When atherosclerosis affects the coronary arteries, the condition is called coronary heart disease or coronary artery disease (CAD).

Cholesterol By The Numbers:

Total Cholesterol
Less than 200 mg/dl 200–239 mg/dL 240 mg/dL and above	Desirable Borderline high High

LDL Cholesterol:
Less than 100 mg/dL 100–129 mg/dL 130–159 mg/dL 160–189 mg/dL 190 mg/dL and above	Optimal (ideal) Near optimal/above optimal Borderline high High Very high

HDL Cholesterol:
Less than 40 mg/dL 60 mg/dL and above	Major heart disease risk factor Some protection against CAD

For those that have high cholesterol, or some (or all) of the risk factors for heart disease, do not be discouraged. There are some simple lifestyle changes that you can make that will help to lower your "bad" cholesterol while raising your "good" cholesterol.

Making lifestyle changes is never easy. But as you peruse the pages of our site, keep your key goal in mind: Living healthier and longer by lowering your cholesterol and other risk factors and reducing
your risk for heart disease.

Here are some places to start:

Start a Heart Healthy Eating Plan
Become More Physically Active
Maintain a Healthy Body Weight.

The sooner you start, the better.

As always, be sure to consult your physician before implementing any of these activities to ensure they are safe for you!

Author Resource: Looking for tips and resources on a totally healthy lifestyle? Visit Totally Healthy You for a complete lifestyle makeover. The author is a 20 healthcare veteran in the field of Cardiology and healthcare education.