Cholesterol Overview

Cholesterol is an important, fatty, wax like, substance that is found in the cells of every animal including humans. It’s an important part of the outer lining (membrane) of cells and is necessary for your body to work properly.

Cholesterol is also found in the blood stream which comes from two main sources; dietary intake and liver production. When you ingest certain foods you take in cholesterol. Foods such as meats like beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and fish all have some amount of cholesterol, as well as dairy products such as milk, cheese, and ice cream. Egg yolks also have cholesterol and organs such as liver have large amounts of the fatty substance while fruits and vegetables contain none.

How Much Cholesterol is in Certain Foods

In Milligrams

When you ingest food, the contained cholesterol is absorbed through your intestines into your blood stream and encased into a cholesterol-protein coat complex called a chylomicron. Your liver then either removes unneeded chylomicrons or produces and secretes them back into the blood stream as needed.

Types of Cholesterol

There are both good and bad types of cholesterol. Cholesterol can’t dissolve in the blood so it has to be transported to and from the cells by carriers called lipoproteins. Low-density lipoproteins, or LDL’s, are known as bad cholesterol and High-density lipoproteins, or HDL’s, are known as good cholesterol.

LDL (Bad) Cholesterol

LDL lipoprotein deposits cholesterol on the artery walls, and with other substances creates what is known as cholesterol plaque. These hard deposits overtime cause the thickening of artery walls, which in turn narrows the arteries and makes them less flexible. This is a condition called atherosclerosis, and is dangerous because it increases the risk of heart disease and chance of a clot forming resulting in a possible stroke or heart attack.

HDL (good) Cholesterol

HDL cholesterol tends to do the opposite by removing cholesterol from the artery’s, and having it processed by the liver where it is expelled as waste. High levals of HDL is a good indicater of decent cholesterol where as low HDL (under 40 mg/dL) puts you at a greater risk of heart disease.

Risks Factors of High cholesterol

Factors that may lead to higher cholesterol and the increased chance of heart disease include:

• Obesity has many issues associated with it including high cholesterol
  
• Diet Eating foods rich in cholesterol like red meat and fatty dairy products can raise your cholesterol level
• Diabetes can damage artery walls as well as contributes to higher LDL cholesterol and lower HDL cholesterol
• Lack of exercise can contribute to higher over all cholesterol

Tests and Diagnosis of Cholesterol

A cholesterol test also known as a fasting lipoprotein profile, lipid panel, or lipid profile is a group of blood tests that checks the cholesterol and triglycerides levels in your blood. It will help your doctor determine your risk for heart disease, stroke, and heart attacks.

In preparing for your test you shouldn’t eat for about 9 to 15 hours or whatever is instructed by your doctor.

What The Tests Measure

• Total cholesterol the total amount of cholesterol in your blood.

• HDL The good cholesterol that helps keep cholesterol from building up in your arteries.

• LDL The bad cholesterol that causes buildup and possible blockage in your arteries.

• Triglycerides Another form of fat that may also lead to blockage in your arteries.

What’s Good and What’s Bad

Total Cholesterol

• Good Result: Below 200 mg/dL

• A Little High: 200-239 mg/dL

• High: 240 mg/dL and above

LDL Cholesterol

• Optimal: Between 109 mg/dL and 129mg/dL

• High: 149 mg/dL and above

HDL Cholesterol

• Optimal: 59 mg/dL and above
• Poor: 49 mg/dL and below

Triglycerides

• Optimal: 150 mg/dL and below
• High: 179 mg/dL and above

There is no normal cholesterol level because everybody’s risk factors are different. Your doctor will be able to tell you what cholesterol levels you shoot be trying to attain and ways to achieve it.

Treating High Cholesterol

Treating high cholesterol, or hypercholesterolemia, can be as simple as making small life changes and adjustments, to using prescribed medications to lower your cholesterol. These changes and treatments may include:

• Exercise can play a huge role in effectively lowering your cholesterol. It can lower your triglycerides and raise your HDL, or the “good” cholesterol.
• Diet is usually a main cause of high cholesterol. Eating foods that contain less cholesterol such as red meats and heavy creams can lower your blood cholesterol level.

Medications

• Statins lower LDL cholesterol levels by inhibiting an enzyme, HMG-CoA reductase, that controls the rate of cholesterol production in the body. These drugs lower cholesterol by slowing down the production of cholesterol and by increasing the liver’s ability to remove the LDL cholesterol already in the blood. Some of the most common Statins include: Atorvastatin (Lipitor), Fluvastatin (Lescol), Lovastatin (Mevacor, Altocor), Pravastatin (Pravachol), Simvastatin (Zocor), and Rosuvastatin (Crestor)

• Bile Acid Sequestrants are drugs that bind with cholesterol-containing bile acids in the intestines and are then eliminated in the stool. Sequestrants have been shown to lower LDL cholesterol by about 10-20%
• Cholesterol Absorption Inhibitors, stop or slows, cholesterol absorption in the gut.
• Nicotinic Acid or Niacin  lowers total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels, while raising HDL cholesterol levels.
• Fibrates such as Gemfibrozil (Lopid) are primarily effective in lowering triglycerides.

Using a combination of a healthy diet, exercise, is generally recommended to lower over all cholesterol and lower the chance for heart disease and related conditions.