HDL, LDL CHOLESTEROL INFORMATION
HDL Cholesterol, LDL Cholesterol And Other Cholesterol Issues
Lower Cholesterol
BiosLife Complete
"Dangerous cholesterol levels dropped 52% in some of our study's participants!"
Unicity Chief Science Officer
LOWERING LDL CHOLESTEROL LEVELS
What Is Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a soft, fat- like and waxy compound found among the lipids (fats) in the bloodstream and in every cell in your body. Cholesterol belongs to a class of molecules called "sterols" (a combination of steriod and alcohol). There are 2 main kinds of cholesterol - LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. If you have a chance to touch it, cholesterol feels like melted candle wax.
The name cholesterol comes from the Greek word "chole" (meaning "bile"), "stereos" (meaning "solid") and the suffix "ol" for alcohol.
Contrary to what most people think, cholesterol is an important and essential component for the healthy functioning of your body. Your liver actually produces about 1,000 - 2,000 milligrams of cholesterol a day.
Cholesterol is used to form and maintain cell membranes, hormones (progesterone, estrogens, androgens, glucocorticoids and minralocorticoids) and aids your body in the synthesis of vitamin D.
One of the most important functions of cholesterol is the synthesis of bile acids. Bile acids are essential fat absorption agents. They absorb fats from the contents of the intestines. Some cholesterol is lost in the process and your body compensates for this loss by producing them on a daily basis.
However useful is cholesterol, too high a level of cholesterol in the blood - known as hypercholesterolaemia - is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular diseases can lead to a heart attack.
High LDL cholesterol levels has no symptoms (short of a heart attack). In rare cases, people with high cholesterol levels may have visible fat deposits in the tendons and skin (known as "xanthomas"), abdominal pain (if pancreatitis develops) or liver and spleen enlargement (they are not visible though). Therefore, the best way to detect HDL and LDL cholesterol is through a blood test.
Cholesterol cannot dissolve in the blood. They have to be transported to and from the cells by special carriers called apoproteins. When these apoproteins are combined with cholesterol, they formed a new compound called lipoproteins. There are several kinds of lipoproteins, each with a different density determined by the amount of protein in the molecules. The important ones you need to know are low- density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as bad cholesterol and high- density lipoprotein (HDL), also known as good cholesterol.
How does LDL cholesterol kill?
What about cholesterol and diet?
How does physical activity affect cholesterol?
How does tabacco smoke affect cholesterol?
How does alcohol affect cholesterol?
What are the risk factors of high LDL cholesterol?
How do I measure my cholesterol levels?
Should I measure my cholesterol levels?
LOWERING LDL CHOLESTEROL
What is LDL cholesterol?
Low- density lipoprotein (LDL) is the major cholesterol carrier in the blood. If too much LDL cholesterol circulates in the blood, it can slowly build up in the walls of the arteries feeding the heart and brain. Together with other substances it can form plaque, a thick, hard deposit that can clog those arteries. This condition is known as atherosclerosis. A clot (thrombus) that forms near this plaque can block the blood flow to part of the heart muscle and cause a heart attack. If a clot blocks the blood flow to part of the brain, a stroke results. A high level of LDL cholesterol (160 mg/dL and above) reflects an increased risk of heart disease. If you have heart disease, your LDL cholesterol should be less than 100 mg/dL. That's why LDL cholesterol is called "bad" cholesterol. Lower levels of LDL cholesterol reflect a lower risk of heart disease.
What is HDL cholesterol?
About one-third to one-fourth of blood cholesterol is carried by high- density lipoproteins or HDL cholesterol. Medical experts think HDL cholesterol tends to carry cholesterol away from the arteries and back to the liver, where it's passed from the body. Some experts believe HDL removes excess cholesterol from plaques and thus slows their growth. HDL cholesterol is known as "good" cholesterol because a high HDL level seems to protect against heart attack. The opposite is also true: a low HDL level (less than 40 mg/dL in men; less than 50 mg/dL in women) indicates a greater risk. A low HDL cholesterol level also may raise stroke risk.
What is Lp(a) cholesterol?
Lp(a) cholesterol is a genetic variation of plasma LDL. A high level of Lp(a) is an important risk factor for developing atherosclerosis prematurely. How an increased Lp(a) contributes to heart disease is still unclear at the moment. The lesions in artery walls contain substances that may interact with Lp(a), leading to the buildup of fatty deposits.
What are triglycerides?
You may come across this term often in your research on LDL and HDL cholesterol. Triglycerides are a different class of fats, found mainly in the fats from your food. Food you eat is convert into energy. Any excess energy not used is converted into triglycerides and transported to fat cells for storage. This serves as an important source of stored energy.
While mostly stored in fat cells, triglycerides are also found in the blood. Triglycerides found in the blood (in much lower levels than those in the fat cells) are carried around as Very Low Density Lipoproteins (VLDL).
When this blood triglycerides are increased, especially in conjunction with your LDL cholesterol levels, your risk of getting heart disease is increased. This is markedly more so for people who have diabetes.
How does LDL cholesterol kill?
LDL cholesterol kills by shutting down the arteries and then exploding outwards.
LDL cholesterol builds up on the artery walls. Over time, the LDL cholesterol crystallizes into a solid, thus kick- starting the body's natural clotting process. This process shuts down the arteries in the body. The solid LDL cholesterol eventually expands and bursts outwards, destroying the arteries and sending materials towards the bloodstream in the process.
An analogy will be the expansion of water when it freezes. If a bottle is filled to the brim with water when it is put into a freezer, the expansion of the water when it freezes will force the water out of the bottle, sometimes breaking the bottle. LDL cholesterol kills in much the same way by bursting out of the arteries
What about cholesterol and diet?
Your body gets cholesterol in 2 ways: from your body's own production and from the food you eat.
The liver produces cholesterol (usually about 1,000 - 2,000 milligrams a day) and that is all the cholesterol you need. To be precise, other than the liver, the cells lining your small intestine and individual cells in your body also produce cholesterol. However, the main production source of cholesterol is your liver.
Foods also can contain cholesterol, mainly from animals. Foods from plants (fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds) contain trace amounts of cholesterol.
Since your body makes all the cholesterol you need, any cholesterol you comsume is in excess of what your body needs. However, only a SMALL percentage of your blood cholesterol comes from the cholesterol found in the foods you eat. When you eat foods high in cholesterol, your body simply produces less cholesterol of its own to compensate.
Your main source of cholesterol from your diets comes not from eating food high in cholesterol, but rather from foods high in saturated and trans fats. Saturated fats comes mostly from animals and are the main cause of high blood cholesterol, which increases your risk of cardiovascular disease. Trans fats also increase your LDL cholesterol while lowering your HDL cholesterol levels at the same time.
Dietary cholesterol (eating food high in cholesterol, like eggs) plays only a small role in contributing to your overall cholesterol levels. The average American man consumes about 337 milligrams of cholesterol a day; and the average woman, 217 milligrams. Not very significant when you consider that your body produces 1,000 - 2,000 milligrams of cholesterol a day. Most of the excess dietary cholesterol is removed from the body through the liver.
However, that does not mean that you can eat as much high cholesterol food as you want. The American Heart Association recommends that you limit your average daily cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams. If you have heart disease, limit your daily intake to less than 200 milligrams.
People with severe high blood cholesterol levels may need an even greater reduction. Since cholesterol is found in all foods from animal sources, care must be taken to eat no more than six ounces of lean meat, fish and poultry per day and to use fat- free and/ or low- fat dairy products. High- quality proteins from vegetable sources such as beans are good substitutes for animal proteins.
However, you will lower your LDL cholesterol levels more effectively by limiting your dietary intake of saturated and trans fats. Moreover (though not always) foods high in saturated fat are generally high in dietary cholesterol.
Please visit "Cholesterol Diet", "High Cholesterol Foods", and "Low Cholesterol Foods", for detailed information on the link between diet, HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol.
How does physical activity affect cholesterol?
Regular physical activity increases HDL cholesterol levels in some people. This lowers your risk of getting cardiovascular disease since a high HDL cholesterol reading is linked with a lower risk of heart disease.
Other than increasing your HDL cholesterol, regular physical activities also help you to control weight, diabetes and high blood pressure. When you lower your weight, you will indirectly lower your LDL cholesterol levels since obesity is a risk factor for high LDL cholesterol levels.
Aerobic exercises (exercises that work your cardiovascular system by raising your heart and breathing rates) are especially useful. Try to add some exercises like brisk walking, jogging and swimming to your healthy cholesterol program. Do note that the key here is "regular". Try to engage in some forms of physical activity at least 3 times a week. If you have been leading a sedentary lifestyle, start off with something easy on your cardiovascular system before increasing the intensity as your body gets used to it.
Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for heart diseases. If you really don't like to exercise, try doing some light activities, such as leisure walking (you can always upgrade to brisk walking later), gardening, housework, or dancing. Be creative and try to do something you enjoy as long as it involves some physical activity. Over time, you will find that you actually enjoy doing them and will move on to more intense physical activities. Besides increasing your HDL cholesterol levels, your quality of life will improve.
How does tobacco smoke affect cholesterol?
Tobacco smoke is one of the major risk factors of heart diseases. Smoking lowers HDL cholesterol levels by up to 15 percent. Besides that, smoking damges the walls of your blood vessels, increasing the likelihood of your blood vessels accumulating fatty deposits and increasing the tendency for your blood to clot.
Fortunately, limiting this risk is within your control. Simply by cutting down (if you can't stop suddenly) your tabacco intake gradually as well as avoiding second- hand smoke, you remove this potential risk to your HDL cholesterol levels.
How does alcohol affect cholesterol?
In some studies, moderate use of alcohol may help in increasing HDL cholesterol levels. However, the risks outweigh this benefit. If you are not a drinker, it is not recommended that you start.
Increased alcohol consumption leads to many health problems including high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, cancer, and alcoholism. Given these and other risks, the American Heart Association cautions people against increasing their alcohol intake or starting to drink if they don't already do so. The small benefit of increasing HDL cholesterol levels is not worth the trade- off. Besides, there are other ways to increase your HDL cholesterol levels without side effects, such as physical activities or even taking BiosLife™ Complete. If you really want to drink, please consult your doctor for advice on consuming alcohol in moderation.
What are the risk factors of high LDL cholesterol?
There are a number of factors that affect your LDL cholesterol levels.
Age
Your LDL cholesterol levels usually increase with age.
Weight
Overweight people face the risk of having higher LDL cholesterol AND lower HDL cholesterol levels. Also, if the excess weight is deposited as fats in the abdominal region, there is a greater risk of increased LDL cholesterol. Fats deposited in areas like legs or buttocks are less likely to lead to high LDL cholesterol levels. Since men tend to deposit fats in the abdominal region while women deposit fats in the lower parts of the body, obese men face a higher risk of high LDL cholesterol levels than obese women.
Gender
Women face lower LDL cholesterol risk compared to men. In general, men tend to have higher LDL and lower HDL cholesterol levels, especially before the age of 50. In their post- menopausal years (after the age of 50), women's LDL cholesterol levels tend to rise. This is believed to be caused by the decreasing levels of estrogens in their bodies.
Genetics
Certain people are more likely to be genetically pre- disposed to have high cholesterol levels. Some of them may produce LDL cholesterol excessively (more than is naturally required by the body to function properly) even if they consume no saturated or trans fats. They may also have a decreased capacity to lower or remove LDL cholesterol. This condition is usually passed down from parents to children.
Therefore, if you have naturally high LDL cholesterol levels and have children, it is recommended that you send your children for blood cholesterol tests. If your parents have naturally high LDL cholesterol levels, you should go for a blood cholesterol test yourself.
Diseases
Certain diseases can increase your LDL and/ or lower your HDL cholesterol levels.
The increased pressure on your artery walls caused by high blood pressure can damage your arteries, leading to increased accumulation of fatty deposits. High blood pressure can also lower your HDL cholesterol levels and increase triglycerides, leading to atherosclerosis. Often, the medication used to treat atherosclerosis also tend to increase LDL and lower HDL cholesterol levels.
People with diabetes have high blood sugar levels. High blood sugar leads to increased LDL and lower HDL cholesterol levels. It also damages your artery linings.
Lifestyle
If you smoke, worry excessively, live or work in a high stressed environment, or lead an inactive lifestyle, you can potentially raise your LDL cholesterol levels. Smoking, as explained earlier, lowers your HDL cholesterol levels by up to 15 percent.
On the other hand, an active lifestyle lowers LDL cholesterol by virtue of your weight loss as well as increase your HDL cholesterol levels.
It is important that you realize that these risk factors do not exist in a vacuum. They are often related (e.g. being overweight and an inactive lifestyle) and tend to adversely impact each other to result in higher LDL and lower HDL cholesterol levels. Often, you will find that removing one risk factor will also indirectly remove or lower the risk of another.
How do I measure my cholesterol levels?
Since both LDL and HDL cholesterol have no symptoms, the only way to accurately measure your cholesterol levels is a blood test. What is measured is your blood cholesterol levels - that is, the amount of cholesterol circulating in your blood.
Your blood cholesterol levels are measured in milligrams per decilitre of blood. (If you are from the UK, it will most likely be measure in millimoles per litre of blood.). This is usually referred to as "mg/ dL" The following table shows the generally accepted guidelines for your total, HDL and LDL cholesterol levels:
| Healthy | Borderline | Unhealthy | |
| Total Cholesterol | Below 200 | 200 - 240 | Above 240 |
| HDL Cholesterol | Above 45 | 35 - 45 | Below 35 |
| LDL Cholesterol | Below 130 | 130 - 160 | Above 160 |
| Total Cholesterol /HDL Cholesterol | Below 4.5 | 4.5 - 5.5 | Above 5.5 |
| LDL/ HDL | Below 3 | 3 - 5 | Above 5 |
A simple blood test will be able to give you accurate readings of your total, HDL and LDL cholesterol levels. You will usually be advised not to consume any food for 12 hours prior to the blood cholesterol test. This allows time for your last meal to properly digest and not affect the cholesterol levels results of the test.
It is advisable that you take a blood cholesterol test from your personal doctor or hospital rather than using one of those home- testing kits due to accuracy reason. This is especially important if you have a heart condition and need proper advice for a comprehensive cardiovascular care program.
Should I measure my cholesterol levels?
If you have one or more of the following, you should have your cholesterol levels checked:
- Any cardiovascular disease, such as coronary heart disease
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Hypothyroidism
- Have a family history of early cardiovascular diseases, usually before the age of 55 for a man and before the age of 65 for woman (particularly if you are 35 years old or above).
- Have a family history of hypercholesterolaemia (even children should be tested in this case).
- Have any of the other high risk factors of high LDL cholesterol levels
Try to get your cholesterol levels checked every 3 - 5 years. If you have high cholesterol levels, you should do the tests more often. Consult your doctor on the best frequency for the tests.
For more information about cholesterol, please visit:
HDL Cholesterol for information on high- density lipoprotein or HDL cholesterol, why is it considered "good" cholesterol and the healthy HDL cholesterol levels.
LDL Cholesterol for information on low- density lipoprotein or LDL cholesterol, why is it considered "bad" cholesterol and the healthy levels for LDL cholesterol.
The information provided on this site is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your physician or other health care professional or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging. The information and claims made in this site have not been evaluated by the United States Food and Drug Administration and are not approved to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.