Quick Lower Cholesterol Information And Facts
Hypercholesterolemia or high cholesterol is certainly nothing new. From the dawn of time people have been dealing with high cholesterol levels. They may not have necessarily known what problem was, or how to describe it, but has been there right from the start. Cholesterol problems are often referred to as either low HDL or high LDL. Low density lipoprotein’s or the bad stuff, is what can build up on the walls of your arteries. HDL, is sometimes referred to as good cholesterol, is what actually helps control the total volume of bad cholesterol in your blood.
There are other kinds of cholesterol as well, triglycerides, very low density lipoprotein’s, as well as a couple of others. Generally speaking the low-density kind or anything that ends with LDL is the bad cholesterol. It doesn’t have very many proteins and doesn’t really carry anything that’s good for you. If you’ve been eating too much, or drinking too much and you are susceptible to high cholesterol, you can bet that the foods that you been eating will be converted and stored both in your blood, and your body, as fat.
So what causes high cholesterol anyway? Well there’s a couple of different reasons for it. You may simply be genetically prone to high cholesterol. If you are, and you combine this with an irresponsible diet, which by the way is very easy to do in our fast food society, then you will have high cholesterol. There are other risk factors as well. For example your gender and your age will affect your risk level. After menopause, women’s cholesterol levels tend to increase also.
If you make changes to your diet and this doesn’t affect your LDL in a positive way, then your doctor will definitely prescribe medication. You may simply have it in your genes and if so then you have to deal with it. However, the levels that she may prescribe may very well be affected by how you eat and the foods you choose. If it doesn’t run in your family and you have a problem, then chances are you would be able to control it with diet and exercise.
The risk factors from having a high cholesterol problem are numerous. It can lead to hardening of the arteries, heart disease, stroke and various other unpleasant conditions. Essentially a lot of cholesterol in your blood encourages the formation of plaque in your arteries. It essentially narrows your arteries and makes it harder for your heart to pump the blood around your body. As this builds up it leads to a disease condition. Not enough oxygen carrying blood can get into your heart and this is called angina. It’s painful and dangerous.
If you’re arteries are getting hard from build up of plaque that’s called atherosclerosis. What often happens is as the arteries narrow and the blood supply becomes choked off – you can eventually get not only a narrowing of the arteries but a complete blockage. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that that’s going to require surgery. It increases your chances for heart attack immensely and we all know what can happen when you have a heart attack.
The bottom line is if you have a lot of LDL, either from genetic causes, or from diet or both, then you will have problems with your heart. That is if you don’t take steps to control it. It’s best to start thinking about it now, get checked, and start eating for good cholesterol health. By thinking about it now you can take control of your health and do everything possible to keep your cholesterol in check. Your heart will thank you.
