sustainablenorcross.org

Whats the big deal close to blood cholesterol in any case? Is your cholesterol high, low, middling, approximately? Well, the fact of the thing is that whenever you’ve high cholesterol you could be well on your method to a heart attack or stroke so thats reason enough to start troubling about it. Is your cholesterol high? Letâ consider what could give to high blood cholesterol. It could be all that weight you are carrying around, it could be all that junk food you are consuming daily, it could be the lazy, laid-back life you love which thinks of exercise and shudders. It could be your cholesterol is high due to stress – at home, at work, possibly even at play. And for women over 50 with high cholesterol, it could just be the reality that they are over 50.You might just say,So what if my cholesterols high? Well, if your cholesterols high, you need to know this.

We all have good cholesterol HDLs or high density lipoproteins and bad cholesterol LDLs or low density lipoproteins. HDLs are the transporters – they carry the excess cholesterol to the liver to be analysed. LDLs, even so, can cause a build-up of plaque in the arteries. Whenever high cholesterol symptoms are left untended, it can give you a rather rude wake-up call, i.e. a heart attack. The trouble is the problem sneaks up on you so quietly, and very often high cholesterol shows no warning signs and you dont really know about it till it explodes. Thats why its important to have your self checked for symptoms of high cholesterol and to check that your LDL levels are below100 mg/dL and your HDL levels are over 40 mg/dL.

The National Cholesterol Education Program was launched by The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in 1985 to reduce the percentage of Americans who have cholesterol higher than what it should be through educational campaigns run by professionals. What ways are there to treat high cholesterol, or better still, prevent it? Well, exercising, giving up smoking and assuring your weight are great ways to begin. You could also consider a low cholesterol diet (for high cholesterol) and at what Nature has to offer. One natural remedy that packs quite a punch is garlic. Completely you need to do is to pop a clove in your mouth and chew first thing every morning – its a great LDL-fighter. Whenever you equitable cant do it, then chop it up and swallow it down with water. Whenever even thats too much, try taking garlic supplements in capsule form. Mitamins Natural Remedy for High Cholesterol checks garlic extract amongst other vitamins, herbs and minerals thought to reduce bad cholesterol. Fish oil or Omega-3 is a great natural remedy for the treatment and prevention of high cholesterol too. Participants in a study who took a daily fish oil supplement actually had a 40% lower chance of sudden heart-related deaths than non-fish-oil takers. Thats probably why Eskimos hardly suffer from high cholesterol. Besides good are oat bran, red rice and avocado. A 1000mg Vitamin C tablet a day is also supposed to help when cholesterol is high. The trick is to measure cholesterol levels at least once every five years and to get what is called a lipoprotein profile. Is your cholesterol high? Managing cholesterol levels and making sure they are not high is in your hands so do the best you can for your health.

You might enquire why, whenever cholesterol  is so bad for you, it’s pose in your body in the first place. The answer is that cholesterol isn’t entirely bad and is, in fact, necessary for life. Your liver manufactures cholesterol for a reason: It is essential for the production of cell membranes and sex hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone. Cholesterol is even added to infant formula because it’s necessary for normal growth and development. We also obtain cholesterol from animal food sources, such as dairy and meat. (Plant foods like fruits, vegetables, and legumes contain no cholesterol.) Altho cholesterol is essential to life, we don’t need very much of it to keep our bodies running well. Our cells take whatever cholesterol is necessary for maintenance and cell repair and store the excess for future use. The trouble is that more of us eat a diet that is too high in saturated fat and trans fats, and this can stimulate the liver to produce more cholesterol than the body needs.

The connection between high total cholesterol and heart disease  was made in 1961 by the Framingham study. Back then, we didn’t have the technology to distinguish between different types of cholesterol particles. That gradually altered, and by 1977 the Framingham analyse had established a link between an increased risk of heart attack and elevated levels of LDL cholesterol. It was also at this time that we began to confuse the public with measures of different cholesterol particles and terms like “good” and “bad” cholesterol.

During a discussion with a patient recently, she asked me, “What’s the difference between good and bad cholesterol? Isn’t it all the same when it’s building up in my arteries?” The answer is that it’s not the cholesterol itself that is good or bad, but the particles that carry it. These particles are called lipoproteins (the lipo is short for lipid, which means fat). High-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) are two of them. It’s the protein part of the lipoprotein particle that acts like a shuttle bus, transporting the cholesterol (and other fats like triglycerides) through your bloodstream to where they are used, stored, or excreted by the body. Lipoproteins are necessary for transporting fats because fat is not soluble in water or in blood.

As it bears, it’s LDL, the so-called “bad” cholesterol, that is doing many the shuttle bus driving. You’d think that this job would make LDL “good.” But what makes LDL “bad” is that in excess it can cause us trouble. All cells have special receptors, or binders, that latch onto LDL, pulling it into the cells, where it is used as needed. When these cells have had their fill of cholesterol, they stop making receptors, which allows the rest of the LDL to stay in the bloodstream. Some of this excess LDL deposits its cholesterol “baggage” in our artery walls – including those of the heart – resulting in the formation of soft atherosclerotic plaques.

The job of clearing the blood vessels of this excess LDL falls to the HDL particles, which is why HDL is often referred to as “good” cholesterol. The makeup of the cholesterol itself in both LDL and HDL particles is the same; it is the direction in which the lipoprotein shuttle bus is driving that determines whether the particle is considered good or bad. HDL is good because it serves as a scavenger, removing LDL cholesterol from the cells and plaques and carrying it back to the liver for excretion in the bile, which empties into the intestine so it can be flushed out of our bodies in our stool. This is called reverse cholesterol transport.

How Much Cholesterol Is Too Much?
The Standard Lipid Profile, the heart disease screening lab test used by most doctors, measures your total cholesterol, HDL (“good”) cholesterol, LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and triglycerides. In the mid-1980s, the federal government and the American Heart Association joined forces to create the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) to educate the public about the importance of maintaining normal cholesterol. Based on the NCEP guidelines, total cholesterol should be 200 mg/dL or less for everyone. What follows are the NCEP guidelines for LDL, HDL, and triglycerides.

THE NCEP GUIDELINES FOR LDL CHOLESTEROL
99 mg/dL or below is optimal.
100-129 mg/dL is slightly higher than optimal.
130-159 mg/dL is borderline high.
160-189 mg/dL is high.
Anything over 190 mg/dL is very high.
High-risk patients need to get their LDL down to 70 mg/dL. There is some evidence, however, that very high-risk people should get their LDL down even lower. Regardless of risk factors, it’s advisable for everyone to keep their LDL as low as possible.

THE NCEP GUIDELINES FOR HDL CHOLESTEROL
For both sexes, optimal levels of HDL are 60 mg/dL and over. While the NCEP Guidelines do not differentiate HDL levels for men and women, the American Heart Association does,  It defines an HDL of less than 50 mg/dL as a risk factor for women and an HDL of less than 40 mg/dL as a risk factor for men.

THE NCEP GUIDELINES FOR TRIGLYCERIDES
149 mg/dL or under is normal.
150-199 mg/dL is borderline high.
200-499 mg/dL is high.
500 mg/dL is very high.