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About It
Facts About Blood Cholesterol
Table of Contents |
 Why Blood Cholesterol Matters |
The Blood Cholesterol--Heart Disease Connection |
Other Risk Factors For Heart Disease |
Who Can Benefit From Lowering Blood Cholesterol? |
Cholesterol--In Your Blood, In Your Diet |
LDL- and HDL-Cholesterol: The Bad and The Good |
Things That Affect Blood Cholesterol |
Have Your Blood Cholesterol Checked |
Guidelines For Heart-Healthy Living |
Making The Guidelines Work: Eat The Heart-Healthy Way |
Eat Out The Heart-Healthy Way |
Make Physical Activity Part Of Your Routine |
Lose Weight Sensibly |
Cholesterol Levels In Children? |
How High Is a Child's "High" Blood Cholesterol? |
In Case You Were Wondering... |
Should You Know Your Cholesterol Ratio? |
What are Triglycerides? |
Will Lowering My Blood Cholesterol Help Me Live Longer? |
Is It Safe To Eat In A Heart-Healthy Way? |
How Much Will Your Cholesterol Levels Change? |
How To Find Out More
Why Blood Cholesterol Matters
Blood cholesterol plays an important part in deciding a person's chance or risk of getting coronary heart disease (CHD). The higher your blood cholesterol level, the greater your risk. That's why high blood cholesterol is called a risk factor for heart disease. Did you know that heart disease is the number one killer of men and of women in the United States? About a half million people die each year from heart attacks caused by CHD. Altogether 1.25 million heart attacks occur each year in the United States.
Even if your blood cholesterol level is close to the desirable range, you can lower it and reduce your risk of getting heart disease. Eating in a heart-healthy way, being physically active, and losing weight if you are overweight are things everyone can do to help lower their levels. This fact sheet will show you how. But first, a few things you ought to know . . .
The Blood Cholesterol--Heart Disease Connection
When you have too much cholesterol in your blood, the excess builds up on the
walls of the arteries that carry blood to the heart.
See figure 1. This buildup is called
"atherosclerosis" or "hardening of the arteries." It narrows the arteries and
can slow down or block blood flow to the heart. With less blood, the heart gets
less oxygen. With not enough oxygen to the heart, there may be chest pain
("angina" or "angina pectoris"), heart attack ("myocardial infarction"),
or even death. Cholesterol buildup is the most common cause of heart disease,
and it happens so slowly that you are not even aware of it. The higher your blood
cholesterol, the greater your chance of this buildup.
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