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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... |
How To Find Out More
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?
When you have your cholesterol checked, some laboratories may give you a number
called a cholesterol ratio. This number is your total cholesterol or LDL level
divided by your HDL level. The idea is that combining the levels into one number
gives you an overall view of your risk for heart disease. But the ratio is too
general: It is more important to know the value for each level separately because
LDL- and HDL-cholesterol both predict your risk of heart disease.
Triglycerides are the form in which fat is carried through your blood to the
tissues. The bulk of your body's fat tissue is in the form of triglycerides.
Your triglycerides are measured whenever your LDL-cholesterol is checked.
Triglyceride levels less than 200 mg/dL are considered normal.
It is not clear whether high triglycerides alone increase your risk of heart
disease. But many people with high triglycerides also have high LDL or low HDL
levels, which do increase the risk of heart disease.
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Many studies show that lowering cholesterol levels reduces the risk of illness
or death from heart disease, which kills more men and women each year than any
other illness. If you have heart disease, lowering your cholesterol level will
probably help you to live longer. If you don't have heart disease, the studies
so far do not show that you will live longer, but you will definitely reduce your
risk of illness and death from heart attack.
Eating in a way that is lower in saturated fat and cholesterol is safe and can be
more nutritious than an eating plan higher in saturated fat and cholesterol. It
will even meet the higher needs that women, children, and teenagers have for
nutrients like calcium, iron, and zinc, and an eating pattern lower in total
fat will reduce the risk for other chronic diseases, such as cancer. And an
eating pattern lower in saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol can still
provide enough calories for the proper growth and development of children ages
2 and above. Children younger than 2 years have special nutrient needs for fat.
Generally your blood cholesterol level should begin to drop a few weeks after
you start eating the heart-healthy way. How much it drops depends on the amount
of saturated fat you used to eat, how high your high blood cholesterol is, how
much weight you lose if you are overweight, and how your body responds to the
changes you make. Over time, you may reduce your cholesterol level by 5 to
35 mg/dL or even more.
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