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About Cholesterol Levels.Information about cholesterol levels, what affects them and how to lower high cholesterol levels.However, no matter how much or how little you know regarding cholesterol and its levels, once you read this page and the other two pages on cholesterol level scale and cholesterol numbers as well as about normal levels of cholesterol, you will have a good understanding about cholesterol levels, how it affects you and how you can lower them. For example, you might know that having high cholesterol levels above 200 is dangerous to your health, as it can lead to cholesterol build up in your arteries and as a result a higher risk for heart attack and stroke. However, what you will discover is that the total cholesterol level is not as important as the cholesterol ratio. Cholesterol ratio is simply your total cholesterol and LDL numbers divided by your HDL number. In Protein Power, Michael and Mary Eades write that this ratio of HDL to LDL and total cholesterol, is actually more important then total cholesterol in predicting heart attack, heart disease, stroke, arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease, coronary artery disease and other cardiovascular diseases. To find out complete information about cholesterol levels such as total cholesterol, LDL "bad" cholesterol, HDL "good" cholesterol, triglycerides, cholesterol ratios and what the cholesterol level scale is or cholesterol charts mean, click here.
A variety of things can affect cholesterol levels. These are things you can do something about: Saturated fat and carbohydrates in the food you eat make your blood cholesterol level go up. Reducing the amount of saturated fat and carbohydratesl in your diet helps lower your blood cholesterol level. Being overweight is a risk factor for heart disease. It also tends to increase your cholesterol. Losing weight can help lower your LDL and total cholesterol levels, as well as raise your HDL and lower your triglyceride levels. Not being physically active is a risk factor for heart disease. Regular physical activity can help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise HDL (good) cholesterol levels. It also helps you lose weight. You should try to be physically active for 30 minutes on most, if not all, days. Things you cannot do anything about also can affect cholesterol levels. These include: As women and men get older, their cholesterol levels rise. Before the age of menopause, women have lower total cholesterol levels than men of the same age. After the age of menopause, women's LDL levels tend to rise. Your genes partly determine how much cholesterol your body makes. High blood cholesterol can run in families. As such if you have high cholesterol levels you might want to check out you children as well.
It is common sense that if you chose the type of food that you eat, lose weight and exercise you are going to lower your cholesterol levels. It is a fact that only with these changes you can lower cholesterol from 7 to 10 percent. Another way is to use cholesterol lowering drugs, which is dangerous because of their side effects. Click on cholesterol medications if you want to learn more about the dangers and side effects of cholesterol drugs. Yet, another way to lower cholesterol levels is through the use of effective supplements, that have been proven to lower cholesterol the same way drugs do, but without their side effects. For example, policosanol and guggulipid, which are two natural substances, have been proven in clinical trials to lower total cholesterol by 14 percent, and raise HDL cholesterol (the good one that cleans the arteries from the bad cholesterol build up) by 7.5 percent, without side effects. Click here to find out more about policosanol and how it compares with cholesterol drugs in lowering 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. |