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HDL Levels: Important Facts You Must Know

To minimize the risk of developing heart disease and stroke, you need to have high HDL levels. HDL or High-Density Lipoprotein cholesterol is your health friendly cholesterol. In U.S alone about half of total population is facing problems with high cholesterol levels.

A large number of studies have shown that low levels of HDL carries risk of heart problems as elevated levels of HDL protect heart against development of heart disease. Even small increments in HDL cholesterol levels are associated with a substantial risk reduction. HDL cholesterol also has some antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also known for its anti-clotting abilities.

You need good levels of HDL cholesterol because your bad or “LDL” cholesterol is not mixed well in your blood and thus can be carried towards liver through blood. It needs a vehicle to pick it up from blood and carries it away towards liver which is mainly responsible for further processing of excess cholesterol and its elimination from body through gastrointestinal system.

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Men tend to have lower levels of HDL when compared with women and thus are more at risk of developing heart problems and stroke. If a man has less than 40 mg/dL of HDL and a woman has less than 50 mg/dL of HDL than they are at risk of developing heart disease. This is why HDL cholesterol levels above 60 mg/dL are recommended in both men and women.

• Raising HDL Levels

Good news is that you can control and raise your HDL Cholesterol levels. Regular aerobic exercise is extremely beneficial for raising and maintaining your high levels of HDL.

Natural supplements like niacin have been proved to be highly valuable for raising your HDL cholesterol and lowering your LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels. Niacin is found in many natural foods and also available as supplement.

Smoking and alcohol are two major culprits for raising your LDL and lowering your HDL cholesterol. Due to their negative impacts on your cholesterol and many other ill-health effects it is better to quit smoking and alcohol altogether.

Also eating healthy foods and avoiding foods rich in saturated or trans fats is one other important step towards healthy cholesterol and heart.

• HDL Levels and Cholesterol Drugs

Statins are commonly prescribed to patients for the treatment of high cholesterol. Statins are known to lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels and reduce heart attack and stroke risks. However lowering your LDL is not enough as shown by many research studies.

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Even if your LDL levels get back to normal, you need to have high HDL level to minimize heart attack risk. It has been shown that even with use of statins the risks of developing heart disease remains high if a person has low levels of HDL cholesterol.

This is why importance of good HDL cholesterol levels has been emphasized in many research studies in overall treatment of high cholesterol problems and in prevention of heart diseases.

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