Normal Levels of Cholesterol & How To Lower High Cholesterol Levels?
There are 4 measures you need to take and find out your normal levels of cholesterol. These measures are: LDL, HDL, total cholesterol and cholesterol ratios. Before finding out your cholesterol levels, you need to have a blood test. After your blood test do not get too much alarmed if your total cholesterol level is higher than normal. You must understand the correlation of total cholesterol, LDL and HDL to the cholesterol ratio, which is explained below. Click here to Get "Cholesterol Lowering Secrets" Free Report. (Viewing this page will not be interrupted - link will open in a new window) Normal Cholesterol Levels & Numbers All the numbers and measures below are expressed in mg/dL.1. Total Cholesterol Levels- Total normal levels of cholesterol should be under 200. 200 to 239 is borderline high; and 240 and higher is considered high.
2. LDL Normal Cholesterol Levels- LDL normal levels of cholesterol, or "bad" cholesterol, should be under 130. If it's between 160 and 189, it's high, and if it's 190 or more, it's very high. You must focus on lowering LDL/Bad cholesterol.
HDL/Good Cholesterol Levels- HDL normal levels of cholesterol, should be over 40 - the higher, the better, because it helps protect against clogging of the arteries. The best would be to have it at more than 60. And in contrast to LDL cholesterol, you must focus on raising HDL cholesterol, since it helps to remove bad cholesterol from building up in arteries.
Triglycerides Levels- Triglycerides, another fatty substance that increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, are too high if they're over 150.
Cholesterol Ratio LevelsProbably the most important factor for normal levels of cholesterol is the cholesterol ratio.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE. The ratio of total cholesterol and HDL is actually the most important number in your cholesterol measure. The higher this number the worse it is for your heart. Cholesterol ratio is more accurate in foreseeing heart attack & disease, stroke, & other types of cardiovascular diseases. The normal levels of cholesterol ratios for total cholesterol to HDL should be below 4 as a general rule for both men and women. However a very good ratio is 3.5, excellent is 3.0 and fantastic is 2.6. If you can get your ratio down between 2.4 and 2.8, you can actually experience a reversal of heart disease. The cholesterol ratio numbers help tell us whether more cholesterol is being stored in our cells or else it is being broken down and removed from our body. That's why you can see heart attacks in people that have low total cholesterol levels. Their HDL is low as well, and as a result their ratio is high. To determine these ratios for yourself, simply divide your total cholesterol and LDL numbers by your HDL number. Whereas the normal levels of cholesterol ratios of LDL to HDL should be less than 2.5. And remember that this is the best indicator of risk of heart disease and stroke.
How to Lower Cholesterol Naturally if You Have Higher than Normal Levels of Cholesterol.First, work with your foods. Reduce the amount of fats, especially saturated fats, in your diet. It has the effect of reducing your blood cholesterol. Some people are able to control their cholesterol levels without any other help. But for many, diet alone may have little effect. Estimates are that 75% of people suffering from higher than normal levels of cholesterol are not able to use diet to control their cholesterol because their liver produces high amounts of cholesterol regardless of the dietary cholesterol intake.We have received comments from our readers however, that diet & exercise has helped them to lower cholesterol without doing other things. Certainly you can use drugs to lower cholesterol. They are effective but their side effects are very undesirable at the least e.g. muscle pain, memory loss, liver dysfunction, impotence, constipation, like Lipitor side effects or Zocor side effects. At the worst side effects may cause death. (That's why Bayer withdrew "voluntarily" Baycol, since there were a number of deaths due to usage of Baycol) You can use clinically proven supplements, that have lowered cholesterol. For example, our founder, Artin Vaqari used a specific supplement called Choleslo that contains a number of cholesterol lowering ingredients like policosanol, red yeast and more. It lowered his total cholesterol naturally without any side effects. As mentioned, policosanol which is a safe and natural extract from sugar cane wax, has been clinically proven to lower cholesterol by at least 14 percent. Policosanol has been the subject of numerous clinical trials involving over 30,000 people and has been used by millions in other countries since 1993. Policosanol works by helping the liver control its production and breakdown of cholesterol, as well as being a powerful antioxidant, preventing LDL oxidation. Clinical studies show that policosanol is as effective as prescription drugs in lowering cholesterol levels, without their dangerous side effects. See the tables below for specific trials comparing policosanol, with 3 different cholesterol lowering drugs. Studies comparing Policosanol with popular cholesterol-lowering drugs: | Policosanol vs. Lovastatin (Mevacor) Following a 6 week cholesterol-lowering diet, 53 diabetic patients took either 10 mg. of Policosanol or 20 mg. of Lovastatin daily for 12 weeks. | | Product: | Lovastatin | Policosanol | | Total Blood Cholesterol - reduced | 14.0% | 14.2% | | LDL Cholesterol - reduced | 16.8% | 20.4% | | HDL (good) Cholesterol - raised | no change | 7.5% | | LDL to HDL Ratio - reduced | 14.9% | 23.7% | | Comparative study of the efficacy and tolerability of policosanol and lovastatin in patients with hypercholesterolemia and noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Crespo N, Illnait J, Mas R, Fernandez L, Fernandez J, Castano G. Enrique Cabrera Hospital, Havana, Cuba. Int J Clin Pharmacol Res 1999;19(4):117-27 | | Policosanol vs. Pravastatin (Pravachol) Following a 6 week cholesterol-lowering diet, elderly patients took either 10 mg. of Policosanol or Pravastatin daily for 8 weeks. | | Product: | Pravastatin | Policosanol | | Total Blood Cholesterol - reduced | 11.8% | 13.9% | | LDL Cholesterol - reduced | 15.6% | 19.3% | | HDL (good) Cholesterol - raised | no change | 18.4% | | LDL to HDL Ratio - reduced | 18.9% | 28.3% | | Total Cholesterol to HDL Ratio - reduced | 15.7% | 24.4% | | Triglycerides reduced | no change | 14.1% | | Effects of policosanol and pravastatin on lipid profile, platelet aggregation and endothelemia in older hypercholesterolemic patients. Castano G, Mas R, Arruzazabala ML, Noa M, Illnait J, Fernandez JC, Molina V, Menendez A. Medical Surgical Research Center, Havana, Cuba. Int J Clin Pharmacol Res 1999;19(4):105-16 | | Policosanol vs. Fluvastatin (Lescol) Following a 4 week cholesterol-lowering diet, 70 women, aged 60 to 80 years, took either 10 mg. of Policosanol or 20 mg. of Fluvastatin daily for 8 weeks. | | Product: | Pravastatin | Policosanol | | Total Blood Cholesterol - reduced | 16.7% | 19.3% | | LDL Cholesterol - reduced | 22.9% | 29.2% | | HDL (good) Cholesterol - raised | 9.2% | 19.8% | | Clinical Drug Investigation 2001; 21:103-13 | | And, what's more policosanol costs much cheaper than cholesterol lowering drugs. You can find it for less than US $30. Compare this with the price of cholesterol drugs below. Save Money! These are the prices of one month supply of the most popular cholesterol lowering drugs. | | Lipitor (30 - 20 mg. tablets) | $98.40 | | Lopid (60 - 600 mg. tablets) | $94.20 | | Mevacor (30 - 20 mg. tablets) | $75.00 | | Pravachol (30 - 20 mg. tablets) | $75.30 | | Zocor (30 - 20 mg. tablets) | $123.30 | Again to learn more how to use policosanol in a proprietary supplement (Choleslo) that our founder used to lower his cholesterol naturally, click here.
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