Cholesterol helps your body build new cells, insulate nerves and produce hormones. Normally, the liver makes all the cholesterol the body needs. But cholesterol also enters your body from dietary sources, such as animal-based foods like milk, eggs and meat. Too much cholesterol in your body is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Therefore if you have high cholesterol you may be looking at high cholesterol treatment.

How Does High Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease?

When there is too much cholesterol in your blood, it builds up in the walls of your arteries. Over time, this buildup causes the arteries to harden -- a process called atherosclerosis. The arteries become narrowed and blood flow to the heart muscle is slowed down or blocked. The blood carries oxygen to the heart, and if enough blood and oxygen cannot reach your heart, you may suffer chest pain. If the blood supply to a portion of the heart is completely cut off by a blockage, the result is a heart attack. High cholesterol treatment can reduce your risk of a heart attack.

There are two forms of cholesterol that most Americans are familiar with: Low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad" cholesterol) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL or "good" cholesterol.) These are the form in which cholesterol travels in the blood. LDLs have little protein and high levels of cholesterol and HDL has a lot of protein and very little cholesterol.

LDL is the main source of artery clogging plaque. HDL actually works to clear cholesterol from the blood. Reducing LDL is important in high cholesterol treatment.

Triglycerides are another fat in our bloodstream. Research is now showing that high levels of triglycerides is also linked to heart disease.

What Are the Symptoms of High Cholesterol?

High cholesterol itself does not cause any symptoms; so many people are unaware that their cholesterol levels are too high. Therefore, it is important to find out what your cholesterol numbers are because lowering cholesterol levels that are too high lessens the risk for developing heart disease and reduces the chance of a heart attack or dying of heart disease, even if you already have it. High cholesterol treatment is very important!!

What Cholesterol Numbers Should I Look For?

Everyone over the age of 20 should get their cholesterol levels measured at least once every 5 years. The test that is performed is a blood test called a lipoprotein profile. That includes:

   
* Total cholesterol level
    * LDL (the "bad" cholesterol)
    * HDL (the "good" cholesterol)
    * Triglycerides

Here's how to interpret your cholesterol numbers:
Total Cholesterol     Category
Less than 200          Desirable
200 - 239                 Borderline High
240 and above         High


LDL Cholesterol     LDL-Cholesterol Category
Less than 100     Optimal
100 - 129            Near optimal/above optimal
130 - 159            Borderline high
160 - 189             High
190 and above     Very high


HDL*             HDL-Cholesterol Category
60 or more         Desirable - helps to lower risk of heart disease
Less than 40     Major risk factor - increases the risk for developing                     heart disease

*HDL (good) cholesterol protects against heart disease, so for HDL, higher numbers are better. Increasing HDL is another cholesterol treatment.

 
Triglycerides     HDL-Cholesterol Category
Less than 150     Normal (desirable) heart disease
150-199         Borderline high
200 or more     High, may require treatment in some people

What Affects Cholesterol Levels?
A variety of factors can affect your cholesterol levels. They include:

    * Diet. Saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol in the food you eat increase cholesterol levels. Reducing the amount of saturated fat and trans fats and cholesterol in your diet helps in the treatment of high cholesterol.
    * Weight. In addition to being a risk factor for heart disease, being overweight can also increase your cholesterol. Losing weight can help high cholesterol treatment by lowering your LDL, total cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels, as well as raise your HDL.
    * Exercise. Regular exercise can lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol. You should try to be physically active for 30 minutes on most days. This also helps in high cholesterol treatment.
    * Age and Gender. As we get older, cholesterol levels rise. Before menopause, women tend to have lower total cholesterol levels than men of the same age. After menopause, however, women's LDL levels tend to rise.
    * Heredity. Your genes partly determine how much cholesterol your body makes. High blood cholesterol can run in families.
    * Medical conditions. Occasionally a medical condition may cause an elevation of cholesterol levels in the blood. These include hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid gland), liver disease and kidney disease.
    * Medications. Some medicines, like steroids and progestins may increase the "bad" cholesterol and decrease the "good" cholesterol. Very important adjunct to high cholesterol treatment.

Information for this artticle was obtained from WebMD

Click here for more information on services provided by FitLife of Colorado for high cholesterol treatment.