Facts We Need to Know About High Cholesterol and Our Health

Cholesterol is a type of fat that is manufactured by your body which needs it to bind cells together, produce hormones, vitamin D and manufacture substances that help us digest the foods we eat. By now we all understand the negative health affects that high cholesterol causes. When to much is present in your blood this is where problems arise. When we get into a situation where we have too much cholesterol in our blood the condition is called Hypercholesterolemia or Hyperlipidemia. Health problems from high cholesterol do not appear in a matter of days or months but are a result of the condition persisting over a number of years.

There are basically two ways in which we obtain cholesterol. First our bodies manufacture most of what we need in our liver. The second source is from the foods that we eat. Animals are the only ones that manufacture cholesterol so we get it when we eat animal products such as meat, chicken, fish, butter, whole milk and cheeses. Eating these foods will provide you with more than enough cholesterol. You will not find it in anything that comes from a plant such as fruits, vegetables or whole grains. One way to reduce our intake of cholesterol of course would be to eat more fruits and vegetables and reduce our intake of animal products.

We have all heard of LDL (Bad) and HDL (Good) cholesterol, but what exactly are these and what functions do they play? In order for cholesterol to get to the cells where it is needed it has to be transported through the bloodstream. We all know that oil and water do not mix. Because cholesterol is a fat, like oil and water, it does not mix with your blood and will separate. To travel through the bloodstream cholesterol is surrounded by a protein to create a "cholesterol complex". This is called a lipoprotein, the two forms being LDL and HDL. These lipoproteins have two functions; first the LDL's transport this complex from the liver to the tissues that need it. The problem arises when we have too many LDL's left over. They will let go of the cholesterol and will cause a plague build-up that results in a condition known as atherosclerosis, commonly known as hardening of the arteries. The HDL's then pick up this excess cholesterol and transport it back to the liver where it can either repackage it for later use or get rid of it. This is why ideally we want high levels of HDL's and low levels of LDL's.

Your cholesterol level is a result of two things, first it is affected by what we eat and secondly how fast our bodies manufacture and use it up. Most of the time there is no specific reason why a person has high cholesterol. Modern medicine has not yet been able to identify specific causes for the condition but have come up with a list of risk factors that can lead to it.

Some of these risk factors are things we have control over and others we can not control. Some that are within our control are:

* Diet - Eating foods that are high in cholesterol and saturated fats will increase cholesterol levels. This is believed to be the main reason for high cholesterol and the high rate of heart attacks in this country.

* Weight - Being overweight can increase your cholesterol levels. Losing weight can lower LDL and total cholesterol as well as increase HDL levels.

* Physical Activity - Getting regular exercise can lower LDL levels and increase HDL levels.

Now let us take a look at some of the factors that we can not control:

* Heredity - Your genes determine how fast your body makes LDL and how fast it is removed from the blood. This is why heart disease runs in some families and not in others.

* Age and Gender - As we get older our cholesterol levels rise. For example, before menopause women usually have lower cholesterol levels than men the same age. After menopause women have higher LDL levels and lower HDL levels. After the age of 50 women tend to have higher total cholesterol levels than men their same age.

Each year there are more than 1 million heart attacks in the United States resulting in over 500,000 deaths. Understanding the role that high cholesterol plays and what we need to do to lower it can benefit everyone. The only way to know if you have high cholesterol is by a blood test. If you have concerns that you may have high cholesterol levels due to lifestyle or other factors it is best to discuss this with your doctor who can monitor the situation.