What Is Cholesterol?

To understand high blood cholesterol, it is important to know more about cholesterol.

• Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that is found in all cells of the body. Your body needs some cholesterol to work the right way. Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs.
• Cholesterol is also found in some of the foods you eat.
• Your body uses cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D, and substances that help you digest foods.

Blood is watery, and cholesterol is fatty. Just like oil and water, the two do not mix. To travel in the bloodstream, cholesterol is carried in small packages called lipoproteins. The small packages are made of fat (lipid) on the inside and proteins on the outside. Two kinds of lipoproteins carry cholesterol throughout your body. It is important to have healthy levels of both:

• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is sometimes called bad cholesterol.
• High LDL cholesterol leads to a buildup of cholesterol in arteries. The higher the LDL level in your blood, the greater chance you have of getting heart disease.
• High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is sometimes called good cholesterol.
• HDL carries cholesterol from other parts of your body back to your liver. The liver removes the cholesterol from your body. The higher your HDL cholesterol level, the lower your chance of getting heart disease.

What Causes High Blood Cholesterol?

A variety of things can affect the cholesterol levels in your blood. Some of these things you can control and others you cannot.

You can control: What you eat. Certain foods have types of fat that raise your cholesterol level.

• • Saturated fat raises your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol level more than anything else in your diet.
  • Trans fatty acids (trans fats) are made when vegetable oil is hydrogenated to harden it. Trans fatty acids also raise cholesterol levels.
  • Cholesterol is found in foods that come from animal sources, for example, egg yolks, meat, and cheese.

• Your weight. Being overweight tends to increase your LDL level, lower your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level, and increase your total cholesterol level.

• Your activity. Lack of regular exercise can lead to weight gain, which could raise your LDL cholesterol level. Regular

• exercise can help you lose weight and lower your LDL level

You cannot control:

• Heredity. High blood cholesterol can run in families. An inherited genetic condition (familial hypercholesterolemia) results in very high LDL cholesterol levels. It begins at birth, and may result in a heart attack at an early age.

• Age and sex. Starting at puberty, men have lower levels of HDL than women. As women and men get older, their LDL cholesterol levels rise. Younger women have lower LDL cholesterol levels than men, but after age 55, women have higher levels than men.

How Is High Blood Cholesterol Diagnosed?

High blood cholesterol is diagnosed by checking levels of cholesterol in your blood. It is best to have a blood test called a lipoprotein profile to measure your cholesterol levels. You will need to not eat or drink anything (fast) for 9 to 12 hours before taking the test.

The lipoprotein profile will give information about your:

• Total cholesterol
• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) bad cholesterol: the main source of cholesterol buildup and blockage in the arteries
• High-density lipoprotein (HDL) good cholesterol: the good cholesterol that helps keep cholesterol from building up in arteries
• Triglycerides: another form of fat in your blood

If it is not possible to get a lipoprotein profile done, knowing your total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol can give you a general idea about your cholesterol levels. Testing for total and HDL cholesterol does not require fasting. If your total cholesterol is 200 mg/dL or more, or if your HDL is less than 40 mg/dL, you will need to have a lipoprotein profile done.

Cholesterol levels are measured in milligrams (mg) of cholesterol per deciliter (dL) of blood. See how your cholesterol numbers compare to the tables below.

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