WHAT ABOUT YOUR CHOLESTEROL?

WHAT ABOUT YOUR CHOLESTEROL HEALTH TEST?

FROM THE ARTICLE 'Decoding Your Health Test Results'
By Alice Lesch Kelly, Special to Lifescript
Published April 11, 2011
Reviewed By Edward C. Geehr, M.D.

Cholesterol

The body needs some of this waxy, fatty substance to help it make hormones and vitamin D, for example. But too much cholesterol can accumulate on your arterial walls and “lead to heart attacks and strokes,” Wright says.

Your body produces two kinds of cholesterol: HDL, or “high-density lipoprotein,” is good for you because it helps keep arteries clear. The higher this number, the lower your risk of heart disease.

Bad cholesterol, or LDL or “low-density lipoprotein,” can build up in arteries and form plaque, a hard substance that can slow or block blood flow. The bigger the LDL reading, the higher your cardiac disease risk.

Two other types of bad cholesterol, triglycerides and Lp(a) cholesterol, also contribute to arterial plaque buildup.

Learn how to lower your cholesterol levels.

What’s optimal: Total blood cholesterol should be below 200 mg/dL (which means milligrams per deciliter of blood).

    HDL should be over 50 for women

    LDL, less than 100 is optimal; 100-129 is near-optimal


What’s not: ­Total blood cholesterol of 200-239 is borderline high; over 240 is high.

    HDL: below 50 for women

    LDL: 130-159 is borderline high; 160-189 is high; 190 or above is very high

MY THOUGHTS

Serious, huh?  Scary how anything as simple as (wrong) fat deposits can lead to a deadly heart attack.