Understanding Cholesterol: The Fundamental Facts

Cholesterol is one of the most important substances in your body. On the positive side, it's used to produce various hormones, it's used to produce Vitamin D and it lines various cells to protect and insulate them.

On the down side, high blood cholesterol is one of the biggest causes of heart disease and strokes. Cholesterol can be loosely broken down into "good" (HDL) cholesterol and "bad" (LDL) cholesterol. Too little of the good cholesterol is bad, and too much of the bad cholesterol is bad.

==> What Causes High Cholesterol?

There are many factors that can play into increasing a person's cholesterol levels.

The most important factor is diet. Though only 20% of the cholesterol in your bloodstream comes from your food, what you eat can have a big impact on how much cholesterol your body produces overall.

In other words, the 80% that doesn't come directly from your food is still affected by the foods you eat.

Smoking and alcohol consumption can also play a big role in increasing cholesterol. The difference in HDL and LDL levels of smokers/drinkers versus non-smokers/drinkers is vast.

Finally, overall weight and physical fitness also plays a role.

==> Testing for High Cholesterol

High cholesterol isn't a condition that manifests itself in an easily detectable form. By the time warning signs show up, it's often too late.

Instead, high cholesterol should be detected by your doctor in your annual health check-ups. In fact, your doctor should inform you if you might have a cholesterol issue several years before you reach critical levels.

==> Treating High Cholesterol

There are several steps to treating high cholesterol.

First of all, if you're at a high risk level, the first step is to get you on a medication treatment. Prescription drugs are the fastest and most consistent way to get cholesterol levels down in a short period of time.

However, in the long run, you'll need to make some lifestyle and dietary changes if you want to lower your cholesterol levels for good. Suppressing cholesterol levels with prescription drugs is often necessary in the short term, but in the long run it's much healthier to get your health in order.

==> Who Should Worry about High Cholesterol?

Everybody. While it's true that the risk of high cholesterol goes up with age, it's simply not true that if you're younger you can't get high cholesterol.

Life threatening levels of high cholesterol have been discovered in children under the age of ten. Eating habits and sedentary lifestyle can cause dangerous health complications no matter what your age.

It's better to be safe than sorry. Your best defense is to make sure you get a check-up and blood test every year. Start looking early and high cholesterol can't catch you by surprise.