Cholesterol Advice for the Heart
By: Robert NamTotal Views: 170, Word Count: 831,
What is Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a soft and waxy substance that is found in the blood plasma.
Cholesterol is produced in liver, adrenal glands, and reproductive organs. Liver produces about 80% of cholesterol in your body. It is a natural and necessary component for your body cells and hormones.
Cholesterol forms the backbone of hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. Cholesterol is transported in blood stream as a lipoprotein.
Cholesterol is not always bad. It becomes bad when it reaches high level in the blood. High level of cholesterol in blood stream causes several problems like hardening of arteries, coronary heart disease, and vascular disease.
Types of Cholesterol
The combination of fat and protein is known as Lipoprotein. There are different types of lipoproteins, depending on the fat they consist in relation to the proteins.
HDL (High-density lipoprotein)
HDL contains more amount of protein instead of fats. The role of HDL is to transport excess cholesterol from the tissue to liver for the disposal purpose. It is a good type of cholesterol, level of which can be increased by performing regular exercises.
LDL (Low- density lipoprotein)
About 70 percent of your body cholesterol is transported in LDL form. It consists of large amount of fat with fewer amounts of proteins. LDL transports cholesterol from liver to cells. It accumulates cholesterol into your blood vessels. It is one of the bad types of cholesterol.
VLDL (Very low-density lipoprotein) and chylomicrons
These lipoproteins are responsible for the short percentage of transport to the cholesterol. VLDL is rich in triglycerides and transports it to tissues.
Triglycerides
Triglyceride is a fat, which enters the body through the food we eat. The Unused energy is converted into triglycerides. It is transported to the cells for storage and becomes the stored energy.
Symptoms of high cholesterol level
High cholesterol level usually does not come with any warning sign. However, it poses a great risk for cardiovascular disease which may lead to a heart attack or stroke. A yellow patch can develop around your eyes or on the skin. This cholesterol deposit indicates the high cholesterol level in your blood.
Causes of High Cholesterol Level
There are several factors which causes increase of cholesterol level in blood.
- A diet of more saturated fats
- A lack of exercise
- Family History
- Being overweight
- Age and gender
- Excess alcohol consumption
- Diabetes
- Under active thyroid
- Some medication also affect blood lipid levels.
How to control the cholesterol level?
1. Eat food with more protein but less saturated fat. This includes fish, skinless poultry, and lean meat.
2. You can eat fish twice a week. Fish contains fewer amounts of fats. Omega- 3 fatty acids that fish contains are beneficial fat to protect heart and blood vessels.
3. Reduce the high fat dairy products from the diet. A high fat dairy product includes sour cream, cream cheese, processed cheese, butter, and whole milk. Whereas low fat dairy products includes yogurt, low fat milk, and cottage cheese.
4. Reduce the quantity of fat in your diet. Steam the vegetables instead of frying them.
5. Use olive or canola oil in your daily food. It is healthier since it has a higher concentration of mono saturated fats.
6. Include grains and bread products in your diet. An adequate balance diet is essential to keep the fat intake low.
7. Eat more quantity of fruits and vegetables since it contains less quantity of fats.
Diagnosis of High Cholesterol Level
Blood is tested in order to Measure the cholesterol level in the blood. You can have this test done at the nearby hospital as a part of health assessment.
Treatment for High cholesterol level
There are two ways to control your cholesterol level. The first way is to change the life style, which includes your diet, managing a healthy weight, and performing daily exercise.
The second way is to combine your lifestyle with cholesterol leveling medicines in order to maintain healthy cholesterol level. The medicines that are mostly used to control the level of cholesterol are atorvastain (lipitor), fluvastatin (Lescol), pravastatin (Lipostat) and simvastatin (Zocor).
Prevention of High Cholesterol Level
You can prevent the high cholesterol level by having healthy diet, losing weight, by avoiding the smoking, not drinking excess alcohol and doing regular exercise.
At anytime, prevention is always better than cure. So, try to keep yourself safe from high cholesterol level or heart problem. Moreover, if you are facing this problem then try to follow the above steps in order to live a healthy life.
About the Author
Dr. Robert Nam is a well known heart specialist and has done postgraduate training in cardiology at the national heart hospital, the London chest hospital and UCL hospital, London. He was also engaged in research at the national heart and lung institute. Nowadays he is working as a consultant cardiologist at UCL hospital, London.
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