Things You Need To Know About Cholesterol And Heart Disease
Your body builds new cells, insulate nerves, and produces hormones with the help of cholesterol. The liver normally makes all the cholesterol the body needs. However, cholesterol enters your body from food, like animal based foods such as milk, eggs and meat. A major risk factor for heart disease is too much cholesterol.
Atherosclerosis, a form of heart disease, is caused by too much cholesterol in your blood which builds up in the walls of your arteries. The arteries become narrowed and blood flow to the heart muscle is slowed down or blocked. The heart gets oxygen from the blood. If you do not get enough blood and oxygen to reach your heart, you might suffer chest pains. When the blood supply to a part of your heart is completely cut off by a blockage, a heart attack takes place.
Low density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad” cholesterol) and high density lipoprotein (HDL or “good” cholesterol) are two forms of cholesterol that most Americans are familiar with. This is the form the cholesterol travels in the blood. LDLs have little protein and high levels of cholesterol and HDL has a lot of protein and very little cholesterol.
LDL is the main source of artery clogging plaque. HDL actually works to clear cholesterol from the blood.
The bloodstream has other fat called triglycerides. Research has shown that high levels of triglycerides are connected to heart disease.
People are unaware that their cholesterol levels are too high because there are no symptoms of high cholesterol. This makes it vital to find out what your cholesterol numbers are because lowering the cholesterol level that are too high reduces the chance of heart disease, even if you already have heart disease.
It is recommended that everyone over the age of twenty get their cholesterol levels measured at least every five years. Lipoprotein profile is the blood test that is performed.
For more information or queries about Cholesterol or Heart Disease please forward all messages to Dr. Sam Robbins