What Is A Normal Serum Cholesterol Hdl Ratio Uk

What Do Your Cholesterol Results Mean

When you have a cholesterol test, it is really important that your healthcare professional explains the results to you to prevent unnecessary worry and confusion.

Its not just your total cholesterol thats important and your results will include different types of cholesterol. If you are only given your total cholesterol, ask for a break-down of the other numbers. Its possible to have a healthy total cholesterol number but an unhealthy balance of the different types of cholesterol.

As a minimum, you should be given your total cholesterol and HDL numbers, then you can work out your ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol .

You might also have your triglycerides tested, these are another type of blood fat which are linked to heart disease.

Ask for a print out of your results if you are not able to speak to your GP, nurse or pharmacist.

Your results should include:

• Total cholesterol

This is sometimes written as ‘serum cholesterol’ or ‘TC’ and refers to your overall level of cholesterol.

• Non-HDL cholesterol

Your non-HDL cholesterol is your total cholesterol minus your HDL cholesterol. Its all the ‘bad’ cholesterol added together, including your LDL cholesterol. Ideally it should be as low as possible.

• HDL cholesterol

• TC:HDL ratio

You might be given a TC:HDL ratio, which is the ratio of HDL compared to the total cholesterol. If not, you can work it out from your HDL and total cholesterol numbers. This should be as low as possible. Above 6 is considered high.

How To Lower Cholesterol: Know Your Fats

The American Heart Association recommends that just 25% to 35% of your daily calories come from fats such as those found in fish, nuts, and vegetable oils. For healthy people, saturated fat should comprise no more than 7% of your total calories. On a 2,000 calorie-a-day diet, that’s about 140 calories worth of saturated fat. If you need to lower your LDL cholesterol, limit saturated fat to 5% to 6% of calories, or about 11 to 13 grams of saturated fat on a 2,000-calorie diet. Reduce trans fats to less than 1% of your total daily calories. This means avoiding fried foods and many junk foods.

What Affects Cholesterol Levels

There are a variety of factors that can affect cholesterol levels. Some risk factors are within your control, while others are not:

• Genetics: These factors include familial hypercholesterolemia and a family history of heart disease.
• Sex: Males often have higher levels of LDL. After menopause, a woman’s LDL levels can also increase.
• Weight: People who are overweight or obese are at increased risk of having high cholesterol.
• Sedentary lifestyle: Lack of physical activity can increase the risk of overweight and obesity and, in turn, increase cholesterol levels.
• Diet: Overall diet quality can affect cholesterol in a negative way, including eating too many saturated and trans fats and not enough fiber.
• Age: Your body’s ability to clear cholesterol can be impacted as you age.
• Race and ethnicity: There are different rates of high cholesterol based on race/ethnicity and sex, with the highest rates among males in Hispanics and the highest rates among females in non-Hispanic Whites.
• Smoking: Smoking can increase your bad cholesterol and lower your good cholesterol.
• Other medical conditions: Having a previous history of high cholesterol, heart disease, or diabetes can increase your risk of developing high cholesterol.

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Are Test Results Accurate

Cholesterol testing is widely regarded as reliable. Although no test is perfect, laboratories follow strict protocols that help standardize cholesterol tests and make their results dependable. When these procedures and pre-test instructions are followed, inaccurate results are unlikely.

Point-of-care and at-home cholesterol tests are relatively accurate but are subject to more variation than laboratory testing. If abnormal results are found on one of these tests, follow-up testing by a laboratory is commonly recommended.

Normal Range Of Chol Hdl Ratio Found Among Men : 33

Ideal values of Chol HDL ratio depending on age :

Age	Ideal Chol HDL ratio value
< 5 years
> 100 years	4.323

If you want your blood test report to be interpreted by Chol HDL ratio specialist, then you can upload your report. Our Chol HDL ratio expert will provide you with the most accurate interpretation of your blood test results and treatment within 12 hours. Upload blood test report now

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How Can You Prevent High Cholesterol Levels And Coronary Heart Disease

Prevention methods are very much the same as treatment methods. First, dont smoke. If you do smoke, make plans to quit now. Find ways to add physical activity to each of your days. Take steps to keep your weight in a healthy range. Eat well. Consider following the Mediterranean diet. It is the only diet proven to reduce the risk of heart disease. Take care of any other medical conditions you might have by following your healthcare providers advice and instructions. Learn to really relax and calm down.

Why Is It Important

The importance of the analysis of non-HDL-C as a predictor and target for the treatment of cardiovascular disease is that other highly atherogenic lipoproteins are included as the remnants of VLDL, which, being small and dense molecules. The potential use of non-HDL cholesterol to predict the risk of death due to cardiovascular disease has been demonstrated by different studies, however, there are few studies where it has been evaluated as a predictor of the risk of cardiovascular disease development. On the other hand, Non-HDL cholesterol has been shown to be a predictor of mortality in men and women, as good as LDL cholesterol.

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How Do Triglycerides Get Into The Blood

When we eat foods containing triglycerides, such as meat, dairy products, cooking oils and fats, they are absorbed by our intestines and packaged into parcels of fats and protein called chylomicrons . These carry the triglycerides in the blood stream to our tissues to be used for energy straight away, or stored for later.

The body also makes its own supply of triglycerides in the liver. This form is carried in a different type of lipoprotein known as VLDL cholesterol.

So What Is Serum Cholesterol

The total serum cholesterol level is the amount of cholesterol in the blood. A high serum cholesterol level is a concern, because it raises your risk of heart disease. When people talk about getting their cholesterol checked or finding out their cholesterol levels, they are usually referring to serum cholesterol levels.

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Gut Health: Dr Chris George On How To Improve Microbiome

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Having high levels of cholesterol can cause several health problems. Too much cholesterol can cause blocking in blood vessels, which may cause someone to have a stroke or experience heart problems. By keeping a healthy diet and taking regular exercise, many people can lower their cholesterol if it is too high, while some may need to take medicine for the condition.

Why You Should Measure Your Cholesterol

While cholesterol is essential for your health, if it gets too high it might increase your risk of heart disease putting you at risk of things like a heart attack or stroke.

There are a number of things that can raise your cholesterol to an unhealthy level:

• eating foods high in cholesterol, saturated fats, and trans fats can increase your levels
• lack of exercise
• drinking too much alcohol
• a genetic condition called familial hypercholesterolaemia

There arent any signs of high cholesterol until something goes wrong, like a heart attack. So measuring your cholesterol levels regularly is recommended.

Regular cholesterol tests are particularly important if you:

• are overweight or obese
• have a family history of high cholesterol or heart disease
• have high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, or diabetes
• are on medication for high cholesterol and need to track your levels

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If Cholesterol Is Necessary Why Do We Have To Worry About How Much We Have

Having enough cholesterol to meet your needs is important. Having too much cholesterol can cause problems. If your cholesterol levels are high, the condition is called hypercholesterolemia. If your cholesterol levels are low, the condition is called hypocholesterolemia. It is not common to have cholesterol levels that are too low, but it can happen.

Cholesterol And Heart Disease

When too much cholesterol is present, plaque may form in the bodys arteries narrowing the space for blood to flow to the heart. Over time, this build up causes atherosclerosis which can lead to heart disease.When not enough oxygen-carrying blood reaches the heart chest pain called angina can result. If the blood supply to a portion of the heart is completely cut off by total blockage of a coronary artery, the result is a heart attack. This is usually due to a sudden closure from a blood clot forming on top of a previous narrowing.

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What Factors Affect Cholesterol Levels

A variety of factors can affect cholesterol levels. They include:

• Diet. Saturated fat and cholesterol in the food you eat increase cholesterol levels. Try to reduce the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in your diet.
• Weight. In addition to being a risk factor for heart disease, being overweight can also increase cholesterol. Losing weight can help lower your LDL and total cholesterol levels, as well as increase HDL cholesterol.
• Exercise. Regular exercise can lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol. You should try to be physically active for at least 30 minutes on most days.
• Age and Gender. As we get older, cholesterol levels rise. Before menopause, women tend to have lower total cholesterol levels than men of the same age. After menopause, however, womens LDL levels tend to rise.
• Diabetes. Poorly controlled diabetes increases cholesterol levels. With improvements in control, cholesterol levels can fall.
• Heredity. Your genes partly determine how much cholesterol the body makes. High blood cholesterol can run in families.
• Other causes. Certain medications and medical conditions can cause high cholesterol.

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Testing Your Blood Cholesterol

Your serum cholesterol is measured with a simple blood test. A doctor draws blood from your arm enough to fill one or more little vials. The blood samples are sent to a lab for analysis. Before your blood draw youll need to fast for at least eight hours.

A healthy adult should have a blood test that includes a serum cholesterol check every four to six years. As you get older, your doctor may advise you to have your cholesterol, and other markers of health like your blood pressure, checked every year. This is especially true if you have risk factors for cardiovascular disease. These factors include:

• obesity
• smoking
• family history of heart disease

If you start a new medication or change medications meant to manage your cholesterol, youll probably have more frequent cholesterol checks. Serum cholesterol tests can show whether the medication is working.

It usually takes several days or even a few weeks to get your blood test results back. Your lab report will show your serum cholesterol levels in milligrams per deciliter . Your serum cholesterol includes:

• LDL level
• HDL level
• 20 percent of your triglyceride level

The lower the LDL level and the higher the HDL level, the better. LDL is the type of cholesterol that forms waxy plaque on the inside wall of an artery. Too much plaque can limit blood flow through that artery.

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Heres what you should look for in your results:

healthy serum cholesterol

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What Are The Symptoms Of High Cholesterol

Lifestyle factors include:

• an unhealthy diet– eating too much saturated fat is thought to increase levels of LDL or bad cholesterol
• lack of exercise – this can also increase your levels of LDL
• obesity – being overweight often means you also have higher levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and a lower level of the good HDL.
• drinking too much alcohol
• smoking – if you smoke, a chemical in cigarettes called acrolein stops the good HDL from moving fatty deposits to your liver

Underlying conditions

• kidney disease

• transient ischaemic attack – or a mini stroke
• peripheral arterial disease

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How To Reduce Serum Cholesterol Levels

There are simple changes to your diet you can make to reduce your serum cholesterol levels:

• Replace saturated fat in the diet with some unsaturated fat**.
• Eat foods with added plant sterols or stanols, like those in the Flora ProActiv range***.
• Include foods rich in soluble fibre such as beta-glucan

In addition to this, its important to have a healthy diet and lifestyle overall:

• Have a balanced diet, with a variety of at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables, higher fibre starchy foods, dairy and dairy alternatives , as well as beans, pulses, fish, eggs, lean meat and other protein sources.
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Avoid unhealthy habits, like smoking and drinking in excess.
• Have an active lifestyle. Try to do at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week.

Like some help? Sign up for our cholesterol lowering starter kit! Its completely free, and is a great way to get started on your cholesterol lowering journey. Good luck!

* High cholesterol is a risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease. As coronary heart disease has many risk factors, more than one may need to be improved to reduce overall risk, and individual results may vary.** Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats in the diet has been shown to lower blood cholesterol. High cholesterol is a risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease. There are many risk factors for coronary heart disease and it is important to take care of all of them to reduce the overall risk of it.

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What Happens Now

Theres no specific cholesterol level at which you will or wont have a heart attack, but they do help form part of a bigger picture. Your GP uses these numbers alongside other risk factors, such as your family history, weight, age, sex and ethnicity, plus whether you smoke or have high blood pressure, to calculate your risk of CVD.

Once your risk has been worked out, your doctor will suggest a number of options to help you maintain healthy cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of developing CVD. But whatever your cholesterol reading, its always worth following a healthy lifestyle to help keep your cholesterol in check.

Still have some questions? Speak to your doctor, or visit the British Heart Foundation and Heart UK, the cholesterol charity.

Is There An Ldl

The European Society of Cardiology and United States National Lipid Association guidelines propose aiming for an LDL-C of 1.8 mmol/l . Findings from meta-analyses suggest that the relationship between LDL-C and CVD is likely to be curvilinear leading to the assumption that with lower LDL-C levels there should be a further reduction in CVD events .

Association between cardiovascular risk reduction and absolute reduction in low density lipoprotein cholesterol in major randomised control trials . Adapted from Soran et al. . There is a consistent reduction in cardiovascular risk of about one-fifth for every 1 mmol/l reduction in LDL-C

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High Cholesterol: Nutritionist Reveals Top Prevention Tips

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Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in the blood, used to build healthy cells. Cholesterol can also be found in some foods, such as saturated fat and trans fats. However, high cholesterol can cause a range of health issues and puts people at risk of stroke and heart attack. However, there are some healthy diet swaps you can make to lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk.

Getting Help For Your Child

If you are worried about your child’s weight, consider consulting with a registered dietitian or expressing your concerns with your pediatrician.

Children can benefit from getting involved in meal planning, shopping, and cooking, reducing intake of sweetened beverages, and learning how to eat more fruits and vegetables. Being a good role model and getting the entire family on board is also important for making changes and providing your child with confidence.

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What Should Your Cholesterol Be

Aim for a total cholesterol of below 5mmol/l, Dr McClymont advises.

But not all cholesterol is the same, she explains. HDL cholesterol is often described as good cholesterol and thought to protect against heart disease, while bad LDL cholesterol increases the risk. An easy way to remember which is which, is to think of HDL as happy and LDL as lousy.

An important aspect of cholesterol can be the ratio of total cholesterol to good cholesterol . Ideally, this should be as low as possible, Dr McClymont says.

Calculate this by dividing your TC number by your HDL number. So for example, if your TC is 4.5 mmol/L and HDL is 1.2 mmol/L, the ratio is 3.75. The lower the ratio, the lower your risk of heart disease.

What Happens During A Cholesterol Test

A health care professional will take a blood sample from a vein in your arm, using a small needle. After the needle is inserted, a small amount of blood will be collected into a test tube or vial. You may feel a little sting when the needle goes in or out. This usually takes less than five minutes.

Cholesterol tests are usually done in the morning, as you may be asked to refrain from eating for several hours prior to the test.

You may also be able to use an at-home kit to test for cholesterol. While instructions may vary between brands, your kit will include some kind of device to prick your finger. Youll use this device to collect a drop of blood for testing. Be sure to follow the kit instructions carefully.

Also, be sure to tell your health care provider if your at-home test results shown your cholesterol level is higher than 200 mg/dl.

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