What Is Normal Cholesterol Ratio

Are Home Cholesterol Testing Kits Accurate

The answer is yes if the tests are labeled CDC-certified. This means that the contents have been approved by the Cholesterol Reference Method Laboratory Network, a group that works with test makers, laboratories and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make sure tests are accurate.

For home tests, you will still need to fast for 12 hours and to obtain blood for testing. Some kits come with packages for mailing to a lab for results. Other kits have a monitor so you can get the results at home. The cost of such home kits varies.

What Is The Ideal Cholesterol Ratio And How Does It Relate To Risk

Your ideal cholesterol ratio takes into account the levels of HDL and LDL and compares them to each other as well as the total amount in your blood. The reason why this is necessary is that the different components play very different roles in the formation and buildup of cholesterol in the arteries. Knowledge of their concentrations relative to one another and to the total present can provide a more accurate indication of a patients risk of developing heart disease.

What are cholesterol numbers?

Blood tests are able to distinguish between and measure the concentrations of three different types of cholesterol in the blood: LDL , HDL , and VLDL .

The concentration of each of these, measured in milligrams/deciliter, determines the corresponding numbers, and the total is equal to the sum of all three. Test results are often given in terms of a total number and a cholesterol ratio representing either Total/HDL or LDL/HDL.

Low-density LDL, commonly referred to as the bad type, is strongly linked to the development of cardiovascular disease. Elevated levels of both LDL and VLDL in the blood can lead to a buildup of plaque along artery walls, causing them over time to narrow and harden .

Where Your Cholesterol Numbers Should Be

In order for patients to better understand their cholesterol profile results and maintain healthy levels, doctors have established the following guidelines:

For LDL, less than 100 mg/dl is optimal, and the total level should be kept below 160 mg/dl.

Your Test Results: A Preview

Your test results will show your cholesterol levels in milligrams per deciliter of blood . Your total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol are among numerous factors your doctor can use to predict your lifetime or 10-year risk for a heart attack or stroke. Your doctor will also consider other risk factors, such as age, family history, smoking status, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Lipid profile or lipid panel is a blood test that will give you results for your HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and total blood cholesterol.

Watch an animation about cholesterol score.

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What Is A Normal Range For Non

The higher your non-HDL cholesterol, the higher your risk of heart disease.

A study published in 2018 involved more than 36,000 people with a low 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease. A long-term follow-up found LDL and non-HDL readings of more than 160 mg/dL were each linked with a 50 to 80 percent increased relative risk of cardiovascular disease mortality.

For other cholesterol readings, the following guidelines apply if you dont have heart or blood vessel disease.

Your LDL cholesterol reading is:

• optimal if less than 100 mg/dL
• above optimal/borderline high if between 100 and 129 mg/dL
• mildly high if 130 to 159 mg/dL
• high at 160 to 189 mg/dL
• very high at 190 mg/dL or above

Your HDL cholesterol reading is:

• optimal if its 60 mg/dL or above
• low if its 40 mg/dL or lower

Your triglyceride reading is:

• optimal if less than 100 mg/dL
• borderline high at 100 to 149 mg/dL
• high if 150 to 499 mg/dL
• very high if higher than 500 mg/dL

Your doctor may have different goals for you if youre at high risk of heart disease or have already had heart disease.

• have kidney disease

Studies are beginning to highlight the importance of non-HDL in assessing cardiovascular risk.

For example, in a 2016 study, researchers looked at data from nine clinical trials involving people with coronary disease. They found that achieved non-HDL cholesterol was more strongly associated with disease progression than LDL.

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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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How Is The Total Cholesterol Or Blood Cholesterol Test Done

A blood test is a routine test. A phlebotomist is a person whose job is to draw blood. Blood is usually drawn from the vein in your arm. You will sit down and the phlebotomist will wrap a rubber band around your upper arm so that the vein in your elbow sticks out. Then they will use a needle to puncture the vein and remove blood. The blood is sent to the lab to be examined.

Youve probably been at health fairs where testing is offered. In that case, the person performing the test takes a drop of blood from your finger. The finger-stick test uses a small blade to poke a hole in the tip of your finger to get the blood.

What Is A Good Ratio Of Hdl To Ldl

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The guidelines for healthy cholesterol levels are as follows: total cholesterol below 200 mg/dL. LDL cholesterol less than 100 mg/dL. HDL cholesterol above 40 mg/dL.

Similarly, how do you calculate LDL HDL ratio? Higher numbers mean a higher risk of heart disease. To calculate your cholesterol ratio, divide your total cholesterol number by your HDL cholesterol number. So if your total cholesterol is 200 mg/dL and your HDL is 50 mg/dL , your ratio would be 4-to-1.

Beside above, is a 2.5 cholesterol ratio good?

If your number is between 60 and 74 mg/dL, your risk for coronary heart disease is below average. Your total-cholesterol-to-HDL ratio can be figured out by dividing your total cholesterol number by your HDL cholesterol number. A ratio below 3.5:1 is considered very good.

What is a good number for HDL cholesterol?

Typically, doctors recommend an HDL level of 60 milligrams per deciliter of blood or higher. HDL that falls within the range of 40 to 59 mg/dL is normal, but could be higher. Having HDL under 40 mg/dL increases your risk of developing heart disease.

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How Can I Lower My Ldl Level

There are two main ways to lower your LDL cholesterol:

• Therapeutic lifestyle changes . TLC includes three parts:
• Heart-healthy eating. A heart-healthy eating plan limits the amount of saturated and trans fats that you eat. Examples of eating plans that can lower your cholesterol include the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet and the DASH eating plan.
• Weight Management. If you are overweight, losing weight can help lower your LDL cholesterol.
• Physical Activity. Everyone should get regular physical activity .
• Drug Treatment. If lifestyle changes alone do not lower your cholesterol enough, you may also need to take medicines. There are several types of cholesterol-lowering drugs available, including statins. The medicines work in different ways and can have different side effects. Talk to your health care provider about which one is right for you. While you are taking medicines to lower your cholesterol, you still should continue with the lifestyle changes.

Some people with familial hypercholesterolemia may receive a treatment called lipoprotein apheresis. This treatment uses a filtering machine to remove LDL cholesterol from the blood. Then the machine returns the rest of the blood back to the person.

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Why Cholesterol Matters For Women

Ah, cholesterol and triglycerides. We hear about them all the time. Even foods that might seem good for you on the surface, like fruit-filled yogurt or bran muffins, can contribute to abnormal levels if they contain too much saturated fat or refined sugar, says Erin Michos, M.D., associate director of preventive cardiology at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease.

Whats more, many women are at risk for high cholesterol and dont realize it. Approximately 45 percent of women over the age of 20 have a total cholesterol of 200 mg/dl and above, which is considered elevated but a survey by the American Heart Association found that 76 percent of women say they dont even know what their cholesterol values are, Michos says.

Scarier still: Triglycerides, a type of blood fat typically measured alongside cholesterol, are even more risky in women compared with men. This is a problem because womens cholesterol levels can fluctuate quite a bit after menopause and tend to increase with age, putting us at greater risk of heart disease and stroke. Knowing your cholesterol numbers and how to control them is a big step toward staying healthy.

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What Is A Good Cholesterol Ratio

Cholesterol is not a bad thing in itself. It is, in fact, essential for proper cell function, being a key component of cell membranes. Cholesterol is carried in the blood but cannot be dissolved in it, which means that it must use “vehicles” called lipoproteins for moving about the body. In figuring cholesterol rates, lipoproteins and the cholesterol they contain are essentially interchangeable.

The liver is the engine that churns out the body’s cholesterol, producing it in the form of bile. As with many things in the body, however, too much of this good thing can be detrimental. Processing a modern fat-rich diet can create a higher than normal level of cholesterol. Since blood cannot dissolve or wash the cholesterol away, the excess begins accumulating on artery walls and restricting blood flow. This is especially dangerous inside the heart.

The cholesterol ratio was developed as a means of quantifying the overall status of that substance in the body. One commonly employed cholesterol ratio divides the rate of HDL into the figure for LDL. Another divides the overall cholesterol rating, arrived at through adding the HDL and LDL levels together, by the amount of HDL.

What Causes High Cholesterol

As mentioned before high levels of cholesterol may have a substantial impact on our overall life. So it’s worth knowing what are the causes of high cholesterol.

Hypercholesterolemia is often caused by thyroid insufficiency, type 2 diabetes and obesity. It may also be caused by genetic disorders, such as familial hypercholesterolemia, which is not that rare – about 0.3% of the population have mutations causing high LDL-cholesterol!

Nevertheless, the most important factor influencing your lipid and cholesterol levels is your lifestyle! Diet has an impact on cholesterol levels, but the size of its impact differs between individual patients. The results of meta-analysis Does Dietary Cholesterol Matter? published in 2016 reveal that the intake of high-cholesterol food causes an increase in serum cholesterol levels. Also trans fatty acids have a strong atherogenic potential – they reduce levels of HDL-cholesterol while increasing levels of LDL-cholesterol .

If you are in the risk group of hipercholesterolemia, check out blood sugar converter and calorie calculator, and start living healthier!

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Cholesterol Levels In Canadians

Between 2009 and 2011, unhealthy total cholesterol levels were present in 39% of Canadians aged 6 to 79 years old according to results from the Canadian Health Measures Survey . Among the different age groups, the percentage of Canadians with unhealthy levels of total cholesterol varied significantly, from 35% or less in people under 40 years old, but increasing to 57% and 44% in 40 to 59 year olds and 60 to 79 year olds, respectively. Among people aged 12 and over who had unhealthy total cholesterol levels, only 25% reported having been diagnosed with high cholesterol by a health professional .

The number of Canadians with unhealthy LDL cholesterol levels increased significantly with age, with less than 6% of 6 to 19 year olds having unhealthy LDL cholesterol levels, compared to 12% of 20 to 39 year olds, and 40% of 40 to 59 year olds. However, this number decreased in older adults where 26% of 60 to 79 year olds had unhealthy LDL cholesterol levels. In contrast, no significant difference between age groups was found for unhealthy levels of HDL cholesterol .

The percentage of Canadians with an unhealthy ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol also varied with age, ranging from 1% for 6 to 11 year olds to 23% for the 40 to 59 .

Normal Cholesterol Levels For Men

Do you know that unhealthy cholesterol levels can drastically increase your risk for heart disease, hypertension, and stroke?

The right amount of cholesterol is essential for your body to build up healthy cells, metabolize vitamins and hormones.

Your body may experience problems when there is an imbalance between LDL and HDL due to unhealthy lifestyle habits.

A significant drop in unhealthy cholesterol decreases your risk of cardiovascular disease by 25-30%.

This article gives an overview of normal cholesterol levels for men and shows you how to lower your cholesterol levels naturally.

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How Can I Lower My Cholesterol

There are two main ways to lower your cholesterol:

• Heart-healthy lifestyle changes, which include:
• Heart-healthy eating. A heart-healthy eating plan limits the amount of saturated and trans fats that you eat. Examples include the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet and the DASH Eating Plan.
• Weight Management. If you are overweight, losing weight can help lower your LDL cholesterol.
• Physical Activity. Everyone should get regular physical activity .
• Managing stress. Research has shown that chronic stress can sometimes raise your LDL cholesterol and lower your HDL cholesterol.
• Quitting smoking.Quitting smoking can raise your HDL cholesterol. Since HDL helps to remove LDL cholesterol from your arteries, having more HDL can help to lower your LDL cholesterol.
• Drug Treatment. If lifestyle changes alone do not lower your cholesterol enough, you may also need to take medicines. There are several types of cholesterol medicines available, including statins. The medicines work in different ways and can have different side effects. Talk to your health care provider about which one is right for you. While you are taking medicines to lower your cholesterol, you should continue with the lifestyle changes.

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

What Is This Test

This group of tests measures the amount of cholesterol and triglycerides in your blood.

Cholesterol and triglycerides are fats . This panel measures:

• Total cholesterol

• LDL cholesterol

• Triglycerides

Total cholesterol is a measurement of both good and bad cholesterol. LDL cholesterol moves cholesterol into your arteries. HDL cholesterol moves cholesterol out of your arteries. A high HDL cholesterol number lowers your risk for coronary heart disease. A high LDL cholesterol number raises your risk for coronary heart disease.

The American Heart Association recommends that all adults older than 20 have a lipid profile once every 5 years.

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Normal: < 120 And< 80 Mmhg

When your heart beats, it pumps blood through blood vessels called arteries and creates pressure in them. The higher number represents the pressure while your heart is beating. The lower number represents the pressure when your heart is resting between beats. Your blood pressure can change from minute to minute when you change your position or during physical activities, or when you are stressed or sleeping. High blood pressure can damage the walls of your arteries. If your first reading is high, your doctor may take several more readings before deciding whether your blood pressure may be a health concern.

Preventive Steps For High Cholesterol And Heart Health

When you have high cholesterol, staying heart-healthy requires more than a regimen of statins. Even if youre on medication, it is absolutely essential to make lifestyle changes: Stop smoking , drink alcohol only in moderation, eat well, build exercise into your life, and get to a healthy weight, Dr. Rocco says. Smoking cessation alone can boost HDL 5 percent, while for every 7 pounds you lose, youll see a 1 mg increase in HDL. Regular moderate-intensity exercise raises HDL as much as 6 percent, he adds.

Contrary to prior nutritional information, there is not a clear link between dietary intake of cholesterol and increased cardiovascular risk the focus is on lowering saturated fat and trans fat in the diet. The new 2015 dietary guidelines by the U.S. government removed the limitation on cholesterol in the diet.

Features of a Mediterranean diet include:

• Eating primarily plant-based foods
• Limiting red meat
• Limiting full-fat dairy products
• Using olive oil in place of butter
• Enjoying fish and poultry at least twice a week

Adopting this kind of diet, along with exercise, pays off not just in terms of heart disease, but overall, Andersen says. Its really an anti-aging plan.

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