What Should A Woman’s Cholesterol Be

Effects Of High Cholesterol Levels

The liver is the main processing centre for cholesterol and dietary fat. When we eat animal fats, the liver transports the fat, together with cholesterol in the form of lipoproteins, into our bloodstream.

Too much cholesterol circulating within LDL in our bloodstream leads to fatty deposits developing in the arteries. This causes the vessels to narrow and they can eventually become blocked. This can lead to heart disease and stroke.

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.

How Can I Raise My Hdl Level

If your HDL level is too low, lifestyle changes may help. These changes may also help prevent other diseases, and make you feel better overall:

• Eat a healthy diet. To raise your HDL level, you need to eat good fats instead of bad fats. This means limiting saturated fats, which include full-fat milk and cheese, high-fat meats like sausage and bacon, and foods made with butter, lard, and shortening. You should also avoid trans fats, which may be in some margarines, fried foods, and processed foods like baked goods. Instead, eat unsaturated fats, which are found in avocado, vegetable oils like olive oil, and nuts. Limit carbohydrates, especially sugar. Also try to eat more foods naturally high in fiber, such as oatmeal and beans.
• Stay at a healthy weight. You can boost your HDL level by losing weight, especially if you have lots of fat around your waist.
• Exercise. Getting regular exercise can raise your HDL level, as well as lower your LDL. You should try to do 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise on most, if not all, days.
• Avoid cigarettes.Smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke can lower your HDL level. If you are a smoker, ask your health care provider for help in finding the best way for you to quit. You should also try to avoid secondhand smoke.
• Limit alcohol. Moderate alcohol may lower your HDL level, although more studies are needed to confirm that. What we do know is that too much alcohol can make you gain weight, and that lowers your HDL level.

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The Biting Fighting Garlic

A 2016 review of studies on garlic determined that garlic has the potential to reduce total cholesterol up to 30 milligrams per deciliter .

Try simmering whole cloves of garlic in olive oil until theyre soft, and use them as a spread on foods you find bland. Garlic tastes better than butter, and its a whole lot healthier particularly for lowering cholesterol.

Journal of Nutrition found that regular intake of shiitake mushrooms in rodents appears to have cholesterol-lowering affects. This confirms earlier studies with similar results.

Although shiitake mushrooms have been the subject of much of the research, many other varieties available in the supermarket or at your local farmers market are also thought to be helpful for lowering cholesterol.

What Reduces Cholesterol Quickly

There is no quick fix for reducing cholesterol. But there are plenty of ways to reduce your cholesterol naturally. Eating a high fiber diet, reducing saturated fat, weight loss , exercise, and smoking cessation are just some of the things within your control. If lifestyle interventions are unsuccessful, medication is always an option.

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Myth #2 Foods High In Cholesterol Are What Increase My Cholesterol Blood Levels

False: Over 80% of the cholesterol in your blood is made by your own liver. The rest comes from food. It is actually foods rich in saturated fats that should be avoided because they will increase your cholesterol levels. These include butterfat in milk products, fat from red meat, and tropical oils such as coconut oil.

Dietary Tips To Avoid Cholesterol

The most important thing you can do to reduce your cholesterol level is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. You should try to:

• Increase the amount and variety of fresh fruit, vegetables and wholegrain foods you have each day.
• Choose low or reduced-fat milk, yoghurt and other dairy products or have added calcium soy drinks.
• Choose lean meat .
• Limit fatty meats, including sausages and salami, and choose leaner sandwich meats like turkey breast or cooked lean chicken.
• Have fish at least twice a week.
• Replace butter and dairy blends with polyunsaturated margarines.
• Include foods in your diet that are rich in soluble fibre and healthy fats, such as nuts, legumes and seeds.
• Limit cheese and ice cream to twice a week.

Other storage fats that are transported in blood lipoproteins include triglycerides. When present in high concentrations in the blood, this fat is also a risk for heart attack. Some foods will affect the cholesterol level or the triglyceride level and some will affect both.

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Lowering Your Total And Ldl Cholesterol Levels

Here are some things you can do:

Lose weight if you are overweight.

Exercise regularly. For example, walk or ride a bicycle for 30 minutes at least three times a week.

Eat fewer high-fat foods, like butter, cheese, meat, and some vegetable fats . Foods that are high in saturated fat should be less than 7 percent of your total daily calories.

Eat more high-fiber foods, like vegetables, fruits, grains, and whole-grain breads, cereals, and pasta.

Your doctor can help you plan a heart-healthy diet. If exercising and changing your diet do not help enough, you might need to take a medicine to lower your cholesterol level.

Healthy Cholesterol Levels In Australia

Most of us have heard the message that high cholesterol is bad for us, but how many of us actually know what cholesterol is, and why a high count is a problem? The answer is probably not many and for those of us who do, itâs likely weâve been misled.

Almost a decade ago, two major health campaigns urged Aussies to test their cholesterol levels with the aim of cutting their risk of developing serious heart conditions. One was Test the Nation, sponsored by a company who just happened to be spruiking a cholesterol-lowering margarine. The second, sponsored by another company with their own cholesterol-lowering products, provided alarming statistics around cholesterol, heart attacks and stroke in an attempt to promote its own products.

A review in the Medical Journal of Australia found that both campaigns were problematic for several reasons, the first being the confusion created around cholesterol being âbadâ, which is not entirely accurate.

These brands also muddied the waters around who needs to be worried about their cholesterol and when testing is recommended. Current Aussie guidelines recommend testing if your GP has concerns about your risk of heart disease or every five years for people who are over 45 or who have high blood pressure or diabetes.

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Safe Blood Cholesterol Levels

Health authorities recommend that cholesterol levels should be no higher than 5.5 mmol per litre if there are no other risk factors present. If there are other cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure or pre-existing cardiovascular disease, then the aim for the LDL levels would be less than 2 mmol/l. Approximately half of all adult Australians have a blood cholesterol level above 5 mmol/l. This makes high blood cholesterol a major health concern in Australia.

How Is The Total Cholesterol Or Blood Cholesterol Test Done

A blood test is a routine test. A phlebotomist is the person whose job it 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.

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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.

Cholesterol: The Normal Women By Age Table

Cholesterol is a complex organic compound included in the structure of cell walls in the tissues of the human body and it performs vital functions. But excess of normal cholesterol levels in blood leads to health risks, in particular, is a factor in the development of diseases of the heart and blood vessels.

The normal concentration of cholesterol in the blood are different for men and women and changes with age. Women have a particularly high probability of an improvement in this indicator after 50 years. Persons who passed this age limit should be periodically tested for the level of cholesterol in the blood.

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How Is High Cholesterol Treated

There are several ways to lower high blood cholesterol , including lifestyle changes or medication, or both. Your healthcare provider will work with you to determine which therapy is best for you.

Lifestyle modifications

Healthcare providers like to start with the least invasive treatments when possible, such as lifestyle changes. Youll be advised to:

• Avoid tobacco. If you do smoke, quit. Smoking is bad for you in many ways, and reducing your level of good cholesterol is one of them.
• Change the way you eat. Limit the amount of trans fats and saturated fat. Eat heart-healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, poultry, fish and whole grains. Limit red meat, sugary products and dairy products made with whole milk.
• Get more exercise. Try to get about 150 minutes of physical activity every week, or about 30 minutes per day for most days of the week.
• Keep a healthy weight. If you need to lose weight, talk to your healthcare provider about safe ways to do this. Youll see results even before you reach your ideal weight. Losing even 10% of your body weight makes a difference in your cholesterol levels.
• Reduce the effect of negative emotions. Learn healthy ways to deal with anger, stress or other negative emotions.
• Control blood sugar and blood pressure. Make sure you follow your healthcare providers instructions for blood sugar levels, especially if you have diabetes, and for keeping blood pressure in the healthy range.

Medications

• Atorvastatin .
• Simvastatin .
• Pitavastatin .

Treating High Cholesterol In The Elderly

• Quit smoking: Higher cholesterol is one of the many negative effects of smoking. Nobody is ever too old to quit.
• Eat more fruits and vegetables: Leafy greens like cabbage are particularly good at lowering high cholesterol.
• Eat the right kind of fat: Avoiding red meat, high-fat dairy products and processed foods in favor of healthy fats like olive oil, nuts and avocados can help seniors avoid saturated fat and trans fats, two of the biggest contributors to high cholesterol.
• Get more omega-3 fatty acids: This essential nutrient, found in salmon, tuna and flaxseed, can help raise good cholesterol. Its also available as a supplement.
• Exercise: Getting at least 30 minutes of moderate cardio exercise a day like walking can help seniors lower their cholesterol.
• Take medication: Millions of Americans use statins to lower their LDL cholesterol. These drugs remove bad cholesterol from the blood efficiently, and with few side effects.

Nobody is ever too old to break a bad habit or start a good one. Making lifestyle changes and taking medication that treats high cholesterol can help seniors avoid serious health problems and continue to enjoy the golden years.

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How Often Should You Get Your Cholesterol Checked

The AHA recommends that everyone age 20 or older have their cholesterol checked every four to six years. After age 40, your doctor should assess your risk and determine how often you need to be tested. The U.S. National Library of Medicine says men over 45 and women over 55 should be tested every one to two years.

Be sure to speak with your doctor about testing your cholesterol. High cholesterol is often caused by poor lifestyle choices, according to the Mayo Clinic. Your doctor will look at all your risk factors and determine how closely your cholesterol needs to be monitored.

How To Manage Your Cholesterol Levels

If you have high cholesterol as an adult or child there are many ways to lower your cholesterol and get your levels under control.

Essentially, you’ll want to take steps to lower your LDL and triglyceride levels while raising your HDL levels, says Steven Reisman, MD, a cardiologist and director of the New York Cardiac Diagnostic Center. Here’s how to do it:

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Plant Sterols Can Lower Cholesterol Levels

Plant sterols are found naturally in plant foods including sunflower and canola seeds, vegetable oils and in nuts, legumes, cereals, fruit and vegetables. Some margarine and milks have concentrated plant sterols added to them. Margarines enriched with plant sterolslower LDL cholesterol in most people if the correct amount is eaten .

How Often Should I Get A Cholesterol Test

When and how often you should get a cholesterol test depends on your age, risk factors, and family history. The general recommendations are:

For people who are age 19 or younger:

• The first test should be between ages 9 to 11
• Children should have the test again every 5 years
• Some children may have this test starting at age 2 if there is a family history of high blood cholesterol, heart attack, or stroke

For people who are age 20 or older:

• Younger adults should have the test every 5 years
• Men ages 45 to 65 and women ages 55 to 65 should have it every 1 to 2 years

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Can You Get Rid Of Cholesterol Deposits

Researchers are working on ways to eliminate plaque from coronary arteries. One method that has been proposed involves using combinations of medicines in healthy people aged 25 to 55 years. It is suggested that getting the levels of cholesterol down very low will allow arteries to clear up and heal up.

Several researchers believe that the way to reverse heart disease, and to prevent it in the first place, is found in a whole food, plant-based diet. Studies have been done that have shown that limiting nutrition to whole foods that are plant-based have been successful in reducing blood cholesterol and even, in some cases, lessening plaque buildup.

What Is A Cholesterol Test Used For

A cholesterol test is a useful tool to assess the risk of heart disease including heart attack and stroke.

The test is used to measure and analyze the amount of fats in the blood. If there is too much cholesterol in the blood, treatment can be started to lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease.

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What Affects My Cholesterol Levels

A variety of things can affect cholesterol levels. These are some things you can do to lower your cholesterol levels:

• Diet. Saturated fat and cholesterol in the food you eat make your blood cholesterol level rise. Saturated fat is the main problem, but cholesterol in foods also matters. Reducing the amount of saturated fat in your diet helps lower your blood cholesterol level. Foods that have high levels of saturated fats include some meats, dairy products, chocolate, baked goods, and deep-fried and processed foods.
• Weight. Being overweight is a risk factor for heart disease. It also tends to increase your cholesterol. Losing weight can help lower your LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. It also raises your HDL cholesterol level.
• Physical Activity. Not being physically active is a risk factor for heart disease. Regular physical activity can help lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol levels. It also helps you lose weight. You should try to be physically active for 30 minutes on most, if not all, days.
• Smoking.Cigarette smoking lowers your HDL cholesterol. HDL helps to remove bad cholesterol from your arteries. So a lower HDL can contribute to a higher level of bad cholesterol.

Things outside of your control that can also affect cholesterol levels include: