Need To Lower Your Cholesterol We Can Help
Cholesterol really matters. How much you ask? For every one percent decrease in your cholesterol, your risk of developing heart disease decreases by two percent.
Thats why its important for you to lower high cholesterol whether you are looking to prevent heart disease or are trying to prevent any further damage following a heart attack.
Which Of The Following Would Be Characterized As Good
Q:Which of the following would be characterized as good cholesterol? LDL HDL VLDL TriglyceridesA:HDL would be characterized as good cholesterol.See more on weegy.comHDL is called the good cholesterol. It is good because it carries away other kinds of cholesterol, absorbs cholesterol and carries it back to the liver, the good cholesterol that may help prevent heart disease), or protective, It might help to think of HDL as a delivery truck
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Lower Cholesterol Is Possible
While lowering your cholesterol may seem like a daunting task, it is possible. At Cleveland Clinics Preventive Cardiology & Rehabilitation program, a long-term study of its patients showed significant improvements in LDL management even as early as the second follow-up visit for both patients taking statins and those who are statin intolerant. In patients who do not tolerate statins, we can typically achieve on average an additional 30 point reduction in LDL cholesterol in the Preventive Cardiology Clinic using a combination of alternative medications and approaches.
If you have high cholesterol or other risk factors for developing heart disease, Cleveland Clinics Preventive Cardiology & Rehabilitation program can help. We evaluate our patients health with very special attention to modifiable risk factors, especially hyperlipidemias, such as high LDL cholesterol, increased triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, homocysteine, as well as sedentary lifestyle, obesity and diabetes.
Our team is familiar with the latest and most effective drugs for lowering cholesterol as well as for hypertension and diabetes. Besides prescribing medications to manage your cardiac risk, we can also prescribe highly individualized lifestyle adjustments that can enhance your efforts to stay well and symptom-free. Although many people know the importance of a heart-healthy lifestyle, few are sure of how to implement healthier ways of living in their own day-to-day lives.
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Making Your Numbers Shrink
The first line of attack for lowering your cholesterol is a combination of changes in lifestyle: diet, exercise and weight loss.
Diet
A heart-healthy diet from the National Cholesterol Education Program called the TLC diet can help lower your cholesterol. This is a low-saturated-fat, low-cholesterol eating plan that calls for less than 7 percent of calories from saturated fat and less than 200 mg of dietary cholesterol per day. The TLC diet recommends only enough calories to maintain a desirable weight and avoid weight gain. If your LDL is not lowered enough by reducing your saturated fat and cholesterol intakes, you can increase the amount of soluble fiber in your diet. You can also add certain food products that contain plant stanols or plant sterols to boost your diets LDL-lowering power.
Exercise
Aim for 30 minutes of physical activity on most, if not all, days. It can help raise HDL and lower LDL and is especially important for those with high triglycerides and/or low HDL levels, who are overweight with a large waist measurement . Your activity should be of moderate intensity, which means you are able to carry on two to three word sentences. Try running, walking briskly, swimming or dancing.
Weight loss
Keep Your Cholesterol Counts Under Control
Maintaining healthy levels of cholesterol is manageable. Medication is key, along with eating a healthy diet with lots of vegetables and getting regular exercise.
The experts at the USC CardioVascular Thoracic Institute can help you understand your count and give you the support you need to maintain cholesterol levels needed for a healthy heart. Request an appointment today or call .
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What Are The Symptoms
You could have dyslipidemia and never know it. Like high blood pressure, high cholesterol doesnt have obvious symptoms. Its often discovered during a routine blood test.
However, dyslipidemia can lead to cardiovascular disease, which can be symptomatic. High LDL cholesterol levels are associated with coronary artery disease , which is blockage in the arteries of your heart, and peripheral artery disease , which is blockage in the arteries of your legs. CAD can lead to chest pain and eventually a heart attack. The main symptom of PAD is leg pain when walking.
Several behaviors can lead to dyslipidemia. They include:
- cigarette smoking
- obesity and a sedentary lifestyle
- consumption of foods high in saturated fat and trans fat
Excessive alcohol consumption may also contribute to higher triglyceride levels.
Youre at a higher risk of primary dyslipidemia if one or both of your parents had dyslipidemia.
Advancing age is also a risk factor for high cholesterol. Women tend to have lower LDL levels than men until menopause. Thats when womens LDL levels start to rise.
Other medical conditions that can raise your dyslipidemia risk include:
- type 2 diabetes
- hypothyroidism
- chronic kidney disease
Also, a low HDL cholesterol level is associated with a high LDL level, though the two numbers dont always move in tandem.
What Does The Test Measure
An LDL cholesterol test checks the amount of LDL cholesterol in the blood. Results are typically measured in milligrams per deciliter .
Cholesterol is a fatty substance your body naturally creates to help in digesting food, creating hormones, and making vitamin D. Cholesterol is made up of different types of lipoproteins, which are a combination of fats, also known as lipids, and proteins. Lipids connect to proteins to be able to move through your blood. Cholesterol testing often measures different substances in the blood:
- High-density cholesterol: HDL carries cholesterol from other parts of your body to your liver for processing and removal and is considered the good cholesterol.
- Low-density cholesterol: LDL is known as the bad cholesterol because too much of it in your blood can lead to a buildup of plaque in your arteries, putting you at risk of heart disease, diabetes, or stroke.
- Triglycerides:;Triglycerides are fats created by the foods we eat. These fats are stored until your body needs energy. Triglycerides are processed by your body when it needs energy. Having high levels of triglycerides can lead to coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular issues.
- Very low-density cholesterol: VLDL is similar to LDL cholesterol but carries triglycerides through the blood. VLDL can contribute to plaque buildup and is considered a bad cholesterol.
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Can I Take The Test At Home
At-home cholesterol testing is available to measure calculated levels of LDL cholesterol. At-home testing for cholesterol uses a blood sample taken by a device that pricks your finger to obtain a small drop of blood that can be tested.
There are two types of at-home LDL tests that use a fingerstick blood sample:
- Self-tests:;In this kind of test, the analysis of your blood happens at home. This can be done by applying a drop of blood on paper that is then placed into a small device that determines the cholesterol levels. Another type of self-test uses chemically treated paper that indicates the levels of cholesterol in your blood.
- Self-collection:;For this kind of test, your blood sample is taken at home but is then sent to a laboratory for analysis.
For help deciding whether an at-home cholesterol test kit is right for you, it may be helpful to talk to your primary care doctor or cardiologist. It is common to have a follow-up cholesterol test performed by a doctor if an at-home cholesterol test kit finds abnormal results.
Diabetes Genetics Replication And Meta
The latest GWAS meta-analysis summary statistics for T2D were obtained from the Diabetes Genetics Replication and Meta-Analysis consortium , which includes data on up to 898,130 individuals , including UK Biobank individuals . We used the results of our GWAS of circulating LDL-C in UK Biobank, along with the aforementioned DIAGRAM-T2D results, for the discovery of inverse association signals. We then replicated LDL-C associations of our top hits with an independent GWAS meta-analysis of LDL-C from the Global Lipids Genetics Consortium ; this meta-analysis does not include the UK Biobank study. Across the UK Biobank, DIAGRAM, and GLGC summary statistics, we aligned all SNP alleles and their corresponding effects by using the harmonize function in the TwoSampleMR package in R software .
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What Lifestyle Changes Can Help
Lifestyle changes may be able to help you get your cholesterol and triglyceride levels under control. The first step is to change your diet. Changes should include consuming less saturated fat, refined sugar, and alcohol. Adding more fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains to your diet may help. Check out these 13 cholesterol-lowering foods to add to your diet.
Daily exercise and weight loss may also help you improve your cholesterol profile.
Try to maintain a healthy weight by following a heart-healthy diet and exercising regularly. You should also quit smoking if you smoke.
If youre concerned about dyslipidemia, discuss with your doctor how you can guard against it.
If you have a family history of high cholesterol, be proactive about leading a healthy life before your cholesterol numbers start to move toward unhealthy levels.
Genetics Of Familial Hypercholesterolaemia
Cholesterol is delivered to cells via the bloodstream. Normally, the tiny particles of LDL cholesterol attach to receptor sites on the targeted cells and are then absorbed. A gene on chromosome 19, called the LDLR gene, controls the production of these receptors. Most familial hypercholesterolaemia is due to a mutation of the LDLR gene that changes the way the receptors develop, either in number or structure. This means that LDL cholesterol is not well absorbed into cells, and remains circulating in the blood.High blood cholesterol is a risk factor in coronary artery disease, because it sticks to the artery walls, produces fatty plaques and narrows the diameter of the arteries . Less commonly, familial hypercholesterolemia is caused by a mutation on other genes, such as APOB or PCSK9.
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Phenotypic And Genetic Characterization Of Lower Ldl Cholesterol And Increased Type 2 Diabetes Risk In The Uk Biobank
What Are The Different Types Of Cholesterol
There are two types: high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein . As a general rule, HDL is considered good cholesterol, while LDL is considered bad. This is because HDL carries cholesterol to your liver, where it can be removed from your bloodstream before it builds up in your arteries. LDL, on the other hand, takes cholesterol directly to your arteries. This can result in atherosclerosis, a plaque buildup that can even cause heart attack and stroke.
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Is There Anything Else I Need To Know About My Cholesterol Levels
High cholesterol can lead to heart disease, the number one cause of death in the United States. While some risk factors for cholesterol, such as age and heredity, are beyond your control, there are actions you can take to lower your LDL levels and reduce your risk, including:
- Eating a healthy diet. Reducing or avoiding foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol can help reduce the cholesterol levels in your blood.
- Losing weight. Being overweight can increase your cholesterol and risk for heart disease.
- Staying active.;Regular exercise may help lower your LDL cholesterol levels and raise your HDL cholesterol levels. It may also help you lose weight.
Talk to your health care provider before making any major change in your diet or exercise routine.
Components Of Plasma High
Plasma HDL is a small, dense, spherical lipid-protein complex, with the lipid and protein components each making up half. The major lipids are phospholipid, cholesterol, cholesteryl esters, and TGs. The major proteins include apo A-I and apo A-II . Other minor, albeit important, proteins are apo E and apo C, including apo C-I, apo C-II, and apo C-III. HDL particles are heterogeneous. They can be classified into larger, less dense HDL2 and smaller, denser HDL3. Normally, most HDL is present as HDL3. However, individual variability in HDL levels in humans is usually due to different amounts of HDL2.
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Treatment For Familial Hypercholesterolaemia
There is no cure for familial hypercholesterolaemia. Treatment aims to reduce the persons risk of coronary artery disease and heart attack, and may include:
- Dietary changes recommended dietary changes include reduced intake of saturated fats and cholesterol-rich foods, and increased intake of fibre. Modifying the diet is usually the first line of treatment. After three months, test results will show whether more aggressive treatment is needed.
- Plant sterols and stanols these substances are structurally similar to cholesterol, but arent absorbed by the cells. Studies show that increasing the intake of plant sterols and stanols can substantially reduce blood cholesterol. Sources include corn, rice, vegetable oils and nuts.
- Exercise regular exercise has been shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels. Any exercise program should be supervised by your doctor.
- Weight loss obesity is a risk factor. Maintaining a healthy weight for your height can reduce your risk of coronary artery disease and heart attack.
- Avoid smoking cigarette smoke encourages cholesterol to stick to artery walls. Quitting can significantly reduce your risk of heart attack.
- Medication very few people with familial hypercholesterolaemia will be able to reduce their cholesterol levels by diet and lifestyle changes alone. Most will need special cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Symptoms Of Familial Hypercholesterolaemia
High blood cholesterol can be asymptomatic, which means the person may not even realise they have it. Some of the signs and symptoms of familial hypercholesterolaemia can include:
- family history of the disorder
- family history of heart attacks at an early age
- high LDL cholesterol levels that resist treatment in one or both parents
- cholesterol deposits on the knees, elbows and buttocks
- high blood cholesterol levels
- chest pain caused by narrowed coronary arteries
- heart attack early in life.
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Which Is Good Cholesterol Ldl Or Hdl
What is high cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a fat-like material that provides structure for a bodys cells. A persons liver makes most of the cholesterol a body needs, but a person can also get some from foods. Too much can cause a sticky substance to build up in blood vessels. This plaque can block blood vessels and cause heart attacks and strokes.
But I feel okay.
Most people with high cholesterol feel healthy and dont have symptoms. The only way to levels are high is to have cholesterol levels checked.
Cholesterol is checked with a blood test. The test works best if you dont eat or drink anything for at least 8 hours before the test.
This chart shows the damage cholesterol can inflict on an artery.
What do your numbers mean?
Your total cholesterol is made up of two types of cholesterol:
- LDL
- HDL .
High levels of LDL increase a persons chances of heart disease. It is the bad cholesterol.;High levels of HDL decrease a persons chances of heart disease. It is the good cholesterol.
What can you do?
Follow a healthy eating plan.
- Read food labels and limit foods high in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol.
- Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy foods and whole grains.
- Ask to see a registered dietitian if you need help with a plan.
Be physically active.
Achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
If a person is overweight, ask a provider for help with an eating and physical activity plan to lose weight
How Is It Diagnosed
A simple blood test that checks for LDL, HDL, and triglycerides will reveal whether your levels are high, low, or in a healthy range. These numbers can change from year to year, so getting annual blood work is a good idea. If you take medications for dyslipidemia your doctor may want you to have more frequent blood tests. Heres how to prepare for a cholesterol test.
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Familial Hypoalphalipoproteinemia Or Familial Apo A
Criteria for the definition of familial HAs are a low HDL cholesterol level in the presence of normal VLDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels, an absence of diseases or factors to which HA may be secondary, and the presence of a similar lipoprotein pattern in a first-degree relative.
Familial HA is a relatively common disorder and is frequently associated with decreased apo A-I production or increased apo A-I catabolism. Severe HDL deficiency can also be associated with a heterogeneous group of rare, autosomal-recessive lipoprotein disorders. The underlying molecular defects involve apo A-I, apo C-III, or apo A-IV. HDL in plasma is almost undetectable in persons with the familial apo A-I deficiency caused by deletions of the APOA1 gene, the HDL level being less than 10 mg/dL. Heterozygotes tend to have less severe reductions in HDL.
Some patients with severe genetic HDL reductions manifest corneal opacities and xanthomas and have an increased risk of developing premature coronary atherosclerosis . The molecular diagnosis can be made by specialized analysis, including electrophoresis of the plasma apolipoproteins and deoxyribonucleic acid analysis to determine the mutation. Because raising plasma apo A-I or HDL-C levels is usually difficult in persons with these disorders, treatment should be directed toward lowering the level of non-HDL cholesterol.