Cholesterol is a word that people often hear from their doctor when they are asking questions about their diet. Cholesterol usually has a negative connotation that comes along with it, and a lot of people do not even know what cholesterol is, where it comes from, and why people seem so concerned with the amount of cholesterol that is in their body. It is essential to keep a close eye on the amount of cholesterol that is in the body, because if there is too much in the body, it can cause an immense amount of problems. It can cause blood flow problems, heart attacks, and even strokes. Knowing what cholesterol is, where is comes from, and the problems that can come along with cholesterol is essential to leading a happy and healthy life.
Cholesterol is a word that many people hear, but they do not quite understand exactly what it is. Cholesterol is a type of fat, or lipid in the blood. The cells in the body need cholesterol, and the body makes all that it needs all on its own. Cholesterol does not dissolve in blood, so they are carries to where they need to go by things called lipoproteins. Cholesterol also comes from the food that people eat on a daily basis. There are different types of cholesterol, both bad a good. LDL is the bad cholesterol, which is the kind that raises the risk of heart attack, stroke and heart disease. The good kind of cholesterol is HDL cholesterol, which lowers the risk of all of the consequences that come along with LDL cholesterol.
There are many reasons why cholesterol matters to the body. Not only can cholesterol affect the blood flow and cause heart problems, but cholesterol can also be used to determine other risks that the body may have. Doctors can combine the age, sex, and race of a person, along with the factor if a person smokes, along with cholesterol levels to determine many different things. Doctors can determine how your blood pressure is affected by cholesterol, as well as the risk of diabetes based on the amount of cholesterol in the body. By combining different factors in the body, along with cholesterol, doctors can find out about many more risks than blood flow and heart problems.
Many things affect the levels of cholesterol in the body. Not only can outside factors affect cholesterol levels, but other things can affect it that are out of a person’s control. Two things that can affect cholesterol that cannot be changed are age and family history. If family members have had a history of high cholesterol, than the chances of having high cholesterol are increased. In addition, cholesterol levels begin to rise after the age of 20, and that is a factor that cannot be stopped. Outside factors that can affect cholesterol are being inactive, being overweight, and eating certain foods. Foods that have too much saturated fat or trans fat can raise the cholesterol level in the body.
High cholesterol levels don’t make a person feel sick, so it is important to get regular blood tests to see what the cholesterol levels in the body are. Make sure to check cholesterol levels frequently, and take the right steps to prevent high cholesterol, or lower already high cholesterol levels.