The battle between different types of cholesterol has been emerging within the forefront of the media lately. HDL cholesterol vs LDL cholesterol is a topic that's on everyone's lips as we search for ways to lower our risk of heart disease and improve our overall health. Of course, before we can truly understand the details behind the HDL cholesterol vs LDL cholesterol conflict, it's important to understand as much as possible about both, and what they mean for our bodies.

What Are the Cholesterol Types?

Cholesterol is carried throughout the blood stream by molecules known as lipoproteins. The two most important forms of lipoproteins are the low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and the high-density lipoproteins (HDL). When checking both of these levels within the human body, doctors often include an examination into another kind of fat, known as "triglycerides". In the battle of HDL cholesterol vs LDL cholesterol, it's important to know the following:

Total cholesterol refers to the measure of the total amount of cholesterol within the blood, and is based on LDL, HDL, and triglyceride numbers.

HDL Cholesterol:

HDL cholesterol is the type that absorbs other cholesterol from around the body and carries it back to the liver, where it can be flushed from the system. The reason that HDL is known most commonly as "good" cholesterol is that having higher levels of it can reduce your risk for stroke and heart disease.

LDL Cholesterol:

LDL cholesterol often makes up the largest amount of cholesterol within the body, and it is referred to as "bad" cholesterol because having high levels of this substance in the body can cause plaque to build up in the arteries and possibly cause a stroke or heart disease.

Triglycerides:

Finally, triglycerides are a form of fat that are found within the blood and used for energy. The combination of a high level of triglycerides with high LDL or low HDL can increase the chances of a person suffering from stroke or heart attacks.

Understanding Your Risk Level:

Typically, your healthcare team will do a simple blood test to check your levels of cholesterol. The test is known as a lipid profile, and the test measures several kinds of cholesterol, with each individual part including triglycerides. Some doctors will also do another blood test that checks HDL and total cholesterol and nothing else.

The determination of whether or not you require treatment for your lipid levels will not be based solely on your profile numbers. Rather, your primary care provider will look into these numbers and any other risk factors you may have to determine your overall risk of heart disease.

Cholesterol is a factor that needs to be monitored within the body, similarly to blood pressure, so it's important for each person to speak to the healthcare team about the measures that he or she may need to take. All adults over the age of twenty are typically recommended to undergo a cholesterol check and if you have not been diagnosed with heart disease, chances are that you will be required to get checked at least once every five years.