Understanding A Healthy Cholesterol Level

Hypercholesterolemia is one the biggest risk factors for developing coronary heart disease. Cholesterol tends to accumulate in the walls of your arteries, forming plaques. These plaques cause the arterial walls to narrow and harden, making it difficult for your heart to pump blood. This condition is known as atherosclerosis, and is often a precursor to serious cardiac conditions such as angina, heart disease and cardiac arrest.

Cholesterol is important to the normal physiology of your body. Your liver manufactures some cholesterol and the rest is obtained from your diet. Obviously, you can control what you eat, but not what your liver produces, so dietary restriction is a crucial to maintaining good cholesterol levels. So what is a healthy cholesterol level?

To complicate matters, not all cholesterol is bad for you. Low density lipoproteins (LDL) are a sub-type of cholesterol that contribute to atherosclerosis and the associated cardiac complaints. By contrast, high density lipop roteins (HDL) are a form of cholesterol that work as scavengers. HDL cholesterol prompts the extraction of LDL cholesterol from the arteries and delivers it back to the liver, where it is excreted.

When you have your cholesterol tested, your doctor will look at several things. First, your overall cholesterol level will be examined. Total cholesterol is measured as a concentration and ideally, it should be less than 200mg/dL. If your levels are between 200 and 239mg/dL, your cardiac risk is classified as borderline high. Above 240mg/dL, your blood cholesterol is high and your risk of heart disease is substantially elevated.

Your doctor will also check your HDL or “good” cholesterol level – these should ideally be more than 60mg/dL. Having a HDL concentration of between 40 to 59mg/dL means your cardiac risk is fair, whilst HDL levels below 39mg/dL confer high cardiac risk. With LDL concentration, the lower the number the better – less than 100mg/dL is satisfactory, whereas anything above this level is undesirable. LDL levels between 101 and 159mg/dL are considered to be borderline high, whilst from 160mg/dL to 189mg/dL your levels are high. Above 190mg/dL is an excessively high LDL cholesterol level.

Finally, your doctor will examine your triglyceride level. Triglycerides are the most common type of fat in your body and are used as an energy source. As you age and weight increase, so too do your triglyceride levels. Ideally, your triglycerides should be less than 150mg/dL. Once they rise above 151mg/dL, your levels are considered borderline high. At 200-499mg/dL, your levels are high and your risk of ill health is substantially elevated. Beyond 500mg/dL your triglycerides are very high and your health may be in jeopardy.

If your cholesterol levels are high, or borderline high, it will be your doctor’s first goal to lower your total cholesterol. You’ll need to restrict the amount of high-cholesterol foods you eat, start exercising regularly and attempt to lose any excess weight. If these meth ods fail to work, you may need to look at alternate ways to lower cholesterol such as taking cholesterol-lowering medication in order to reduce your risk of coronary heart disease and other associated conditions.