Want to avoid heart disease? Know your cholesterol reading.
According to health experts, adults aged 20 and above should have both their total and HDL cholesterol measured at least once every five years.
High cholesterol levels in your blood (hypercholesterol-emia) can significantly increase your risk for coronary heart disease. Along with high blood pressure and smoking, high blood cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart attacks. It can also signal hepatitis, lipid disorders, and hypothyroid-ism. Like high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol can go undetected unless you are tested. The good news is that if tests show that you have high cholesterol, there are ways to lower it and therefore significantly reduce your risk of heart disease.
The test requires a quick blood sample drawn from your finger or arm. Avoid any medications that influence cholesterol levels prior to testing.
The following guide is useful in interpreting blood cholesterol results:
| Desirable | : | Less than 200 |
| Borderline high | : | 200 to 239 |
| High | : | 240 or greater |
A blood cholesterol level above 200 increases your chance of developing heart disease. If the results of your first test are greater than 200 milligrams, a second test will be done for confirmation.
If you do have high blood cholesterol, the first steps to lowering it are switching to a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, losing weight if you are overweight, and getting regular exercise. If such lifestyle changes don’t lower your cholesterol enough, there are also cholesterol-lowering drugs available.
Important steps you can take immediately:
Quit smoking
Proper nutrition
Exercise
This test should be done at the same time as your total cholesterol test. It will give your doctor a more complete picture of your “cholesterol profile,” which is helpful in assessing your risk of heart disease. HDLs (high-density lipoproteins), often called “good” cholesterol, help keep your arteries free of plaque by carrying cholesterol from the blood to the liver, where it’s processed or removed from the body.
The test requires another blood sample (in addition to that needed for the total cholesterol test), usually taken from the forearm.
HDL greater than 60 helps protect against heart disease. HDL below 35 places you at risk of heart disease (even if your total cholesterol isn’t elevated).
You can raise a low HDL level by stopping smoking, losing weight, and exercising.
If your HDL level is below 35, your doctor may test your LDLs (low-density lipoproteins). LDL is often referred to as “bad” cholesterol because it carries most of the cholesterol in the blood from the liver to other areas of the body for use. If the LDLs remain in the blood, then fat and cholesterol can build up in the arteries and impede blood flow.
Testing for LDLs requires that you don’t eat or drink anything but water for 12 hours beforehand. You should avoid alcohol and strenuous exercise, as well as medications that could influence results (ask your doctor for a list), for 24 hours before the test.
| Desirable LDL | : | Below 120 |
| Borderline-high LDL | : | 120 to 159 |
| High | : | 160 and above |
Results from this test tend to be very reliable, but the test should always be repeated to confirm borderline-high or high scores.
Note: HDL and LDL readings won’t add up to your total cholesterol reading because total cholesterol is made up of other components as well, such as very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL).
If your LDLs fall into the “high” category, or you have borderline-high LDL levels and heart disease or two risk factors for it, a change of diet under your doctor’s supervision is recommended.
