Thursday, April 24, 2008

Confused about cholesterol?

Have you been told that you have high cholesterol or that you're at risk of it? If you don't know what the numbers are all about, it can be confusing. LDL? HDL? What's what and what should each be?

First, it's important to know that we need cholesterol - it's a building block for our cells. LDL is the "bad" cholesterol, the one that can stick together and against the blood vessel walls. As this cholesterol builds up, it can cause a complete blockage in the blood vessel, which can lead to a stroke.

The other type of cholesterol, HDL, is the "good" cholesterol. Its role is to sweep the LDL along the blood vessels so it can't stick to the vessel walls.

A good way to remember which is which is HDL, the good one, is the one you want in the high numbers: HDL = High. LDL, the bad one, is the one you want to be as low as possible: LDL = Low.


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4 comments:

Marijke Vroomen-Durning said...

Thanks Michael. The information you provided is interesting - but the post is on cholesterol. Perhaps you can post something when I discuss blood pressure?

Anonymous said...

how would YOU best suggest someone (read: my husband :)) increase the HDLs

Ive seen so many suggestions...

M.

Marijke Vroomen-Durning said...

Hi MizFit,

I, personally, don't have a lot of experience actively working on raising HDL as, thankfully, we all seem to be ok on that level here in my family.

That being said, one of my favourite sources for information like this is the MayoClinic.com. Their section on cholesterol is pretty all encompassing so you may want to give it a look. It's at http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hdl-cholesterol/CL00030

Anonymous said...

THANKS!

off to read.
M.