Cholesterol Testing: Everything You Need to Know About Your Cholesterol Level

The higher your blood cholesterol level, the higher your risk of having a heart attack. Because you have heart disease, your heart attack risk is already high, which means it's especially important to do a cholesterol testing to determine your cholesterol level.

If you have diabetes as well as heart disease, your heart attack risk rises still higher. If you have both diseases, it is extremely important to take steps to keep both your cholesterol and your diabetes under control.

Cholesterol Testing: How Cholesterol Affects Your Heart

Your body needs cholesterol to function properly. However, your body produces all the cholesterol it needs. Over time, extra cholesterol and fat circulating in the blood build up in the walls of the arteries that supply blood to your heart.

This buildup, called plaque, makes the arteries narrower and narrower. If enough oxygen-rich blood cannot reach your heart, you may suffer chest pain, or angina. If the blood supply to a portion of your heart is completely cut off, the result is a heart attack.This normally happens when a cholesterol-rich plaque bursts, releasing the cholesterol into the bloodstream and causing a blood clot to form over the plaque.

The Two Main Types of Cholesterol

Cholesterol travels in the blood in packages of fat(lipid) and protein called lipoproteins. Cholesterol packaged in low-density lipoprotein(LDL) is often called "bad" cholesterol, because too high a level of LDL in your blood can lead to blockages in your arteries. Another type of cholesterol is high-density lipoprotein (HDL) known as "good" cholesterol. That's because HDL helps remove cholesterol from the body, preventing it from building up in your arteries.


Cholesterol Testing: How to Get Tested

High blood cholesterol itself does not cause symptoms, so if your cholesterol level is too high, you may not be aware of it. So it's important to do cholesterol testing regularly, especially if you have heart disease. A blood test called a "lipoprotein profile" measures the levels of all types of lipids, or fats in your blood.

Total cholesterol is a measure of all the cholesterol in your lipoproteins, including the bad cholesterol in LDL and the good cholesterol in HDL.

The higher your LDL number, the higher your risk of heart disease or heart attack. Knowing your LDL number is very important because it will determine the kind of treatment you may need.

The point is: If you have heart disease, reducing LDL cholesterol will reduce your risk of heart attack and can actually prolong your life.

However, your HDL number tells a different story. The lower your HDL number, the higher your risk of heart disease and heart attack. Your lipoprotein profile test will also measure the levels of trigleycerides, which are another fatty substance in the blood.

Cholesterol Testing: Knowing Your HDL Cholesterol Level

An HDL cholesterol level of less than 40 mg/dL is a major risk factor for heart disease and heart attack. An HDL level of 60 mg/dL or higher is reasonably protective.

Cholesterol Testing: Setting Your LDL Goal

The main goal of cholesterol-lowering treatment is to lower your LDL level enough to reduce your risk of heart attack. Achieving this goal is critically important if you have heart disease. The higher your risk category, the lower your LDL goal will be. For most people with heart disease or diabetes who are at high risk for heart attack, the goal of cholesterol-lowering treatment is an LDL below 100 mg/dL.

Two Simple and Easy Ways to Lower Your LDL

There are two main ways to lower your cholesterol - through lifestyle changes alone, or through lifestyle changes combined with medication.

Lifestyle changes - One important treatment approach is called TLC, which stands for Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes. This treatment helps to reduce LDL cholesterol through a diet that's low in saturated fat - the main dietary culprit that raises blood cholesterol - trans fat, and dietary cholesterol, as well as through regular physical activity and weight management.

Everyone who needs to lower cholesterol should use this TLC program. Adopt the TLC approach and you will lower your chances of having a heart attack and other heart disease complications. The TLC plan simply puts more emphasis on decreasing saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol to lower blood cholesterol levels.

Medication - If your LDL level is above your goal, your doctor will prescribe medications at the same time you are making lifestyle changes. If you do need medication, be sure to use it along with the TLC approach. This will keep the dose of medicine as low as possible, and will lower your risk in other ways as well. You will also need to control all your other heart disease risk factors, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking.

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