by The Library of Congress

Cholesterol is known to basically occur in every part of our body which is best described as a fat-like and waxy substance. It is something that our body requires in order to function properly although having high levels of cholesterol in the blood increases your risk of heart disease. Now the reason behind this is because too much cholesterol normally ends up sticking to the walls of your arteries which is called plaque. The tendency of plaque is to narrow your arteries and even block them.

To date, there are two main types of cholesterol and these would be high-density lipoprotein or HDL and low-density lipoprotein or LDL. HDL is identified as the “good” cholesterol while low-density lipoprotein or LDL is identified as the “bad” cholesterol. Now given that cholesterol is a substance that cannot be dissolved in the blood, the role of lipoproteins is to transport it to and from the cells.

Now HDL is deemed to be the “good” cholesterol since the higher your HDL cholesterol level is, your risk of acquiring coronary artery diseases are decreased. On the other hand, LDL is considered to be “bad” cholesterol since the higher your LDL cholesterol is, it then places you at a greater risk for heart disease and other heart related complications.

Now aside from LDL and HDL, cholesterol can still be broken down further into what we call very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or VLDL. Note that compared to other lipoprotein types, VLDL has the highest amount of triglyceride which is a form of fat that is produced in our body. Given that it has the highest level of triglyceride, having a high VLDL level means that there is a greater risk of acquiring coronary artery disease which causes strokes and heart attacks.

Now apart from these types of lipids and other fats which are collectively called triglycerides; a person’s total cholesterol count also includes Lp(a) cholesterol. Now bear in mind that it is very important for individuals who are over twenty years old to do a blood test in order to know their cholesterol level. In doing so, one may prevent any possible heart related problems and have the option to take immediate action if necessary.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 at 5:22 pm and is filed under Hdl. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.