What is High Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that is made in your liver and sent into your bloodstream. It is needed to help you build healthy cells, digest fatty foods, and make needed hormones. Your body makes it on its own, but it can also be found in food you eat (called "dietary cholesterol"). Your doctor or health care provider can check the levels of cholesterol in your body, usually with a test called a lipid panel or lipid profile. This test tells you about the cholesterol in your body—good, bad, and total. You want to have low levels of bad cholesterol and high levels of good cholesterol, but not too much total cholesterol.
"High cholesterol" usually refers to a high total cholesterol, but sometimes refers to having high amounts of "bad" cholesterol. Bad cholesterol, or high total cholesterol, causes build-up called “plaque” in your blood vessels. This plaque eventually blocks the blood flow to your heart and can cause a heart attack or stroke.
The condition of having high cholesterol is also called "hyperlipidemia."
Understanding Cholesterol Tests
Your cholesterol test will tell you four important things:
- how much total cholesterol you have
- how much bad cholesterol you have
- how much good cholesterol you have
- your level of triglycerides
Optimal or "normal" cholesterol levels are as follows:
- Total Cholesterol: About 150 mg/dL
- LDL ("bad") Cholesterol: About 100 mg/dL
- HDL ("good") Cholesterol: At least 40 mg/dL in men and 50 mg/dL in women
- Triglycerides: Less than 150 mg/dL
You should always ask a doctor or healthcare provider what your test results mean for you with your individual risk factors.
Symptoms of High Cholesterol
Unfortunely, high cholesterol does not have symptoms. You have to take a blood test to find out if you have it. High cholesterol can lead to much more severe conditions like heart disease, heart attack, and stroke, which each have their own dangerous symptoms. It's important to identify your high cholesterol through routine screening before it becomes a more complicated heart disease.
Risk Factors for High Cholesterol
Some medical conditions and even some medications can increase your risk of high cholesterol. If you have any of the following, be sure to consult with your doctor or healthcare provider to be tested for high cholesterol:
- Chronic kidney disease
- Diabetes
- Poor diet
- Obesity
- Lack of exercise
- Smoking
- Alcohol
- Age over 40 years old
Managing High Cholesterol
To avoid bad cholesterol or too much total cholesterol, avoid eating a diet high in saturated and trans fats, and make sure you get plenty of physical activity. Avoiding obesity and preventing diabetes, or keeping your diabetes well-controlled, also helps reduce your risk of bad or high total cholesterol.
What kind of diet is “high in saturated and trans fats?” These fats are commonly found in animal products such as cheese, dairy, and fatty meats. On the other hand, eating foods that have high amounts of fiber or unsaturated fats, such as oatmeal, beans, avocados, olive oil, and nuts, can help manage bad cholesterol and improve good cholesterol. Choosing lean meats or seafood, fat-free dairy products, and eating lots of whole grains and fruits and vegetables also helps you avoid bad cholesterol.
Community Resources
Your primary care provider (that's us at ICHC!) can review your risk factors and order a test for high cholesterol, as well as other conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes that share a lot of the same risk factors. It’s also important to know your family medical history, so talk to your biological family members, like your parents and grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc, to find out what kind of risk runs in your family.
Community Health Centers like us can help you get these tests at a reduced cost if you qualify for the sliding fee based on your household size and income. You can also keep an eye out for local health fairs, which often offer lipid panels at low or no cost. Bring those test results to your doctor or healthcare provider for interpretation and advice on what to do next.
To schedule a visit with a primary care doctor or health provider, even if you don’t have insurance or a lot of money for doctor’s visits, call us today at 907-455-4567, option 1.
