To understand the importantance of the necessity to raise your good cholesterol, you must first understand its function. Ad when you understand how important this good cholesterol is for your health being, you may want to learn some tried-and-true ways to raise your levels of good cholesterol.

This Cholesterol Can Provoke Heart Disease

To start with, good cholesterol’s official name is high density lipoprotein or HDL cholesterol. Second, cholesterol as a substance in itself is neither good nor bad; it crucially depends on which type carrier the cholesterol happens to be. With high density lipoprotein cholesterol, this cholesterol is washed away from the heart and arteries to the liver where the cholesterol is disintegrated and excreted from the body.

Let’s talk about our body’s “enemy”- bad cholesterol. This is the type of cholesterol that builds up in your arteries and can provoke heart disease or heart attack. Some scientists believe the HDL cholesterol not only washes cholesterol away from your heart, but may help remove bad cholesterol out of your arteries.

Ideally, you should try to increase the level of your good cholesterol if you want to have a healthy heart and arteries. Healthy ratio of HDL cholesterol level is considered to be 60 mg/dl or more. If you will be able to get this level of 60 mg/dl or above, doctors believe you can offset other causes that put you at risk for heart disease. As we said - 60 mg/dl is a good level to aim for, but our advice is that you have at least 30 mg/dl or above if you are a woman or 40 mg/dl or above if you are a man.

Your Way to HDL Cholesterol Level Improvement

Let us suppose that your HDL cholesterol level is not as high as you would want it to be – then you are in luck, there are some proven steps you can take to increase your good cholesterol level. These include getting more physical exercise or aerobic exercise – to be more particular – it includes walking, jogging, swimming and bike riding. Losing weight is an essential element in the attempt to increase your levels of good cholesterol.

We strictly advise you to quit smoking and severely cut trans-fatty acids out of your diet. These trans-fatty acids are found in pre-packaged foods and fried fast foods. Sounds strange but another way to improve your HDL cholesterol level is to have a drink or two each day. But please be advised that too much of alcohol can be bad for your heart, doctors have found that 1-2 drinks a day can raise your HDL cholesterol. Diet rich with soluble fiber can also help to raise your good cholesterol. If you have a high level of bad cholesterol then you may want to consult your doctor about taking cholesterol lowering medications also.

Be patient, the results won’t be quick as a lightning - it takes time to raise your good cholesterol level, but the outcome is worth the work. The more points you raise your good cholesterol, the less is your risk of heart disease by 2-3 percent. If you will be able to raise your HDL cholesterol by 10-12 points, you can lower your risk of heart disease by 50 percent.

What are cholesterol numbers and ratio?

General blood cholesterol tests are able to recognize and measure the concentrations of three different types of cholesterol in the blood, namely:: LDL? (low density lipoprotein cholesterol), HDLC (high density lipoprotein cholesterol), and VLDLC (very low density lipoprotein cholesterol).

Measurement value of their levels is estimated in milligrams/deciliter and the concentration of each of these determines the corresponding cholesterol numbers, and the total is equal to the sum of all three types. Test results are often presented in terms of a total cholesterol number and a cholesterol ratio representing either Total/HDLC or LDLC/HDLC.

Let’s see in details the types of cholesterols. Low-density LDL cholesterol, also known among people as “bad” cholesterol, is strongly linked to the development of cardiovascular disease. Raised levels of both LDLC and VLDLC in the blood may serve as a reason for a buildup of plaque along artery walls, and consequently causing them over time to narrow and harden (this disease is called atherosclerosis).

On the other hand, the higher-density HDL cholesterol fights against their “brothers” in the following manner: it picks up excess LDLC and VLDLC that have accumulated both in the blood and along arterial walls. That’s why folks call it “good” cholesterol and it is no wonder that it is one of the cholesterol numbers we’d like to keep as high as possible. With high HDL?, your Total/HDL? and LDL?/HDL? cholesterol ratios will remain as low as possible, and this all will significantly lower the risk of the development of coronary heart disease.

How to preserve healthy cholesterol levels?

For the sake of better understanding of the cholesterol profile results and maintain healthy cholesterol levels, physicians have developed guidelines for cholesterol numbers.

For total cholesterol, the numbers less than 200 mg/dl is optimal, and the total level should not raise upper than 240 mg/dl in order to avoid the risk of various heart diseases. For LDLC, less than 100 mg/dl is good, and the total level should be kept below 160 mg/dl.

And finally, an optimal HDL cholesterol level value is set above 60 mg/dl, and should be sustained above 40 mg/dl for men and above 50 mg/dl for women to avoid excessive LDLC accumulation in the blood and along the artery walls.

These figures can be used as a guideline to determine healthy cholesterol ratios as well. Let’s see: patient who has total cholesterol number 200, LDLC number 100, and HDLC number 60 has a Total/HDL cholesterol ratio of 200/60 and an LDLC/HDLC ratio of 100/60. This allows to identify an optimal Total/HDLC ratio of about 3.3:1 and an optimal LDLC/HDLC ratio of about 1.7:1.

It is extremely important to maintain and preserve healthy cholesterol levels in order to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease and avoid many problems associated with it in future. This means that you should have your cholesterol level checked on the regular basis to see where you stand. In the long run, your health depends on it!

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Zetia, recognized by the generic ezetimibe, is a medicinal drug that assists decrease cholesterol soaked up by the body. Zetia is a good supplement suggested for use even when associated with a healthy diet or even when diet and physical exercise aren’t sufficient.

Cholesterol results can be obtained with the help of blood test that will tell you the levels of both types of cholesterol in your organism. Such a test can be done at the hospital. Also, you can use home test kits for cholesterol testing. However, tests done in the hospital are more precise.

Should you have an excess of bad cholesterol, your doctor can advise you on how to lower it. He may request you to change your diet and do more exercise as well as prescribe you with cholesterol lowering medication. Most physicians’ advice that a person over the age of 20 should take a cholesterol test once every five years.

The Cholesterol Test Kit

Today there exists an option to undergo test on your cholesterol levels without having to leave your home. Such a kit can be obtained from any drug store and consists of the components required to conduct an accurate cholesterol test. Couple of blood drops will be enough to tell the cholesterol levels present in your body in ten minutes time. These tends are proved to have a 97% accuracy rate and is very easy. The approximate cost of the home cholesterol test kit is about $25 for a pack of two test kits. But please mind that home cholesterol test kit may not always be accurate.

You know that nowadays we can buy all kinds of home kits for many medical problems, but some of the results from the tests carried out by these kits may not be very accurate. However, inaccuracy in results may not lie with the test kit itself, but it may lie in the way it has been applied.

That is the very reason why doctors do not like take into consideration results of home cholesterol test. If your aim is to lower high cholesterol level, your doctor will ask you to take another test from the hospital lab. We are pretty sure that the doctor will only proceed with treatment after they get the lab tests results.

These kits may be useful if your doctor will approve its application. All this has one aim – when the test is done, he can interpret the results for you. This is why it is more preferable to take a lab test rather than simply using a home cholesterol test.

Every home cholesterol test done with a home test kit should be repeated in the hospital for double confirmation, so that if your home test results are wrong, you will know it before you undergo any form of cholesterol lowering treatment.

Taking into account certain result’s fluctuations while using home cholesterol test kit, you should consult your doctor and have the test re-done before taking any form of drugs or medications.

Sometimes they say about “good” and “bad” cholesterol but not all its variations are dangerous. It is homogeneous as a substance but found in blood in different compounds with other fatty matters and proteic substance which are called lipoproteins. One of them is low-density lipoproteins which carry cholesterol with blood to peripheral organs from liver where they are synthesized. If these compounds are overproduced or its disintegration is disrupted then large quantity of cholesterol is accumulated in blood. And in this case LDL cholesterol can be called as “bad” one.

The fact is that the excess of cholesterol finds its way into vessels’ walls. Here it is accumulated and conjunctive tissue proliferates around its deposition. So atherosclerosis plaque which narrows the lumen of a vessel and blocks blood flow is formed.

There are different kinds of atherosclerosis plaques. The most dangerous are malignant plaques with a big cholesterol nucleus and a cap adjusted to it with the help of connective tissue. Such a cap is easily torn and the plaque drains like abscess in the lumen of the blood vessel. In response to it organism tries to patch the damaged place by a thrombus. Very often such a thrombus cannot stop its growth and bocks up the lumen of the vessel as a cork. Blood flow is stopped and body tissues die off without oxygen and nutrients. If it happens in heart - it causes myocardial infarction and if it occurs in brain - it causes cerebral stroke. The onset of such dangerous diseases is evoked by high level of cholesterol which is found in “bad” LDL cholesterol.

There exist another viewpoint on the problem of low-density lipoproteins; a number of specialists question the idea that there is a certain connection between high-density lipoproteins and large number of cardiovascular diseases. They consider that people are frightened by slogans which boggle imagination: “killer of arteries”, “horror of the century”, “social danger number one”. That is, attribution of all of these characteristics to cholesterol makes doctors more and more doubtful about it. They refer to the fact that for more than twenty years of the fight against cholesterol doctors failed to reduce sickness rate from atherosclerosis and death rate from cardiovascular diseases.

Very often specialists mention so-called “French paradox”. It’s about the fact that the French have low rate of cardiovascular diseases despite that they traditionally consume food which is rich in cholesterol. And on the contrary, in the USA, where the majority of population has fallen for non-cholesterol diets, continue heading the list for the rate of atherosclerosis and number of obese people.

Despite the fact that many people nowadays take medicine which reduces the level of cholesterol in blood or follow the corresponding diet, the number of suffering from cardiovascular diseases does not decrease.

Also, it was found out that cholesterol is not always unhealthy and dangerous. There is “bad” cholesterol causing atherosclerosis and a “good” one preventing the organism from its development. At first it is required to do extra tests in order to determine its qualitative composition. Cholesterol itself is not a problem; the problem is the way it travels through the organism. Lipoproteins - complex compounds of fat and proteins are the carriers of cholesterol.

If the analysis shows that the number of low-density lipoproteins in the blood prevails - it’s time to worry, because exactly these compounds promote the sedimentation of cholesterol on vascular walls and the development of heart diseases. High-density lipoproteins on the contrary take part in removal of excess cholesterol. By the way, women suffer from heart attacks rarely than men exactly because their blood contains larger amount of the “good” cholesterol. This happens due to female hormones - estrogens. But when the menopause begins, chances of both men and women get equal.

In order to normalize the level of cholesterol in the blood it is necessary to:

-  Firstly, lower the caloric value of the diet. In case of overweight problems – you should lose weight. Very often loosing of weight is accompanied by normalization of cholesterol level;

-  Secondly, include beans, citrus fruits, apples and oatmeal in your diet. These products contain plant fibers, which help to remove excess of cholesterol. There is true popular wisdom: “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. It is true, especially if it is strengthened by the habit of beginning the morning with the plate of oatmeal.

Beans also protect the organism from atherosclerosis. Low level of heart attacks and apoplexies registered among the Asian population - is the result of their devotion to the famous podded plant - soya. The researches of the American scientists have proved that soya protein removes “bad” cholesterol, i.e., lowers the level of low-density lipoproteins, not affecting the healthy high-density ones.

This fact doesn’t mean that you should overeat soya replacing it by other usual food products. 20-25 grams of soya proteins a day will suffice. In spite of common belief, tea and coffee don’t affect the concentration of fat in blood. And red wine in small portions has beneficial effect on vessels. Regular exercises of average-intensity are very important for the normalization of the right balance of “good” and “bad” cholesterol in blood. The results become evident after six months.

Non-cholesterol diet is not desirable for children too. There are several reasons for it. Cholesterol is a part of cell membranes and thus provides cell division that is especially important for the growing organism. It turns out that without cholesterol children simply won’t grow.

The probability of the disease is reducing if the density of cholesterol is high and there is a lot of “good” cholesterol there in blood. “Good” cholesterol can capture “bad” one, forward it into the liver where “bad” cholesterol is utilized. Also, being the part of cell membranes, cholesterol is necessary for many essential processes like the process of cell division and organism regeneration processes. Cholesterol is necessary for growth and skeleton bones’ formation as it participates in synthesis of vitamin D which is aiding in fixation of calcium. Cholesterol is very important for fast-growing children.

The higher level of “good” lipoproteins the less probability of atherosclerosis. For example, “good” lipoproteins are increasing when we eat seafood, do sports. Such “fresh” idea as “Sport is health” can be revalued. Besides it was noted that some toxins contribute to the increase of high density lipoproteins. Alcohol is one of such toxins. Belgian scientists found out that people who consume grain alcohol in small doses have little risk of coronary disease and their level of “good” lipoproteins is higher compared with those people who don’t absolutely consume alcoholic drinks.

However, the effect disappears or becomes opposite if the dose is more than 50g of grain alcohol. More over, small dose of alcohol is harmful for people suffering from atherosclerosis and increased blood pressure.

For example, cholesterol is the peculiar material for producing all steroid hormones including sex hormones. In other words, sex hormones are altered cholesterols. Partially it is synthesized in the organism and partially it should come with the greasy food. As a result of this people who don’t consume cholesterol have problems with sexual drive. Sexual activity increases the level of “good” lipoproteins as well. This notion allowed introducing the rule of three “S” (sports, spiritus, sex) as preventive measures of cardiovascular diseases. Note that smoking leads to the reduction of high density lipoproteins.

Whatever non-cholesterol diet is and no matter how hard we try to replace “bad” cholesterol by “good” one, it’s impossible to be sure that we are absolutely protected from this disease. There is another factor causing such fatal disease except food. It’s so called immovable (passive) stress by which active stress of the primitive man was replaced. Now a man has no need to hunt. It’s difficult to change dramatically life style of a modern man. But it’s necessary to reconsider it: atherosclerosis of heart vessels is more frequent among brain workers than among manual workers. One hour of walk each day at an average pace is a good physical load for your body.

Should we analyze the blood for cholesterol ratio?

All adults above 20 must check their cholesterol ratio at least once in 5 years. Men older 45 and women above 55 are to check it more often; it also refers to those whose relatives have high cholesterol ratio. With the help of usual blood test your doctor can measure the ratio of your total cholesterol and hdl cholesterol.

There are following forms of cholesterol in blood: (i) total cholesterol; (ii) ldl cholesterol and ; (iii) hdl cholesterol.

You should do biochemical blood analysis on cholesterol ratio once a year. You can prevent atherosclerosis which may result in heart attack and stroke by controlling its rate. Look carefully after the rate of total (serum) cholesterol. If the result of blood test is 5,2 millimole\l (or 200 mg\dl) or lower, don’t worry: the rate is normal, atherosclerosis doesn’t threaten you the next one or two years.

The ratio from 5,2 to 6,5 millimole\l (200-250 mg\dl) shows that you are at risk of the atherosclerosis development. The result from 6,5 to 8 millimole\l (250-300 mg\dl) – is diagnosed as moderate hypercholesterolaemia. The rate above 8 millimole\l (300 mg\dl) indicates severe hypercholesterolaemia

If your cholesterol ratio exceeds the norm, you will have to undergo the dilated analysis called “lipidic triad”. It helps to find out the rate of “good” and “bad” cholesterol. The rate of “Bad” one must not exceed the level of 3, 4 millimole\l, and the “good” one - drop lower than 1, 6 millimole\l. If the rate of the latter drops lower, you are on the way to the atherosclerosis, even if the total cholesterol rate is normal.

Blood test from finger

You can have breakfast before clinical blood analysis (except the test on sugar content in the peripheral blood). Don’t eat fatty food before going to bed, in order not to provoke leukocytosis – high level of leukocytes. You must not drink alcoholic drinks, bathe in the sun, undergo physiotherapeutic procedures, have X-ray for 2-3 days before doing this analysis; otherwise the results will be vague.

Blood test from vein

The biochemical blood analysis is carried out between 7 to 10 a.m., not earlier than in 12 hours after the last meal (including drinking coffee and tea). You must stop taking medicines for several days before the test. If you didn’t do this, let your doctor know about it.

The most hazardous of them are: high level of cholesterol and blood pressure, smoking. Obesity and diabetes may develop later. Negative effect of one factor is aggravated by others - that is why their combination is extremely dangerous.

However, if you will be able to reduce each risk factor, for example, to lower cholesterol level, blood pressure, excessive weight and give up smoking, in this case the general probability to have cardiovascular deceases will reduce, and the development of atherosclerosis will slow down, maximum effect is achieved when you reduce the cholesterol ratio.

What cholesterol ratio doctors considered being normal today?

All depends on the age. For newborn the ratio is 1,3-2,6 millimole\l, for babies from 1 to 2 - 1,8-4,9 millimole\l , for children from 2 to 14 - 3,7-5,2 millimole\l, for adults - 3,9-5,2 millimole\l. According to doctors’ findings, the adult cholesterol ratio from 5,2 to 6,5 millimole\l is an insignificant abnormality; from 6,6 to 7,8 millimole\l - moderate abnormality; if the level exceeds 7,8 millimole\l it may be a sign of severe hypercholesterolaemia. But this is a mere theory, what’s in practice? Why heighten cholesterol ratio is hazardous? What makes the doctors say that all adults must know their cholesterol ratio and check it regularly?

According to the official statistics, high cholesterol ratio (hypercholesterolaemia) promotes the development of atherosclerosis plaques on vascular walls of blood vessels upon which later form thrombus. If such thrombus comes off and falls into the blood flow, it may lead to embolism in vital organs and cause the development of a number of diseases. Sometimes thrombus won’t stop growing and close vessel’s lumen like a cork.

The blood stream stops, organ’s tissues die off without oxygen and nutrients. If this occurs in the heart - myocardial infarction develops, and the brain is affected - then cerebral stroke may happen.

On the assumption of the above said doctors recommend to lower cholesterol ratio, if it exceeds the normal value. They advise to start with a life-style change: be more active, give up smoking, and follow the low cholesterol diet. If this doesn’t help, doctors will prescribe special drugs to reduce the cholesterol ratio.

At present there are four types of such medicines. These are: statin which blocks cholesterol development in the body; niacin that reduces the synthesis of lipoprotein by the liver; fibronolytic agents, activating enzymes required for the destruction of cholesterol and bile acids sequestrants, which accelerate the transformation of cholesterol into bile acids in the liver.

The chief advice is that you should not practice self-treatment being encouraged by ads about safe and miraculous food supplements. Among all food supplements the only effective are those containing well-known food-items affecting the cholesterol, for example, medicines with soluble dietary fiber. But a well balanced diet is more effective.

Basis of all diets on lowering cholesterol is decrease in consumption of fats of animal origin (lardy meat, by-products, butter, fat dairy products, fat grades of cheese, pastry and etc.). Replace most part of animal fats with vegetable oils: sunflower-seed oil, olive oil, corn oil.

Choose only soft grade of margarine (in cans, not in packages). You may use in moderate (limited) quantity low in fat dairy products, low-fat cheeses (not more than 30% of fattiness), lean meat, pastry containing vegetable fats or soft grades of margarine, fried fish, fried only on vegetable fats potatoes.

You may eat only 2 boiled eggs a week. Extend you menu with low fat and cholesterol products: coarse bread, any porridges, macaroni products, skimmed dairy products, various vegetable dishes and fruits.

From the range of meat products you should prefer chicken, turkey, veal. Remove fat and skin from the poultry before cooking it. Eat more fish, particularly sea fish, by introducing two fish days a week or one fish dish every day. Chose desserts without fat, cream and sugar, best choice - fruit desserts.

Pay extra attention to regular consumption of products which decrease cholesterol level in the organism and facilitate its excretion. Such products contain soluble cellulose and tend to form jelly substance when boiling. These are oat flakes (rolled oats), apples, plums, different berries.

Eat regularly bean products (haricot, pea). When cooking avoid frying on oil and better stick to boiling, stewing, and baking. Use utensils with special covering since there is no need to add grease during the cooking process. By carefully following such a diet you can reach lowering cholesterol in the blood by 10-12%.

If following of this diet within 6-8 weeks doesn’t lead to the desirable lowering level of total cholesterol in the blood (less than 5 millimole/l) and the risk of the development of the diseases caused by atherosclerosis is high, physician may raise the question about prescription of medicines that lower cholesterol.

Doctors more often prescribe statins from the range of medicines that lower level of cholesterol in blood. These drugs in average doses lower cholesterol by 20-40%. But the most important that attracts doctors to prescription of statins is the results of the performed researches. It showed that statines not only lower cholesterol, but also ease the course of the disease caused by atherosclerosis, decrease the mortality from the cardiovascular diseases and general death rate. Advanced studies of heart vessels revealed that treatment by statines checks the growth of atherosclerosis plaques and even causes its size reduction.

Cholesterol also comes to our bodies with food and very often in unreasonable quantities. General source of this substance is fatty animal products. Excess quantity of these products in human diet leads to the increase of cholesterol in the blood and at this point cholesterol becomes your mortal foe rather than your friend.

First sign of high level of cholesterol is a rise of blood pressure, heart pains when you are anxious and you may start experiencing certain problems while walking. Intermittent lameness may be evoked by atherosclerosis plaques in legs’ arteries.

Anyone should limit consumption of fatty food irrespectively of the results of analysis. This should be done at least as prevention, because the balance can be broken any moment, particularly if it is an aged man with overweight problems, pernicious habits and sedentary stressful life.

The less animal fats like milk fat will be included in your menu, the more chances you have to preserve your health. It’s not necessary to refuse totally from meat and dairy products. In such a case, you’ll deprive yourself of healthy cholesterol too. As a fact, strict adepts of vegetarianism who have never eaten fatty or even leanest meat do have heart attacks and apoplexies.

Actually, cholesterol is a strongly required substance for the organism. It is contained in membranes of cells, employed in hormone synthesis and is necessary for our brain. You should follow the mixed diet which combines animal and vegetable fats. Ideally, you should avoid consuming high cholesterol nutrition like sturgeon caviar, beef brains, hard cheese and egg yolk.

At last there’re new supplements which help to lower cholesterol levels: Lopid, Zetia and other.

Here is the list of high cholesterol foods:

- Dairy butter, meat fat, lard, suet, palm and coconut oil, artificially saturated hard fat including culinary and vegetable oil, margarine.

- Visible meat fat, mutton brisket, fat pork from the belly, salami, spread, duck meat, goose meat.

- Eggs.

- Unskimmed milk, condensed milk, sour cream, fat cheese, fat curdled milk, kefir.

- Caviar.

- Potatoes fried with animal fat.

- Pastry, ice-cream.

- Soups based on fatty broth.

- Sour cream sauces, mayonnaise or other fatty dressing.