fixaging

What to do; go to your doctor, request to get your LDL, HDL and triglycerides measured, compare the results against the tables below. If you are not in the lowest risk category and you are approaching middle age, then consult with your doctor on what changes you can do and make changes to reduce your risk of heart disease. Come back in one month (or sooner if you
doctor recommends it or you have a higher risk) and re-measure to see if the changes you have made are having an effect. If no changes have occurred it might be time to go for drug intervention. If you are getting older then you should be testing yourself regularly.

Some useful definitions:

• Cholesterol – is a lipid(fat) found in cell membranes of all tissues, and it is transported in blood of all animals.
• LDL – low density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol), LDL’s main job is to transport cholesterol and triglycerides from the liver.
• HDL – high-density lipoprotein (good cholesterol), HDL’s also transports cholesterol and from the liver, about 30% of blood cholesterol is carried by HDL. The reason that HDL is called ‘good cholesterol’ is that it is hypothesises that it can remove cholesterol from arteries.
• triglycerides – are a major component in very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) and play an important role in metabolism as energy sources and transporters of dietary fat.
• TC – total cholesterol , measures the total amount of cholesterol in the blood, note this is not so useful as it does not explain the ratio between HDL and LDL
• Heart disease – this is a range of conditions, all surrounding the cardio-vascular system, it is generally any condition which affects the heart muscle or the blood vessels of the heart, either weakening of the artery walls or build up of plaques within the walls of the arteries or complete blockage.

HDL

LDL

Triglycerides

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