Emerger 0 Report post Posted April 11, 2008 People talk about cholesterol all the time. Just to make sure you understand the basics, let me run through this with you.Based on good solid research over a lot of years, an association (risk) was found between cholesterol levels and heart attack and stroke. As the data was further evaluated and studies done, the risk was confirmed. High levels of blood cholesterol are associated with an increase in stroke and heart attack. The good news is that the same studies showed that lowering the cholesterol lowered the risk of heart attack and stroke. As the average cholesterol level in US citizens has declined, so has the incidence of heart attack. How do you interpret cholesterol tests?Some of the parts are measured and some are calculated. The basic formula is:Total cholesterol = LDL Cholesterol + HDL Cholesterol + Triglycerides / 5LDL = bad cholesterolHDL = good cholesterolTriglycerides are another type of fat in the blood. Also bad in high levelsThe "goals" are as follows:Total = under 200LDL = under 100HDL = over 40Triglycerid = under 150Total cholesterol / HDL = under 5.1 (optimum 3.5)Stricter levels are recommended for people with diabetes or heart disease.I hope this information is helpful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dolar123 0 Report post Posted April 11, 2008 (edited) People talk about cholesterol all the time. Just to make sure you understand the basics, let me run through this with you. Based on good solid research over a lot of years, an association (risk) was found between cholesterol levels and heart attack and stroke. As the data was further evaluated and studies done, the risk was confirmed. High levels of blood cholesterol are associated with an increase in stroke and heart attack. The good news is that the same studies showed that lowering the cholesterol lowered the risk of heart attack and stroke. As the average cholesterol level in US citizens has declined, so has the incidence of heart attack. How do you interpret cholesterol tests? Some of the parts are measured and some are calculated. The basic formula is: Total cholesterol = LDL Cholesterol + HDL Cholesterol + Triglycerides / 5 LDL = bad cholesterol HDL = good cholesterol Triglycerides are another type of fat in the blood. Also bad in high levels The "goals" are as follows: Total = under 200 LDL = under 100 HDL = over 40 Triglycerid = under 150 Total cholesterol / HDL = under 5.1 (optimum 3.5) Stricter levels are recommended for people with diabetes or heart disease. I hope this information is helpful. May be this Blog can help you beauty-health-1.blogspot.com/ Edited April 12, 2008 by jlhaslip (see edit history) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites