“Having an idea of what those numbers look like early on gives you an opportunity to make some lifestyle changes. “Blood lipids give you an understanding of your risk of heart disease,” says Sujatha Rajaram, Ph.D., professor at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health and the scientific committee chair of the International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition. This information can help you and your physician make informed decisions. Ideally, your doctor will gather a full lipoprotein profile, which is a blood test conducted after nine to 12 hours of fasting. People with a strong family history of very high cholesterol should consider testing earlier. “If you’re eating more refined carbohydrates and things with a lot of sugar, you will have higher triglycerides.”Įvery adult who’s at least 20 years old should have their cholesterol levels measured at least once every five years, recommends the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. “People who consume more alcohol will have higher triglycerides,” says Petersen. High triglyceride levels are tied to consuming things like sugar and alcohol and can increase your risk of heart disease. Triglycerides are a specific kind of fat that’s carried by very low-density lipoprotein (VDL). Triglycerides are another important aspect of the overall cholesterol equation. “HDL is strongly influenced by activity levels-more active people have higher HDL levels,” says Petersen. Because it performs this important role, HDL is known as “good” cholesterol and can counteract LDL to some extent. HDL carries cholesterol from other parts of the body to the liver, which is responsible for removing excess cholesterol from the body. “It can cause blockages, change the walls of the arteries and increase pressure, resulting in hypertension.” High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL) “We talk about LDL as the bad cholesterol because when you think of an artery as a water pipe, that’s the cholesterol that’s going to stick to the inside of arteries,” says Kristina Petersen, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Texas Tech University. Healthy Cholesterol LevelsĬholesterol travels through the blood via two types of protein: Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) While we work hard to provide accurate and up-to-date information that we think you will find relevant, Forbes Health does not and cannot guarantee that any information provided is complete and makes no representations or warranties in connection thereto, nor to the accuracy or applicability thereof. The compensation we receive from advertisers does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides in our articles or otherwise impact any of the editorial content on Forbes Health. Second, we also include links to advertisers’ offers in some of our articles these “affiliate links” may generate income for our site when you click on them. This site does not include all companies or products available within the market. The compensation we receive for those placements affects how and where advertisers’ offers appear on the site. First, we provide paid placements to advertisers to present their offers. ![]() This compensation comes from two main sources. To help support our reporting work, and to continue our ability to provide this content for free to our readers, we receive compensation from the companies that advertise on the Forbes Health site. The Forbes Health editorial team is independent and objective.
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