Elevated levels of cholesterol can be seriously harmful for your overall health and well-being, and can lead to blockages in your arteries, which can cause heart attacks or strokes. But, although cholesterol tends to get a bad rap, it is not all bad – in fact, it is essential for the human organism.
Your body needs cholesterol – which is a kind of fat – for cells, for creating vitamin D or for producing the hormone oestrogen. For the most part, the body can create its own cholesterol, but it is also absorbed from fatty foods.
Cholesterol can broadly be categorised into two types: High density lipoprotein (HDL cholesterol) and low density lipoprotein (LDL cholesterol). HDL is better for you, as it protects blood vessels, whereas LDL can be harmful.
There are general guidelines of how much cholesterol you should have in your blood as a healthy human: overall, you should not have more than 200 milligrammes per decilitre (ml/dl) of cholesterol in your bloodstream.
The breakdown for the individual types of cholesterol depends on whether you have any other illnesses, such as high blood pressure, diabetes or if you are a smoker.
“LDL cholesterol should not be above 150 mg/dl if there is only one other risk factor for a cardiovascular disease,” says Johannes Wechsler, the head of the German Association of Nutritionists (BDEM). If there is more than one other risk factor, then that figure should be lower, around 100 mg/dl. If the patient has already suffered from a heart attack, or is diabetic, it should be 70 mg/dl.
Women should measure around 45 mg/dl or more of HDL in the bloodstream, and for men the figure is 40 mg/dl.
In order to prevent serious diseases, every person should measure their cholesterol levels at least once a year. This can be done with an easily available test from most pharmacies. If the test shows anomalous levels of cholesterol, you should see a doctor.
If your LDL cholesterol levels are consistently too high, then you will need to significantly change your diet. “The main thing is to choose the right fats: vegetable oils, margarine nuts and fatty fish are preferable,” says nutritionist Antje Gahl. She also recommends eating fewer saturated fats – which come from animal products.
She also warns against fats hidden in some foods, such as in salads, pizza or cake.
Apart from changing your eating habits, other ways to combat high cholesterol is exercise, reduction of alcohol consumption and quitting smoking.
A doctor should be able to start noticing a difference after eight weeks – if the patient really has made a change. If this is not the case, but the patient is sticking to the new diet, then doctors may prescribe drugs, as high cholesterol can be hereditary. – dpa
