Fit and Healthy Lifestyle

More that a million Americans die of heart disease each year. One of the major causes of this heart disease the high cholesterol levels in the blood. Cholesterol plays a central role in many biochemical processes, but is best known for the association of cardiovascular disease with high levels of cholesterol in the blood.

Konrad Bloch and Feodor Lynen shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1964 for their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of the cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism.

Cholesterol is a sterol (a combination steroid and alcohol) and a lipid found in the cell membranes of all body tissues. It is transported in the blood plasma of all animals. The average amount of blood cholesterol varies with age, typically rising gradually until one is about 60 years old.

In recent years, the somewhat imprecise term “bad cholesterol” has been used to refer to LDL (low-density lipoprotein) which, according to the lipid hypothesis, is thought to have harmful actions, and “good cholesterol” to refer to HDL (high-density lipoprotein), thought to have beneficial actions.

Having a large numbers of large HDL particles correlates with better health and it is commonly called “good cholesterol”. Having a large number of LDL particles in the blood is commonly called “bad cholesterol”. However, as today’s testing methods determine LDL (”bad”) and HDL (”good”) cholesterol separately, this simplistic view has become somewhat outdated.

The American Heart Association provides a set of guidelines for total blood cholesterol levels and risk for heart disease. The desirable LDL level is considered to be less than 100 mg/dl. However the 1987 report of National Cholesterol Education Program suggest the total blood cholesterol level should be less 200 mg/dl normal blood cholesterol, if the cholesterol level is between 200 and 239 mg/dl it is considered borderline-high, and higher than 240 mg/dl is considered high cholesterol level…. High-Cholesterol-Treatment continue …