The original article has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Elisa Martín, and is updated in September 2022.
One of the diseases that our diet influences the most is cholesterol, a substance that we are sick of hearing about, but perhaps we don’t know much about.
But whether we want it or not, it will mark our health from now on, and more so the more years we turn, it is important to have some basic notions that do not help to understand it.
Cholesterol is a substance similar to fat and whose presence in our body is essential.
It is found in our cells and we need it to produce:
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estrogen
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Testosterone
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Bile acids
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Vitamin D
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And other substances.
But cholesterol does not dissolve in a liquid medium, so it travels through the blood and does so attached to proteins that, when they carry it, are called lipoproteins.
The most important lipoproteins are low intensity, which form the famous bad cholesterol. And the high intensity ones are known as good cholesterol.
Bad cholesterol (LDL)
It is the most present in the body, and is responsible for transporting this substance from the liver to the tissues for use.
The amount that we have must be less than 100, since if it is above we run the risk of it accumulating in the walls of the blood vessels, which will cause them to narrow and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
One of the possible causes that we have high bad cholesterol is that we inherit it.
But almost always it is because we lead very unhealthy lifestyle habits. And that has the advantage that we ourselves can prevent, treat and correct it.
When should cholesterol be checked?
A high cholesterol level has the added complication that it does not present symptoms. We can only know if it is high or not, through a blood test.
For this reason, according to the prestigious (NHLBI):
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People should get their first cholesterol screening between the ages of 9 and 11.
From that age, it should be repeated every 5 years.
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Later, men between the ages of 45 and 65 and women between the ages of 55 and 65 are recommended to have cholesterol screening every one to two years.
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And people over the age of 65 should have their cholesterol checked once a year.
What complications can high LDL cholesterol cause us?
The first and most frequent risk is that it produces a dangerous accumulation in the walls of the arteries (atherosclerosis).
These deposits, called plaques, narrow the capacity of your arteries and can reduce blood flow, which can lead to complications such as:
- Chest pain. If the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart, are affected, we can experience chest pain (angina) and other symptoms of coronary artery disease.
- Heart attack. It occurs when blood flow to part of the heart is cut off. The cause is that if platelets tear or rupture, a blood clot can form at the rupture site, which can block blood flow or clog an artery.
- Stroke. Similar to a heart attack, a stroke occurs when for a similar reason, that is, a clot, the blood flow to a part of the brain is blocked.
What are the numbers of LDL cholesterol?
There is quite unanimity about the figures in which our cholesterol should move, both bad and good.
It is measured in milligrams per deciliter.
And in the case of bad cholesterol (LDL) these are the figures published by the American .
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Less than 70 mg/dL is what desirable for those who are at high risk of heart disease
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Less than 100 mg/dL, ideal for risk people
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From 100 mg/dL to 129 mg/dL, you are great.
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From 130 mg/dL to 159 mg/dL, in the High limit
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160 mg/dL to 189 mg/dL, high
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More than 189 mg/dL, very high
Treatment and statins
Under normal conditions, to combat it, we only need to eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly and, if necessary and the doctor orders it, take specific medication for it.
And that’s where statins come into play, such as atorvastatin (Lipitor) and simvastatin (Zocor), which are the most common treatment for high LDL cholesterol.
When we don’t inherit high cholesterol…
If we do not have a genetic problem, the causes that can cause us to raise cholesterol in our analyzes are very varied, but the most frequent of all is excessive fat intake.
Above all trans and saturated fats, such as those found mainly in:
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The butter
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full-fat dairy
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The eggs
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The meats
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Sausages
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Bakery products…
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Among other foods of very common consumption and that are recommended only in small quantities.
Good cholesterol (HDL)
High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is what we know as “good” cholesterol.
What HDL does is pick up excess cholesterol in the blood and bring it back to the liver, where it is broken down and removed from the body.
If you have high LDL cholesterol and low HDL cholesterol, the…