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What is Cholesterol? Cholesterol is a kind of fat in our body. Our body uses cholesterol to do many things: make certain hormones, make cell membranes, make vitamin D, and make bile acids. What causes high cholesterol? It can run in the family. Some conditions such as diabetes and hypothyroid can cause high cholesterol. But most of all, being overweight, lack of exercise, bad diets is the most common cause for high cholesterol. How do you test for cholesterol? A simple blood test. You have to fast for 8 hours (water is ok) before getting the blood test. What is so bad about high cholesterol? High cholesterol can lead to clogging of a person’s important arteries: the arteries in the heart and in the brain. When that happens, a person can get a heart attack (heart arteries), or a stroke (brain arteries). Are there any symptoms to high cholesterol? Usually none. But the complications from high cholesterol (heart disease, stroke) can lead to symptoms. What is this about good and bad cholesterols? In very simple terms, LDL and Triglyceride is the bad cholesterol, because they clog the arteries. HDL, on the other hand, is the good cholesterol, because they clean the arteries. What should the numbers be? Total cholesterol: less than 200 LDL: less than 130 Triglyceride: less than 150 HDL: more than 40 What can I do to lower my cholesterol? 1. Quit smoking if you are 2. Regular exercise 3. Healthy Eating 4. Lose weight if you are overweight 4. Medications What is a good diet if I need to lower my cholesterol? Eat more of: fish, vegetables and fibers, low fat dairy Eat less of: fried food, dairy fats (butter, ice cream), high cholesterol food (egg yolk, shellfish) How much exercise is enough? Exercise is the best way to raise your HDL. Current recommendation is to exercise for at least 30 minutes 3 times a week. What are the medications for treating high cholesterol? 1. Statins: It is currently the most popular class of drug for high cholesterol. They reduce body’s production of cholesterol, and they are very effective on lowering LDL. Well known examples include Lipitor, Pravachol, Crestor, Zocor. Need to check liver function in 2 months after stating. 2. Fibrates: A very good medicine for lowering triglyceride. 3. Zetia: the newest drug now, it decreases absorption of cholesterol from the intestine. It is used in combination with a statin to have even more powerful effect on lowering LDL. 4. Niacin: This is a vitamin, and it is a very good drug to lower LDL and raise HDL, but its side effect of flushing causes a lot of people to not like it.
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