So what are healthy and normal cholesterol levels and what are bad cholesterol levels?
All human beings are born with clean blood vessels, which from nature have a long live. Why then after some time these vessels are polluted and develop atherosclerosis?
Cholesterol is blood lipids (lipid-fat), some fatty substance. When cholesterol and his plaques start clogging the vessels of the heart or brain, life becomes unbearable. Heart attacks, cerebral thrombosis, hypertension and atherosclerosis – they are all due to not healthy cholesterol levels.
A common understanding that walls inside of vessels are covered with something similar to scale as in water pipes is not true. Thin, elastic vascular walls, without exception, over the years get thicker and compressed in every human. Thickening happens irregularly: at first by the diameter of the vessel wall fat strips appears and then around the zone of lipid accumulation grows connective tissue and plaques starts growing, which later will result in narrowing vessel clearance. If this process occurs after you reach the age of 60, it is quite a natural phenomenon. If it happens before, then it means you have atherosclerosis.
Plaques are formed only on the walls of arteries – vessels, carrying oxygen-rich blood. Often they affect the aorta, coronary arteries, as well as the vessels of the brain, kidneys and lower extremities. These plaques called “atheroma” and consist mainly of cholesterol.
It is said that to determine the risk of heart disease, it is enough to measure the waist.
It was found that when the waist circumference is more than 96 cm ischemic heart disease occurs three times more frequently than with “normal” waist size. And here on the stage again appears cholesterol and levels of cholesterol in our blood: thinner people have lower lever of cholesterol.
Fat food is high in cholesterol levels. It is the road to losing circulatory system and blood vessels elasticity, decreasing elasticity increases the risk of heart diseases. Only elastic blood vessels are able to expand when the muscles require increased amount of oxygen. After some time, vessels lose their elasticity and this leads to the development of hypertension.
Cholesterol is one of the main building materials of the body. It is present in cell walls, shells of the nerve fibres; they are also involved in the synthesis of hormones and vitamin D.
Cholesterol is essential for many processes and body even produces it as a supplementary fuel in extreme cases.
The question arises: how cholesterol – fatty by the composition substance – dissolves in the blood? It is not soluble. It takes special transport particles – lipoproteins. Lipoproteins can be low (LDL) and high density (HDL).
The first (LDL – approximately 70% of the total) provides the transport of cholesterol from liver to its consumers – adrenal and other endocrine organs. Precisely this cholesterol “on the road” may save on the vessel walls, reducing their clearance. As a result you get slowing blood flow, decreasing the energy flow for organs and violating the circulation of the blood. On the plaques, due to slow blood flow, platelets are piled, which further reduces the clearance of vessels and can lead to thrombosis. Hence, heart attacks, cerebral thrombosis, senile dementia, etc. all due to not healthy levels of cholesterol.
To simplify things, low density lipoproteins are called “bad” cholesterol containers, in contrast to the “good” cholesterol in high density lipoproteins.
High density lipoproteins are extracting cholesterol from the vascular walls and deliver to the liver; they help to remove low density lipoproteins from the body, reducing the risk of atherosclerotic changes.
Cholesterol itself is not harmful. Blood must contain a certain amount of fat and cholesterol.
Only high or increased levels cholesterol are a danger. When the level of cholesterol in the blood exceeds a certain level, the arteries become clogged. These two types of lipoproteins play an important role in the development of coronary heart disease: low density lipoproteins and high density lipoproteins. Increased levels of low density lipoproteins and reduced levels of high density lipoproteins, significantly increases the risk of heart disease. And on the contrary, high concentrations of high density lipoproteins and low – low-density lipoproteins greatly reduce the risk of heart disease. Therefore, identifying the individual risk of coronary heart disease, it is important to know the levels of these two types of lipoproteins. The ratio of cholesterol to a concentration of high-density lipoproteins is a reliable indicator of the risk of heart disease. Individual values may differ from the averages.
Our body has some kind of a cycle of production and consumption of cholesterol. Its main producer and main consumer is liver. Liver produces 1.5-2.5g of cholesterol per day, but food give only about 0.5 g. One liver cell lives for about 100 days. For the development of new liver cells a lot of cholesterol is needed. Most of the formed in the liver cholesterol allocates to the intestine with gall, where 97% is absorbed into blood and spread to the blood vessels.
The reason for the accumulation of cholesterol is its excessive formation in the body and slow excretion. This is because of an excessive consumption of animal fats, rich in saturated fatty acids.
Cholesterol levels in products
Cholesterol is contained only in animal products. The biggest difference between cholesterol content (mg per 100g edible portion): chicken egg – 570, Dutch cheese – 520, bovine kidney – 300, beef liver – 270, liver, pork – 130. During meat and fish boiling they lose up to 20% of cholesterol.
British scientists that study aging process, state that the increased level of cholesterol in the body is not just harmful; it is the reason why people look older. According to recent studies, the blood of people who look older than their age, contains high levels of cholesterol and haemoglobin, reports the BBC. In the body of women, who look older, researchers found low levels of bilirubin, which produces red blood cells. High level of haemoglobin and a low level of bilirubin are directly linked to smoking. Researchers say that people look older than their age, when blood cells are destroyed in the skin from smoking, cholesterol and other factors.
Healthy normal cholesterol levels / Bad cholesterol levels
For better understanding of the survey results on the cholesterol, it is useful to know which part belongs to the HDL and which – to the LDL. The highest level of cholesterol HDL – good cholesterol – is found in people who are regularly doing physical activities, do not smoke and maintain normal weight.
LDL (low density lipoproteins). Healthy normal cholesterol levels / Bad cholesterol levels
- 160mg or more – high level of cholesterol
- 130 – 159mg – boundary level of cholesterol
- up to 130mg – normal level
HDL (high density lipoproteins). Healthy normal cholesterol levels / Bad cholesterol levels
- up to 35mg – extra risk
- 35mg and more – usual level of cholesterol
The total cholesterol level. Healthy normal cholesterol levels / Bad cholesterol levels
- 240mg or more – High level of cholesterol
- 200 – 239mg – Boundary Region
- up to 200mg – Standard level of cholesterol