High blood cholesterol
Overview
Your doctor calls it hyperlipidemia.
This is a common problem, but it is a major risk factor for certain noncommunicable diseases, such as coronary heart disease and stroke.
This condition can be managed, especially if it is still mild. Lifestyle changes can help lower your blood cholesterol levels. This condition can be treated, but it is often a lifelong condition. In more severe cases, cholesterol-lowering medications are needed to control high cholesterol levels.
The goal of therapy is to lower harmful cholesterol levels to reduce the risk of heart disease, such as coronary artery disease, stroke, and other issues.
What causes high blood cholesterol?
Cholesterol, a waxy substance, is a type of fat produced by your body.
Cholesterol can also come from the foods you eat.
Foods that contain cholesterol, saturated fat, and trans fat can raise your blood cholesterol levels.
These foods include:
• Cheese
• Egg yolk
• Fried foods and processed foods
• Ice Cream
• Pastries
• Red Meat
Not getting enough exercise? This can lead to weight gain, which can raise your cholesterol.As you get older, your cholesterol levels often rise gradually. Hyperlipidemia can run in families. People who inherit this condition may have very high cholesterol levels. This means they have a much higher risk of having a heart attack, even at a young age.
What Are the Symptoms and Risks?
Most people with hyperlipidemia are initially unaware that they have it. This condition tends not to cause any symptoms. It’s not something you can feel, but at some point you may feel its effects.
Cholesterol, along with triglycerides and other fats, can build up in your arteries. This causes your blood vessels to narrow, making it harder for blood to flow.
Your blood pressure may rise.
This buildup can also lead to the formation of blood clots.
If a blood clot breaks loose and travels to the heart, it causes a heart attack. If it travels to the brain, it can cause stroke.Risk factors for high blood cholesterol:
• Gender: After menopause, women’s LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol) levels rise, as does their risk of heart disease.
• Age: Your risk may increase as you get older. Men aged 45 or older and women aged 55 or older have a higher risk of developing high cholesterol and heart disease.
• Family history: The risk of high cholesterol may increase if your father or brother has had heart disease at a young age (before age 55), or if your mother or sister has had heart disease at a young age (before age 65).
• Diet: Trans fats, saturated fats, sugar, and, to a lesser extent, cholesterol in the foods you eat raise your total and LDL cholesterol levels.
• Body weight: Being overweight can raise your LDL cholesterol levels and lower your HDL levels.
• Physical activity/exercise: Increasing physical activity helps lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol (“good” cholesterol) levels. Physical activity also helps with weight loss.
How is this condition diagnosed?
Your doctor should check your lipid levels regularly.
This examination requires a blood test called a lipoprotein panel.
The test results show the following levels:
LDL cholesterol: “Bad” cholesterol that builds up in your arteries.
HDL Cholesterol: “Good” cholesterol that lowers your risk of heart disease.
Triglycerides: Another type of fat in your blood.
Total cholesterol: The sum of the other three numbers.
The American Heart Association recommends that adults aged 20 or older have their cholesterol checked every 4 to 6 years.
You may need to fast for 12 to 14 hours before the test.
A total cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL or higher is outside the normal range.
Your doctor will consider factors such as your age, whether you smoke, and whether any close family members have heart problems to determine whether your test results are high and what steps need to be taken.
Treatment
Here are some recommendations for lowering your high blood cholesterol:
1. Lifestyle Changes
The most important step in managing high blood cholesterol is changing your lifestyle. Lifestyle changes that can lower cholesterol include:
• Healthy eating habits
• Improve physical activity
• Limit alcohol consumption
• Lose weight
2. Medications
For some people, changes in diet and lifestyle may be enough to bring cholesterol levels into a healthy range.
Other people may need additional help.
Medications that prevent the liver from producing cholesterol are known as statins.
Statins are a common choice for lowering your blood cholesterol levels.
Nicotinic acid also affects how your liver produces fat.
This medication lowers your LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and raises your HDL cholesterol.
Fibrates are another type of medication that acts on the liver. These medications lower triglycerides and can increase HDL, but they are not as effective as other medications at lowering LDL.
Newer types of medications block the absorption of cholesterol from food by the intestines into the body. These medications are called selective cholesterol absorption inhibitors.
Resins, another type of medication, cause the body to use its available cholesterol. These medications bind to bile, an acidic substance involved in digestion, preventing it from performing its function. Your liver must produce more bile, which requires cholesterol. As a result, the amount of cholesterol in your bloodstream decreases.
If your doctor prescribes medication to control your cholesterol, you will likely need to take it long-term to keep your levels under control.