Although it has a bad reputation, cholesterol is actually an essential component of your body, as it exists in every cell, explains the Mayo Clinic. The substance helps your body perform various functions, including digesting food and making hormones. If the level of cholesterol in your body becomes too high, however, the excess amount can lead to very dangerous, and possibly fatal, health problems.
Cholesterol Sources
Cholesterol is a fatty, waxy compound found both in foods you eat and your blood. Since the liver produces cholesterol, the substance exists only in food products that come from animals or that contain animal products, such as butter, eggs, fish, meat and baked goods like cake and muffins. Foods that do not contain cholesterol naturally include fruits, grains and vegetables.
Types of Cholesterol
After you eat foods containing fat, your liver converts the substance into either cholesterol or triglycerides, the two main types of fat found in your blood. Cholesterol falls into two categories: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Alternatively called LDL or bad cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol can accumulate in blood vessels, which can restrict blood flow and cause heart problems such as heart attack and stroke. Also known as HDL or good cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol can collect LDL cholesterol and return it to the liver, thereby preventing LDL cholesterol from narrowing blood vessels.
Cholesterol Levels
Because the two types of cholesterol have a very different impact on your overall health, it is important to know how much you have of each kind, in addition to your total level of cholesterol. A routine blood test can provide such data in terms of milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dL. In general, an average healthy adult should have total cholesterol below 200 mg/dL, LDL cholesterol below 100 mg/dL and HDL cholesterol above 60 mg/dL, according to the National Institutes of Health website MedlinePlus.
Dietary Management of Cholesterol
The NIH lists four ways to alter your diet in order to control your cholesterol levels and keep them from becoming too high. Adults should restrict the daily fat in their diet to 30 percent of their total calories or less and the saturated fat to about 9 percent or less. Saturated fats are fats from animal products, which are solid in form at room temperature, as opposed to unsaturated fats such as vegetable oil, which are liquid in form at room temperature. You should also consume 300 mg or less of cholesterol and 1500 mg or less of sodium each day to help keep your cholesterol levels within a healthy range.
Heart Disease Considerations
While it is a major contributor, cholesterol is not the only health factor that increases your risk of developing heart disease, notes the NIH. For example, people who smoke or who have diabetes, high blood pressure or a family background of heart conditions are more likely to get heart disease. Men over age 45, women over age 55 and obese individuals are at higher risk also. Consequently, all at-risk people should watch their diet to avoid developing another risk factor, namely high cholesterol levels.
