What Causes High Cholesterol

What causes high cholesterol?

Knowing your blood glucose is a great step towards handling your own wellness. So, here we delve into what causes elevated cholesterol and clarify some common terminology you will see about the readings from a cholesterol test.

Cholesterol is a common indicator of health and a term many of us are knowledgeable about. But do you really understand what's cholesterol? What about LDL and HDL -- do you know the difference between good cholesterol and bad cholesterol? And how do you spot if your LDL cholesterol levels are creeping up too high?

What's cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in your blood. Your liver naturally produces it, but it could also be consumed in foods such as red meat, high-fat cheese, butter and eggs. Some cholesterol is healthy.

What is cholesterol used for?

It helps develop a healthy outer wall for tissues round your body. By contributing to the creation of bile acids, also it encourages digestion and the absorption of fats. It helps with the introduction of hormones and vitamin D. So, it has an important role in keeping your bones, muscles and teeth healthy. To perform these essential functions, the liver produces the majority of the cholesterol you want.

So, what happens if you wind up with more of this fatty material in your bloodstream than you need? This is referred to as higher cholesterol and it may in time cause you problems. Excess cholesterol can begin to develop and adhere to the walls of your arteries. This helps your blood vessels becoming stiffer and narrower. As it is more difficult for blood to flow freely around the human body, in case cholesterol continues to collect, it can boost your risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Good cholesterol v bad cholesterol

As a fat (or lipid), cholesterol cannot travel in your blood by itself. Before being discharged into your bloodstream, the lipids attach to protein. Lipids plus carbohydrates, combine to create ‘lipoproteins', which can be spherical parcels that carry cholesterol in your bloodstream to where on your body they are needed.

 

 

Low density lipoprotein (non-HDL or LDL cholesterol)

All these lipoproteins contain higher volumes of cholesterol. Their role is to transfer cholesterol from the liver to cells round the human body.3 But if there is more cholesterol than your system needs, it has the capability to build up and clog blood vessels. This makes LDLs the tag ‘bad' cholesterol.

This lipoprotein comprises less cholesterol and more protein. Its role will be to return the cholesterol that you do not need back to the liver. Here it can be used to make bile acids which help with digestion. Or, it's broken down so it can either be absorbed back into the blood and returned to the liver, or excreted as waste. HDLs can stop illness, so that they get the more favorable title of ‘good' cholesterol.

Anyone can acquire elevated cholesterol. Even when you're healthy, slim and healthy. However, here are ten risk factors that could make you more susceptible to raised levels of cholesterol.

 

·         Drinking more than the recommended quantity of alcohol.

·         Smoking

·         Being inactive

·         Present health conditions. By way of instance, an underactive thyroid gland, type two diabetes, obesity, liver disease or kidney disorder.

·         Being overweight

·         Genes. Susceptibility could be inherited from your parents.

·         Age. Raised cholesterol levels are more common as you get older.

·         Gender. Men are more likely to have high cholesterol levels. Individuals from a South Asian background can have a high risk of high cholesterol

·         There are often no signs of high cholesterol