Cholesterol Ratio and Heart Disease Risk
Cholesterol could be either good or bad. This fatty substance is useful for proper cell functions and even essential since cholesterol is the key component of cell membranes. But higher cholesterol rate in the blood could build accumulation in artery walls of blood vein and it might lead to heart disease and stroke. That is the reason there is a rising awareness of finding out cholesterol ratio to find out the risk of cholesterol-related diseases and health problems. People with lower cholesterol ratio are considered to have lower risk of heart problems and stroke.
It should be understood that cholesterol is carried in the blood but couldn’t dissolve in it. Cholesterol need lipoproteins as vehicles to carried them out through the blood stream to all over the body. Those cholesterol-carrier lipoproteins substances are used to figuring cholesterol ration inside the body. We all know that there are two types if cholesterol carrier lipoproteins, the high density (HDL) and low density (LDL) ones. HDL often associated with good cholesterol that could be dissolved regularly by the liver. While LDL is the evil one that carried out bad cholesterol, that tends to accumulate in the artery wall. Cholesterol ratio is count by dividing amount of HDL per deciliter blood with the total cholesterol per deciliter blood. For example, if you have 50mg/dl HDL and 200mg/dl total cholesterol, than your cholesterol ratio is 4:1. The higher your cholesterol ratio, the higher you have risk of heart problems. It is considered that optimum cholesterol ratio is 3.5:1 while we are recommended to at least keep the cholesterol ratio below 5:1.
Cholesterol ratio is useful to giving general view on your cholesterol level and you risk toward heart diseases and risks. It is also useful to set up diet plan and goal. You can easily find commercial cholesterol test pack to get a simple cholesterol ratio test. However, cholesterol ratio isn’t useful to determine what kind of treatment you need to reduce the risk. Cholesterol ratio is focusing in HDL level while heart disease much related to LDL. Absolute number of cholesterol that is including HDL, LDL, and total cholesterol is much important to deciding what kind of treatment you need.
With absolute cholesterol number, you can get much useful guiding treatment decision for achieve much optimum goal in lowering your heart risks. But then again, it is your lifestyle that decides your cholesterol level and your heart disease risk. Love your heart much and start a healthy lifestyle.
Posts Related to Cholesterol Ratio and Heart Disease Risk
The Importance of Knowing the Cholesterol Ratio We all know that the cholesterol might cause some problems for us. As we all have already known, the ...
If you have High Blood Pressure and Cholesterol, it means that you have too much cholesterol in your blood. Cholesterol may build up walls of your ...