Learn in this article: (i) What’s the difference between “Good” & “Bad” Cholesterol? and (ii) How does cholesterol cause heart disease?
Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. People with high cholesterol nearly double the risk of getting heart disease. The CDC finds that less than half of U.S. adults with high LDL cholesterol levels seek treatment.
Mainly there are two types of cholesterols, HDL (high density lipoprotein) & LDL (low density lipoprotein).
Is Cholesterol Bad Or Good?
Low Density Lipoprotein: LDL is called as “bad” cholesterol because it travels from the liver out into your body, and the presence of too much LDL in blood can join with fats and other substances in your blood and can clog your arteries.
High Density Lipoprotein: HDL is called good cholesterol because it takes the bad cholesterol out of your blood, transfer it back to your liver and helps remove the bad cholesterol from your body.
Notes:
- With LDL, lower is better.
- The “good” kind of cholesterol is high-density lipoprotein (HDL). HDL takes away the “bad” LDL cholesterol from your arteries and sends it back to your liver, so LDL can be removed from your body. HDL may also help in removing cholesterol from plaque in your arteries. This explains why HDL is good for you.
[Read: Cholesterol Types & Their Importance]
How Does Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease?
Now, I will explain what does high cholesterol do to your body?
Excess cholesterol in your blood tends to join with fats and other substances to build up deposits in the inner walls of your arteries.
Over time these deposits convert into a thick, hard substance known as plaque. As a result, your arteries turn less flexible, get hardened, clogged, and become narrowed or may even be blocked. This condition is known as atherosclerosis.
Plaque accumulating in the coronary arteries can restrict and may not allow enough blood to reach your heart. The blood carries oxygen to your heart. If your heart doesn’t get enough blood and oxygen, you may suffer chest pain (ANGINA). And when a blockage completely cuts off the blood supply to a portion of your heart, the result is a heart attack.
Another danger is that the buildup of plaque can breaks loose or rupture, causing the formation of a blood clot at this location or a piece may break off and travel into your bloodstream. The blood clot can stop blood flow to you heart and cause a heart attack. A blood clot can also block an artery to the brain and cause a stroke.
So, now you can see how important is for you to keep your cholesterol levels in healthy range.
Read this Cholesterol Natural Cure Ebook about the personal experience of a 69 years old man who has beaten heart disease, lives an active, independent life, and uses natural ways to keep his cholesterol under control:
