Talking about cholesterol levels for women and men, there are 3 types of cholesterol that we should concern. These types are (1) triglycerides that are stored throughout the body (foods that we eat can contribute to cause excess sugar, alcohol, and calories which eventually in the body will be converted to become triglycerides), (2) high-density lipoprotein or HDL ‘good cholesterol’, and (3) low-density lipoprotein or LDL ‘bad cholesterol’!
You might also like to read about how to prevent high cholesterol and how much cholesterol in egg yolk, before continuing!
The lipid profile is a kind of screening test (blood test) to measure the cholesterol levels. If you are over 20 years of old, you should measure the levels of your cholesterol at least once in 5 years to keep monitoring the levels of your LDL, HDL, and triglycerides! Many doctors give advice to do a lipid profile more frequently for women who are over 45 years of old and for men who are over 35 years of old!
Effects of LDL and HDL for your body!
The higher of LDL is not good for your body. Therefore (as mentioned before) it is also familiar called as bad cholesterol! High levels of LDL can put you at higher risk of certain diseases, particularly like heart disease. You may also like to read how to lower cholesterol naturally!
If your LDL goes up, there are excess cholesterols that will be build-up & stick to the arteries walls (these build ups is also familiar known as plaque)! These plaques is bad for your arteries -- your arteries can be harden & narrow which then cannot work optimally (bad for your blood circulation)! And in severe stage, the arteries can stop working and this can lead to serious disease that we call as a heart attack.
On the other hand, higher of HDL is good for your health. HDL can be so useful for the body to carry LDL back to your liver. In other words, it can clean cholesterol from your bloodstream!
HDL & LDL cholesterol levels for women and men!
The screening test of your cholesterol will result in the forms of numbers! The following are helpful tables to explain and interpret the safe level (normal), borderline high, and high of LDL & HDL!
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| Table credit to WebMD |
Triglycerides
Higher triglycerides are also not good for your health. Your risk of developing coronary artery disease increases if you have a high triglyceride!
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| Table credit to WebMD |
What else you need to know?
- For people with blood vessel disease or heart disease, the LDL levels should be below 70 mg/dL!
- For people who have multiple risk factors of heart disease (like having diabetes), One of the goals of the treatment is to get less than 100 mg/dL of LDL (lower is much better).
- And there is also a term called ‘total cholesterol’. It is measured from the total of HDL, LDL, & other lipid components! Lower of total cholesterol is better for your health. It is desirable (normal) less than 200! And for mildly high of total cholesterol is about 200-239 mg/dL, and for high is 240 mg/dL or more than 240 mg/dL! For more in-depth information about cholesterol levels for women & men or other related issues -- don't forget to talk with your doctor!
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Reference: WebMD
--Image credit to ‘Getty Images’ for illustration
Reference: WebMD
--Image credit to ‘Getty Images’ for illustration
