Whatever your age, the normal (safe) level of your LDL ‘bad cholesterol’ should be less than 100 mg/dL! You also need to have higher level of HDL ‘good cholesterol’ (higher levels of HDL - better chance to prevent heart disease). 60 mg/dL or higher is good level of HDL and associated with lower risk of heart disease. But if you have some risk factors of heart disease, your doctor may give advice to have less than 70 mg/dL of LDL! What else you need to know about normal cholesterol levels by age?
You might also like to know more about how much cholesterol in yolk of egg and best cholesterol lowering supplements, before continuing!
You might also like to know more about how much cholesterol in yolk of egg and best cholesterol lowering supplements, before continuing!
There is no significantly difference between the safe (normal) level of cholesterol in men and in women. Talk with your doctor to get more detailed information and more advice!
Cholesterol tests
Once you reach the age of 20 (either for men or women), your cholesterol levels will begin to rise naturally! That’s one of reasons why your chance of having high cholesterol is getting higher as you get older. Therefore, it is so important for you to begin consider what you should do and what you should ‘eat & avoid’ once you reach 20 years of old!
Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that there is no chance of having high cholesterol below 20 years of old. If you have high cholesterol, there is also a chance for your children to have the same condition early. Because high cholesterol may also run in your family! Ask to your doctor for this issue, your doctor may also ask your children (below the age of 20) to get a cholesterol test.
The cholesterol levels naturally stay fairly normal ‘low’ until menopause -- in women. And after the age of 50, the levels of cholesterol often level off -- in men!
The good news, there are a lot of steps and ways that you can explore on how to lower LDL cholesterol! And the bad news, there are no any symptoms that occur when you have high cholesterol. Therefore, it is important to get regularly cholesterol tests to keep monitoring your cholesterols!
Once you are over the age of 20, you should get a cholesterol test at least once in five years. And this should be more frequently for the age of 40 or older (men) and the age of 35 or older (women). Your doctor may also ask to do these tests more frequently if you have many risk factors of high cholesterol and heart disease!
Ask to your doctor to get completely information how often you should do cholesterol tests!
As you get older - your risk of high cholesterol increases, why?
The LDL receptors to decrease or remove bad cholesterol are more likely to become less active as you get older. The following is helpful table to describe the average of LDL cholesterol levels by age:
But many experts believe that the link of the high cholesterol and body fat percentage is much stronger (has bigger role) than the connection between the high cholesterol and age! So no matter how old you are, you still have a chance to control your cholesterol as well!
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Reference:
-WebMD
-1999; Dr. Kenneth Cooper and William Proctor "Controlling Cholesterol The Natural Way".
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