At present there are several severe diseases which are spread in all over the world including India such as cancer, heart diseases, anemia, high blood pressure and many more. High cholesterol is also one the illness which is also responsible for severe diseases including heart problem.

What is Cholesterol –

It is a waxy or far like substance that is present in the cell of the body. Cholesterol is a fatty substance and is formed in the liver that produces about 80 percent of the cholesterol in the human body and the remaining by food such as meat, fish, eggs yolk, cheese and poultry. It is important t note that   there is no cholesterol in foods are formed by plants. The liver controls the content of cholesterol in the blood. When you take food in lunch or dinner, the cholesterol is found in the meal which is absorbed by the small intestine and then stored in the liver and If the body requires the cholesterol then it may be concealed by the liver.

If a high amount of cholesterol is found in the human body then it causes several diseases including cardiovascular disease which is very harmful for the health of the person. When a huge amount of cholesterol is present in the blood then increase the possibility of heart attacks and may result to death. To check the cholesterol level, majority of the people uses the cholesterol test.

When you have excessive amount of cholesterol in the blood then it may combine with other substances to form plaque and plaque sticks to the walls of the arteries. In this way it builds up of plaque is called as atherosclerosis that leads to coronary artery disease where the coronary arteries become narrow or even blocked.

Importance of cholesterol –

Cholesterol is essential for the skin and brain tissue and plays an important role in the body. It is used for producing vitamin D and steroid hormones which keep bones, healthy teeth and muscles. Cholesterol is used for making bile which improves to digest the food.

Types of Cholesterol

There are several types of cholesterol which are as given below –

1. HDL – It stands for high-density lipoprotein which is also called as good cholesterol. This type of cholesterol is good for the health of the person because HDL cholesterol lowers the bad cholesterol from veins to the liver in which it splits down and removed from the body as per American Heart Association (AHA). If the level of HDL Cholesterol is less in the body then it increases the risk of heart problems which is harmful for the health. Avoid smoking, reducing in weight and daily physical exercise are the main activities for increasing HDL cholesterol in the body which is benefit for the health of the person.
2. LDL – It stands for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol which is also known as bad cholesterol. This type of cholesterol is very harmful for the health of the person because it carries large amount of cholesterol to the tissues which stored in the arteries and increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. If the level of cholesterol increases then it can narrow the veins, reducing the movement of blood to the brain or the heart that increases the risk of heart attack and strokes. So this lower this type of cholesterol is harmful for the health of the person.

There are some of the food items which causes increase in LDL cholesterol such as

• Meat
• Egg yolk
• All the milk dairy products
• Fried foods

Normally Trans fat are placed to supply baked goods and stick margarine are prepared with partly hydrogenated vegetable oil that also increase the LDL cholesterol

3. VLDL – It stands for very low density lipoprotein which is also bad cholesterol as a LDL cholesterol. This type of cholesterol carries different type of fat known as triglycerides that is present in the blood. Triglycerides are also found in fatty foods which are made from other food energy sources such as carbohydrates. This type of fat provides fuel for the body but increase level of this fat is harmful for the heart.  According to American Heart Association (AHA) , to prevent increase level of triglycerides which depends upon the changes in the lifestyle such as avoid alcohol, daily physical exercise and reducing weight. Triglycerides has increase amount of fat and very small protein. If the large amount of VLDL is present in the blood then it closes the walls of the arteries which are harmful for the health.
4. IDL – it stands for intermediate density lipoprotein which is also same as LDL. This type of cholesterol carries both the triglycerides fats and cholesterol. There are some of the IDL particles are rapidly taken by the liver to circulate and they undergo further triglycerides hydrolysis by hepatic lipase which is converted into LDL.

Causes of high cholesterol

High cholesterol is generally caused by unhealthy lifestyle which is as given below –

• Smoking – It reduces the HDL cholesterol especially in women and also increases the LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) which is injurious for the health.
• Unhealthy eating habits – There is an unhealthy eating habits such as dairy products, baked goods, meats, fried foods and processed foods are responsible for increasing the LDL(bad) cholesterol which is harmful for the health.
• Lack of physical activity – Due t lack of physical activity it lowers the HDL (good) cholesterol which is not good for the health of the person.

Important Note – Genetics may also responsible for high cholesterol in people such as familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inborn or inherited form of high cholesterol. There are some of the medicines that can be used for lowering the cholesterol.

How to reduce the cholesterol

To decrease the cholesterol in the blood by several factors such as reducing low fat foods and daily physical exercise for 30 minutes at morning.  Daily physical exercise is beneficial in lowering the weight of the body that may reduce the bad cholesterol in the body. You also lower the bad cholesterol in the blood by avoiding alcohol and friend foods which contain high fats.

Bad cholesterol is also control or reduces by using medications. When the bad cholesterol decreases then it reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Natural remedies to prevent cholesterol – There are some of the home remedies to reduce the cholesterol are as given below –

• Reduce stress
• Physical exercise
• Lowering weight
• Not take fried food
• Avoid smoking
• Eliminate trans fat from the diet
• Avoid alcohol
• Control the consumption of foods with high in saturated fats such as substitute olive oil or butter.
• Take healthy foods, including foods rich in soluble fiber and omega-3 fatty acids which is good for heart health.

Risk factors of high cholesterol

There are some of the risk factors for high cholesterol which are as given below –

• Weight – Overweight or increase in weight is one of the most common causes of high cholesterol that is harmful for the heart health.
• Age – When the age of an individual increases then it increase the cholesterol which means the old person have high cholesterol as compared with young person.
• Alcohol – It also increases the cholesterol level of the person which is not good for the health.
• Heredity – High cholesterol is also caused by heredity which can run in families.
• Race – There are some of the definite races that can have a great risk of high cholesterol. The example is African Americans naturally have high HDL and LDL as compared to white Americans.

 How is high cholesterol diagnosed?

Generally there are no symptoms of high cholesterol in the blood. By using blood test it can measure the level of cholesterol.  This blood test depends upon the risk factors, age and family history.

Home cholesterol test kit –

The cholesterol home test kit is one of the effective and suitable ways for testing the level of cholesterol. This kit is helpful in monitoring the cholesterol without the help of doctor and may provide the results in a few minutes.