What is cholesterol and what are the recommended levels?
Cholesterol has been something of a health buzzword for years, with, it’s safe to say, pretty much everyone over the age of ten able to tell you that having high cholesterol is bad for you.
While everyone from your doctor to the marketing for various brands of imitation-butter spread telling you that keeping your cholesterol levels low is essential, it’s little wonder that some of us might have forgotten to ask exactly what cholesterol is in the first place.
So we’ve put together a simple definition to explain both what cholesterol is and what levels of cholesterol are considered healthy.
What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a fatty substance which can be found in a person’s blood.
Having cholesterol in the body is essential, because it helps form the outer layer of your cells, it’s used to make vitamin D – which in turn keeps your teeth, bones and muscles healthy – and it helps produce bile, which is essential for digestion.
However there is good cholesterol (called HDL) and bad cholesterol (LDL and non-HDL), and too much cholesterol can block your arteries, increasing your risk of having a heart attack or a stroke.
What are the recommended levels of cholesterol?
Since there are different types of cholesterol, cholesterol levels are measured in different ways.
A healthy level of total cholesterol, aka all of the different types, is often five or below.
Your good cholesterol should be around 1 or above, meanwhile your bad HDL and LDL cholesterols should sit at roughly 3 or below and 4 or below respectively.
It’s worth noting that these figures constitute more of a guide than hard and fast rules – since every body is different, the levels your GP might recommend for you may differ.
According to the NHS, if you want to lower your cholesterol, you should:
- Eat less saturated fat, like that which can be found in cheese, butter, cakes and fatty meat
- Eat more fruit, vegetables, nuts, brown bread, and oily fish, such as salmon.
- Get more exercise
- Stay away from cigarettes
- Cut down your alcohol intake
There are also various prescription medications that you can take to help regulate your cholesterol level.
As far as symptoms of high cholesterol go, there are none, and if you want to find out if your cholesterol levels are high, you’ll need to visit a doctor and get a blood test.