High cholesterol for youngster - Easy way to save yourself from that

What is cholesterol ?

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance found in all cells of the body. Your body needs some cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D, and substances that help you digest foods. Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs. Cholesterol also is found in some of the foods you eat.

Risk associated with cholesterol

1. High blood cholesterol will make a chance of getting coronary heart disease/coronary artery disease.

2. High Cholesterol Causes Heart Attack.

3. High Cholesterol Causes Stroke.

4. Can cause Chest pain as arteries that supply your heart with blood (coronary arteries) are affected.

What can cause high cholesterol?

1. Poor diet. Consuming saturated fat, found in animal products, and trans fats, found in some commercially baked cookies and crackers

2. Obesity. Having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater puts you at risk of high cholesterol.

3. Lack of exercise. Exercise boost your body's HDL, or "good" cholesterol while increasing the size of the particles that make up your LDL, or "bad," cholesterol, which makes it less harmful.

4. Smoking. Cigarette smoking damages the walls of your blood vessels, making them likely to accumulate fatty deposits.

5. Diabetes. High blood sugar contributes to higher LDL cholesterol and lower HDL cholesterol.

How to control cholesterol

1. STOP eating foods full of saturated fats, trans fats, and dietary cholesterol.

Saturated fat foods include  butter, red meat, full-fat and low-fat dairy products, palm oil, and coconut oil.

Start using Omega-3-rich fish, such as salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel, and trout. select very-low-sodium or no-salt-added canned fish if using tin fish. Clams, oysters, mussels, scallops also good.

2. Eat a lot more fiber-rich foods

This include oats, oat bran, barley, peas, yams, sweet potatoes , legumes or beans, such as pinto beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, and peas.Vegetables such as carrots, Brussels sprouts, beets, okra, and eggplant. Fruit such as berries, passion fruit, oranges, pears, apricots, nectarines, and apples also good.

3. Walk daily 30 minutes

4. Take plant sterol supplements

Note: High cholesterol typically doesn't cause any symptoms. A blood test is the only way to know if your cholesterol is too high. So it is always advisable to have a blood test every 6 months

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Lower your cholesterol without drugs

Health problems due to high cholesterol is on rise due to change in lifestyle and food habit.

To lower your cholesterol the following measures are available 

Dietary changes

Regular exercise

Drug

Here are few tips that will help to lower your cholesterol without drugs.

1. Reduce the intake of fried food especially fried meat and fish.

2. Do not reuse the oil that is once used to fry the food.

3. Reduce the oil intake as far as possible.It is better to use olive oil or sunflower oil for cooking.

4. Vegetables and fruits contain large amount of dietary fibers, that will inhibit the cholesterol absorption.Increase the daily intake of vegetables and fruits.

5. Oats.barley,cashew nuts also help to lower cholesterol.

6. Daily intake of Green tea will help to control cholesterol.

7. Fish such as sardine contain omega three fattyacid which can lower the cholesterol level.

8. Eating curry leaves ,and garlic are also useful.

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Serum cholesterol testing and its interpretation

Incidence of high serum cholesterol is increasing worldwide. This is due to alterations in lifestyle and food habits. High serum cholesterol is a risk factor for many disease. It increase the risk for heart disease and stroke.The interesting factor is that it is a controllable risk factor. 

Normal value

Total serum cholesterol

Desirable level ­<200mg/dl

Borderline­ level 200 to ­239mg/dl

High risk level > 240mg/dl

Fasting stating is preferred for LDL cholesterol checking. HDL and total cholesterol can be measured non fasting state. Cholesterol level is determined by lipid metabolism. Which in turn is affected by heredity, diet,liver kidney and thyroid disease.

Conditions where you get high serum cholesterol

1. Primary disorders of cholesterol metabolism.

• Polygenic hypercholesterolemia
• Familial hyperlipidemia.

2. Secondary causes of elevated cholesterol.

• Uncontrolled diabetes mellitus
• Hypothyroidism
• Biliary obstruction
• Anorexia nervosa
• Nephrotic syndrome
• Drugs ­corticosteroid
• Conditions with low serum cholesterol
• Severe liver disease
• Hyperthyroidism
• Severe acute and chronic illnesses
• Malnutrition and malabsorption
• Familial causes

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Statin a cholesterol lowering agent - Reduce cholesterol in 4 weeks

The problem of high cholesterol is increasing in the society. This will lead to atherosclerosis and increased risk for heart attack and stroke. Statin's will help to reduce the cholesterol level and thus will help to reduce heart attack and stroke in the community. Statin's are the most efficacious and best tolerated lipid lowering drug. They will reduce both primary and secondary hypercholesterolemia. Statin's can reduce the total cholesterol in 4 to 6 weeks. All the statin's are given at bedtime to get maximum effect.

Statins include the following

1. Atorvastatin­ dose 10 to 80 mg/day.

2. Lovastatin­ 10 to 40 mg/day,this is the first used statin.

3. Simvastatin ­5 to 20 mg/day.

4. Fluvastatin.

5. Pravastatin.

Adverse effects of statins

1. Headache.

2. Nausea and bowel upset.

3. Rash.

4. Sleep disturbance.

5. Muscle pain and rise in CPK level.

6. Increase in serum transaminase,but liver damage is not seen.

Uses of Statins

1.Reduce  cholesterol level.

2.Decrease heart attack rate

3.Decrease  stroke rate.

4.Help in plaque stabilization in atherosclerosis.

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