Cholesterol and Triglycerides

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Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that ‘s found in all the cells in your 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.
Triglycerides are a type of fat. They are the most common type of fat in your body. They come from foods, especially butter, oils, and other fats you eat. Triglycerides also come from extra calories. These are the calories that you eat, but your body does not need right away. Your body changes these extra calories into triglycerides, and stores them in fat cells. When your body needs energy, it releases the triglycerides. Your VLDL cholesterol particles carry the triglycerides to your tissues.
The medical term for high blood cholesterol and triglycerides is lipid disorder. Such a disorder occurs when you have too many fatty substances in your blood. These substances include cholesterol and triglycerides.

Causes:

  • Food (milk, butter and steak)
  • Medical conditions (diabetes, hypothyroidism, metabolic syndrome, Cushing’s syndrome, polycystic ovary syndrome(PCOS) and kidney disease)
  • Life style
  • Smoking
  • Genetics
  • Medications

Treatments:

The recommended values for adults are different depending on the above risk factors, but in general:

  • LDL: 70-130 mg/dL (lower numbers are better)
  • HDL: more than 40-60 mg/dL (high numbers are better)
  • Total cholesterol: less than 200 mg/dL (lower numbers are better)
  • Total cholesterol: less than 200 mg/dL (lower numbers are better)

There are steps that everyone can take to improve their cholesterol levels, and help prevent heart disease and heart attack. Here are the most important ones:

  • Eat a heart-healthy diet with plenty of fiber-rich fruits and vegetables. Avoid saturated fats (found mostly in animal products) and trans-fatty scids (found in fast foods and commercially baked products). Instead, choose unsaturated fats.
  • Exercise regularly to help raise your HDL (“good” cholesterol)
  • Get periodic health checkups and cholesterol screenings
  • Lost weight if you are over weight
  • Quit smoking

If lifestyle changes do not change your cholesterol levels, your doctor may recommend medication. There are several types of drugs available to help lower blood cholesterol levels, and they work in different ways. Some are better at lowering LDL cholesterol, some are good at lowering triglycerides, while others help raise HDL cholesterol.
The most commonly used and most effective drugs for treating high LDL cholesterol are called statins. You doctor will choose one of these:

  • Lovastatin (Mevacor)
  • Pravastatin (Pravachol)
  • Fluvastatin (Lescol)
  • Torvastatin (Lipitor)
  • Rosuvastatin (Crestor)

Other drugs that may be used includes:

  • bile acid sequestering resins
  • cholesterol absorption inhibitors
  • fibrates
  • nicotinic acid(niacin)