Women going through menopause and adults with high levels of cholesterol may want to consider medication that will help reduce cholesterol levels more rapidly than diet alone. High cholesterol at any age puts a person at risk for heart disease, heart attack, and strokes. These risks only increase over time, especially for adults who are not taking action to reduce their cholesterol buildup. Children should see a doctor for cholesterol checks once or twice before the age of 18 but not during puberty.
If the child comes from a family that has a history of heart disease or is overweight or has other health conditions, the recommendation may change. Adults over the age of 20 should see a doctor every 4 to 6 years. For adults without any health issues, this is generally enough. There are methods people can use to reduce cholesterol levels and prevent them from increasing.
One potential method is using therapeutic lifestyle changes TLC , which includes diet, exercise, and weight management. Another option is drug therapies that either lower cholesterol or reduce the absorption of cholesterol. At any age, diets low in saturated fats and trans fats and high in soluble fibers and protein are good for lowering cholesterol buildup.
The TLC diet is a low-saturated-fat, low-cholesterol eating plan. People following it should have a daily intake of less than 7 percent of calories from saturated fat and less than milligrams of dietary cholesterol. The TLC diet encourages people to eat the following foods:. Additionally, the TLC diet suggests only taking in enough calories to maintain a desirable weight and avoid weight gain.
Various books on the TLC diet are available to purchase online , and may help those interested in following the diet plan to lower cholesterol. Proper weight management is another essential part of lowering cholesterol and preventing it building up.
Overweight people who reduce their weight can help lower LDL in the process. Regular physical activity of 30 minutes on most days is recommended for everyone. This will also help with weight management, which in turn helps with lowering cholesterol. When these steps are not enough, drug treatment may also be needed.
There are several types of cholesterol-lowering drugs available, including:. Read on for everything you need to know about LDL — backed by the most recent science. In simple terms, if there is too much LDL cholesterol running through your blood vessels, it can, over time, start to build up on the sides of those blood vessels.
Plaque buildup in your blood vessels can eventually cause those vessels to become narrower. The more narrow your blood vessels are, the harder it is for blood to reach your heart and other organs. When blood flow becomes very blocked, it can cause chest pain angina and even a heart attack. HDL cholesterol, on the other hand, returns cholesterol to the liver so it can be flushed from the body.
In general, most adults want to keep their LDL cholesterol levels in a certain range. If you have high LDL bad cholesterol, you may not even know it, because there are typically no symptoms associated with this issue.
This is why routine blood work is so important. If you have extremely high LDL levels, you may notice little bumps on your skin called xanthomas or gray-white rings around the corneas of your eye called corneal arcus.
Certain individuals may need medication or surgery due to complications of long-term high cholesterol. The best way to find out if you have too much LDL cholesterol is having your doctor order a blood test that checks your levels.
Your doctor will also request and review your family history, as high cholesterol can sometimes be hereditary. The test your doctor will likely order is called a lipid panel. Your doctor will also review your lab tests to see if your HDL, the healthy cholesterol, is too low. There may be follow-up tests and visits if your doctor is concerned that you may need medication or further intervention. About 7 percent of U. Everyone should get their cholesterol checked, starting at age 20 and then every 4 to 6 years after that if their risk remains low.
After age 40, your doctor may want to check your levels more often. Typically, people assigned male at birth who are ages 45 to 65, along with people assigned female at birth who are ages 55 to 65, should have their cholesterol checked every 1 to 2 years. This is because the older we get, the harder it becomes for our bodies to filter out cholesterol.
Individuals living with obesity and type 2 diabetes are more at risk for an increase in bad cholesterol and a dip in good cholesterol. Recommendations may include losing excess weight and focusing on finding what works best for you in managing your diabetes.
According to researchers, one subclass — subclass B — was found to be the most damaging and a much better predictor of potential heart attacks than the total measurement of LDL.
While this type of research is new and evolving, if you are concerned about your LDL numbers and the possibility of complications, talk with your doctor.
The physicians at the USC CardioVascular Thoracic Institute at Keck Medicine of USC can measure your good cholesterol and bad cholesterol levels, and help you adopt healthier eating and living habits so you can achieve the best balance of both.
LDL, on the other hand, takes cholesterol directly to your arteries. This can result in atherosclerosis, a plaque buildup that can even cause heart attack and stroke.
Triglycerides make up the third component of cholesterol and act as unused calories that are stored as fat in the blood. Eating more calories than you burn can cause triglycerides to build up in the bloodstream, increasing your risk for heart attacks. Your physician will perform a simple blood test and check your other risk factors to find your counts.
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