HDL Versus LDL Cholesterol

High cholesterol is the cause of thickening artery walls that can lead to atherosclerosis, heart attacks and strokes. Unless treatment is put in place to lower cholesterol levels the person could suffer from one of the aforementioned conditions. Part of the treatment for high cholesterol is understanding why high cholesterol levels occur. This is due to the way cholesterol is transported throughout the body. This article will look at this in relation to high density lipoproteins (HDL) and low density lipoproteins (LDL).

Cholesterol is created naturally in the liver. Other than that, it is ingested into the body from animal products like milk, eggs, fatty meat and butter. Or from saturated or trans fat food products like take away foods, cakes, biscuits and potato chips. Once it is in the intestine it will be absorbed through the wall of the stomach into the bloodstream. Foodstuffs high in plant sterols restrict this absorption and are often marketed as being good for reducing cholesterol.

However once cholesterol is in the bloodstream it needs to be transported around the body to do vital things like allow the secretion of hormones or help to convert direct sunlight on the body to vitamin D. Cholesterol cannot do this itself because it is not soluble in blood thus it attaches itself to low density lipoproteins (LDL). LDLs will move the cholesterol throughout the body. However, when there is too much cholesterol than is needed by the body, the LDLs tend to deposit the cholesterol on the lining of the blood vessels, notably the arteries.

High density lipoproteins (HDL) serve the opposite purpose. They return to the source of naturally occurring cholesterol, the liver. If they come across cholesterol on this return the will attach to the cholesterol. Thus HDLs have the function of mopping up any free or excess cholesterol in the bloodstream. Once the HDLs reach the liver the cholesterol will be excreted. This effectively reduces cholesterol levels and can help to prevent heart disease and atherosclerosis.

Overall cholesterol levels in the body should be around 200mg/dl. The HDL cholesterol level should be around 40mg/dl.

The simplest ways to reduce LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol are to get regular exercise and have a diet high in fresh produce and low in saturated and trans fats. Avoid smoking and keep your weight within the range for your height, sex and age. Too reduce the absorption of cholesterol into the blood stream you can eat foods high in plant sterols. These are usually added to products like spreads or yogurts or occur naturally in vegetables. Eating mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated foods like olive oil and corn oil can increase the levels of HDL cholesterol.

High cholesterol is usually treated by making changes in your lifestyle. Changing the foods you eat is one way to treat cholesterol, find out how to create a lowcholesteroldieting.com/Low_Cholesterol_Diet.html cholesterol lowering diet at lowcholesteroldieting.com lowcholesteroldieting.com . Adrian Whittle writes on issues related to reducing cholesterol and how to monitor cholesterol levels.