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Cholesterol tests - what do they mean?

Cholesterol is an essential part of the nutrients needed for the body to function properly. Almost all the amount of cholesterol required for health is synthesized by the body on its own (about 80% of the total amount). The remaining 20% enter the body from foods rich in fatty compounds.

A person cannot control the production of cholesterol by the body on his own, and he learns the fact of a lack or excess of cholesterol from cholesterol tests. Very often the results of tests for cholesterol differ from the understanding that there is an excess of cholesterol in the body, the level of which needs to be lowered. This situation occurs when a person with normal weight, not obese or excess body fat, leading a healthy lifestyle, adhering to good nutrition and not neglecting the advice of nutritionists about the dangers of bad cholesterol on the body (selectively suitable for the choice of food) suddenly learns from the analysis on cholesterol, that he has high levels of cholesterol in the body.

The indicators of the analysis for cholesterol are as follows:

Total cholesterol
Cholesterol – HDL
Cholesterol – LDL
Triglycerides

These indicators make up the lipid profile of the blood, which is important to analyze in order to decide whether there is enough cholesterol in the body, whether there is an excess of it, and, no less important, the lack of cholesterol.

An insufficient amount of cholesterol in the body has dangerous consequences associated with a drop in the quality of vision, a decrease in brain activity and disruptions in the work of almost all internal organs and tissues involved in metabolic processes (endocrine processes), since cholesterol is a building element of the membranes of all types of cells.

And if an excess of cholesterol is visible in some cases with the naked eye, the lack of cholesterol becomes noticeable only after a while, when health has already begun to "melt".

But there are often cases when, with the ideal external shape of the body, a healthy lifestyle and selective nutrition, the level of cholesterol still rises.

When analyzing the level of cholesterol in the blood, it is not the increased total cholesterol level or the lowered total cholesterol level that matters, but the proportional ratio of the indicators of bad and good cholesterol in the blood. Cholesterol from the category of good or Cholesterol - HDL (or high density lipoproteins) is called "good" cholesterol in everyday life due to the fact that this type of cholesterol is highly soluble in water, is easily transferred by the body to various tissue structures and is easily absorbed. If the HDL index is increased, then nothing bad happens in the body, it will be enough for it to assimilate this type of fatty substances, it is easy to deposit them in the liver, and it is easy to extract them from the depot as needed.

With an increased level of HDL, a person is not afraid of dementia, the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease is reduced, obesity, including obesity of internal organs, is not scary, there is no danger of atherosclerosis.

If the LDL cholesterol test is overestimated, it's time to sound the alarm, since HDL (low density lipoproteins) tend to precipitate, forming stearic deposits (this is a component of fats, the same substance from which candles are made, industrial waxes). LDL cholesterol in the body forms deposits in the lumen of blood vessels (cholesterol plaques or atherosclerotic plaques), promotes swimming of internal organs and tissues (heart, liver, muscle tissue) and is obvious for people with increased body weight, but not obvious for people with normal weight, but poor cholesterol test results. People with this kind of "bad" cholesterol can be of normal weight and even be thin, but deposits of stearic plaques are present in the vascular system, which is fraught with destruction of the vascular walls, blockage of the main great vessels, impaired blood supply to the organs of vision and the brain, resulting in microbleeds, and micro and macro strokes. The body does not build cell membranes from stearin, cannot restore them during periods of regeneration (in case of injuries). This leads to degenerative changes in the cellular structure of organs, their incorrect formation, and, accordingly, malfunctioning. All regenerative (restorative) processes in the body are disrupted almost irreversibly if there is no way to reduce the level of LDL. The most terrible forms of diseases are associated with an excess amount of VLDL (very low density lipoproteins).

Triglycerides are an important indicator of cholesterol. Triglycerides are responsible for the creation of fat stores in the body, and their indicator indicates whether the total mass of deposited cholesterol is normal or there is a threat of obesity of internal organs and tissues. Normally triglycerides are an airbag in the body, triglycerides are elevated, which means that metabolic processes in the body are disrupted, since, ideally, these compounds do not circulate in the bloodstream, but are transferred and deposited at once, but are split as the body needs to spend fat reserves for costs energy and to replenish water reserves in case of its excessive excretion (forced thirst, increased training with sweating, sweating at high ambient temperatures as a method of adaptation of the body, sweating in case of diseases, as a method of removing toxins from the body). If triglycerides are found in the blood in excess, we are talking about metabolic disorders when the body cannot transport these substances to their intended purpose.

High levels of total cholesterol do not mean anything if there is no specific data on which specific indicators of lipid compounds are increased and which are underestimated.

Elevated levels of LDL, VLDL and triglycerides in the blood indicate the risks of the disease.

Indicators of cholesterol in relation to age (Total cholesterol - mmol / L):

Under 4 years old 2.95-5.25 (husband) and 2.90-5.18 (women)
5-10 years old 3.13-5.25 (husband) and 2.25-5.30 (women)
11-15 years 3.08-5.23 (husband) and 3.21-5.20 (women)
16-20 years 2.93-5.10 (husband) and 3.08-5.18 (women)
21-25 years old 3.21-5.64 (husband) and 3.16-5.59 (women)
26-30 years old 3.44-6.32 (husband) and 3.32-5.75 (women)
31-35 years 3.57-6.58 (husband) and 3.37-5.96 (women)
36-40 years old 3.37-5.96 (husband) and 3.37-5.96 (women)
41-45 years old 3.91-6.94 (husband) and 3.81-6.53 (women)
46-50 years old 4.09-7.15 (husband) and 3.94-6.86 (women)
51-55 years 4.09-7.17 (husband) and 4.20-7.38 (women)
56-60 years old 4.04-7.15 (husband) and 4.45-7.77 (women)
61-65 years 4.12-7.15 (husband) and 4.45-7.69 (women)
66-70 years 4.09-7.10 (husband) and 4.43-7.85 (women)
71 years and older 3.73-6.86 (husband) and 4.48-7.25 (women)

How to correlate LDL and HDL values with the risk of getting sick: with an LDL value above 3.37 mmol / L, we are talking about the risk of atherosclerosis, with an LDL value of more than 4.14 mmol / L, the risk of vascular and cardiac muscle ischemia increases. The characteristic of the violation of lipid metabolism is the indicator of the ratio of HDL to LDL. If this ratio has a larger gap than 3 : 1 (HDL : LDL), then in the body the tendencies of the development of many diseases are increasing, directly related to an excess of bad cholesterol.

How do high levels of bad cholesterol lower?

High levels of bad cholesterol can speak not only of improper nutrition, but also of the body's genetic programming for abnormal metabolic work. Such endocrine disorders in the field of fat metabolism are often associated with heredity and cannot be completely corrected, but there is a possibility, with modern methods of preventing diseases associated with disorders of fat metabolism, to use drugs that chemically break the molecules of bad cholesterol into parts that are digestible for the body or for their removal outside the body. In such cases, help is required not only from a nutritionist, but also from an endocrinologist, who will identify violations and correct them with drugs and hormonal drugs. With genetic failures in the processes of assimilation and utilization of fats, insufficient physical activity and restrictions on food, most often they do not help to reduce the level of bad cholesterol, but exhaust the body, causing it additional damage.

If we are talking about high levels of bad cholesterol associated with malnutrition, then the diet and the set of foods are being revised, from which not fatty foods are excluded, but foods rich in stearins. Such products include modifications of vegetable oils and animal fats (transgenic fats), exclude refractory fats from the diet (palm oil, lard, lard, lamb and pork, bacon and other smoked meats with layers of fat). Instead of refractory and modified fats, they use unrefined and unhydrated vegetable fats (first pressing), natural milk fats, and nuts with a high fat content. Chemically unrefined vegetable oils have pungent odors, but they are healthier food ingredients when it comes to improving fat metabolism.

If it is not possible to use unrefined vegetable oils for frying and as food ingredients, they switch to boiled food, baked or steam cooking food. Products made from dough mixed with refractory and modified fats are not consumed, and the dough is prepared by themselves using virgin vegetable fats (unhydrated sunflower oil, unhydrated and unmodified corn oil, virgin olive oil, unhydrated and unmodified rapeseed oil). If we are talking about genetic disorders of fat metabolism and the need to maintain health, you can squeeze vegetable oils at home without the participation of chemical treatment.