9-16-08

Cholesterol Education

High blood cholesterol can increase a person’s risk for coronary heart disease, but a few lifestyle changes can lower someone’s cholesterol level and improve health.

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of Americans and one of the risk factors for heart disease is high cholesterol.  Cholesterol is a substance that occurs naturally in the body and when it is too high, can cause a build up of plaque in the heart vessels, says Dr. Susan Hingle, associate professor of internal medicine at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield.  She says several things can affect cholesterol levels.

SOUND BITE:  “Some of cholesterol is affected by genetics which obviously you can’t do a lot about.  There are things that we can do that affect cholesterol.  This is our weight, our diet, our activity level – those all come into play when thinking about cholesterol.”

Dr. Hingle says other risk factors for high cholesterol include obesity, a high-fat diet and lack of exercise.  She says cholesterol is measured with a specific  blood test, which is done after fasting for 10 to 12 hours.  The test results will provide a reading for total cholesterol -- HDL, which is the good cholesterol; and LDL which is the bad cholesterol.  For good cholesterol she explains the ideal readings --

SOUND BITE:  “. . . the goal is to have less than 200.  We look at the good cholesterol, which is the HDL.  We like that higher than 40 and if it’s higher than 60, then it actually is protective for the cardiovascular system.  And we look at the bad cholesterol which is the LDL and based on other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, the goals change.  In someone who doesn’t have any other risk factors, for cardiovascular disease, the goal for the bad cholesterol is less than 160.”

Dr. Hingle advises all adults to see their personal physician and have their cholesterol checked regularly.  If cholesterol readings are not in a healthy range, the physician may recommend lifestyle changes as well as medication to lower cholesterol.

This is Ruth Slottag at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield.