HDL and LDL Cholesterol

CHOLESTEROL is a waxy, fat-like substance that is necessary for life. Your liver makes enough cholesterol to meet the body's needs.

There are two kinds of cholesterol, a "good" kind and a "bad" kind. The good kind, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), helps remove the bad kind, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and bring it back to the liver. LDL cholesterol transports cholesterol to the body’s cells. It’s like an oil truck that delivers fat to the cells. The cells have receptors that serve as docks for the LDL trucks. When the cells contain an excess of cholesterol from too much animal and dairy fat in the diet, the dock space is no longer available and the undeliverable cholesterol piles up in the blood. Hypertension and smoking are the two prime causes of "breaks" in the (endothelial) lining of the arterial walls. The LDL cholesterol trucks drive through these cracks and deposits their cargo into the tissue spaces. In time, these deposits thicken and harden causing a narrowing of the blood vessels. If these deposits break away, they are called clots and can cause heart attacks, strokes, pulmonary embolisms, etc. When the arteries around the heart become clogged, the blood supply is restricted to the heart causing angina pectoris.

Eating foods with saturated fat will cause the liver to make more cholesterol, especially LDL. A saturated fat is any fat that is solid when refrigerated (such as butter, lard, or margarine). Animal foods that supply saturated fat (such as red meat) are worse than eating a food that is high in cholesterol but virtually free of saturated fat (boiled shrimp and crab legs are good examples of foods that are high in cholesterol but free of fat. Boiled eggs are also high in cholesterol but low in fat). The cholesterol content in beef and turkey is about the same, but saturated fat is much higher in the beef, making turkey the desirable choice. Plants contain no cholesterol, but some are extremely high in saturated fats. Coconut, palm, palm kernel oil, and cocoa butter are saturated fats used in many processed foods. These vegetable fats can be worse for you than animal fats, so beware of products labeled "cholesterol free," or "made with 100 percent vegetable shortening." Unrefined beans, grains, vegetables, seeds, and nuts contain mostly unsaturated fats. The favored unsaturated oils include; olive oil, safflower oil, and sunflower oil.

97 PERCENT OF ALL HEART AND CIRCULATORY DISEASES CAN BE AVOIDED AND AN ESTIMATED 80 PERCENT CAN BE REVERSED with proper diet, nutritional therapies, lifestyle changes, and exercise.

Your "CORONARY RISK FACTOR" is calculated by dividing your HDL cholesterol into your total cholesterol. Ideally the ratio should be less than 3.0 and certainly less than 4.0.

TOTAL CHOLESTEROL
---------------------------------------- = IDEALLY LESS THAN 4.0
HDL

The higher the number, the greater the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

REMEMBER: MAINTAINING A GOOD HDL TO CHOLESTEROL RATIO WILL NOT ONLY PREVENT CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, BUT CAN ALSO REVERSE THIS CONDITION EVEN IN ITS ADVANCED STAGES.