Cholesterol Risk Factors
Cholesterol is transported through your blood vessels together with proteins, lipoprotein being the combination of two. The three different kinds of lipoproteins, depending on the kind of cholesterol transported, are:
LDL – Low-density lipoprotein. LDL cholesterol is considered to be bad for your health, as cholesterol transported by these proteins is able to accumulate on the walls of the arteries forming clots and blocking them.
VLDL – Very-low-density lipoprotein. This lipoprotein has very high amounts of triglycerides. It contributes to even faster narrowing of your blood vessels, causing life-threatening conditions. You should be very careful with taking some medications if you have VLDL.
HDL – High-density lipoprotein. HDLs are considered to be very good as they gather the excess of cholesterol taking it back to the liver, where it gets disposed of.
The best balance is when LDL levels are low and HDL levels high. There are many things you can do to maintain normal cholesterol levels not dangerous for your health. For example, your genes are a very powerful thing when it comes to cholesterol risk factors: they can help remove LDL cholesterol from your blood or make your liver produce more of it.
There are a number of cholesterol risk factors that can contribute to its high total level:
Poor eating habits. There are high cholesterol foods, including dairy products, red meat, trans fats and other popular products consumed in big quantities, which can affect your health even if you always had normal cholesterol levels. However, there are some foods to lower cholesterol you can include in your diet to reduce the risk.
Sedentary lifestyle. Simple exercise that is regular and moderate actually helps you lower LDL cholesterol while increasing the amount of HDL cholesterol in the total balance. For people with high levels of cholesterol, exercise is a must.
Genetic predisposition (heart disease). Your risk of developing heart disease increases if your blood relatives had heart disease before they were 55.
Smoking. Smoke damages the walls of blood vessels, which makes them even more vulnerable and speeds up the process of accumulation of fat. It can also lower your level of HDL cholesterol.
Obesity. If you have a body mass index of above 30, it’s likely that you already have a high cholesterol level.
Too much stress. Mental stress is likely to increase the levels of cholesterol. When people find themselves in a stressful environment day after day, they are more likely to do things considered to be risk factors, such as smoking because of nervousness, eating unhealthily because of anxiety, etc. Unhealthy diet, which may be a result of excessive stress and lack of time, contains cholesterol and saturated fats, so cholesterol levels increase.
High blood pressure. When you have high blood pressure, your arteries experience a lot more pressure, which can damage them and contribute to the formation of fatty deposits.
Diabetes. Besides damaging the walls of your arteries, high blood sugar raises LDL cholesterol levels, at the same time lowering the amount of HDLs.
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