Transcript NATIONAL CHOLESTEROL EDUCATION MONTH

Cholesterol
CHOLESTEROL
What is it? How does it cause heart
disease?
• A fat like substance in your blood
• When there is too much cholesterol in your
blood, it builds up in the walls of your
arteries. Over time, this buildup causes
“hardening of the arteries” so that arteries
become narrowed and blood flow to the
heart is slowed down or blocked.
Why is knowing your cholesterol
important?
• High blood cholesterol is one of the major risk
factors for heart disease
• Heart disease is the #1 killer of men & women in
the United States
• Anyone can have high cholesterol--even if you are
active, thin, young or old
• Lowering cholesterol levels that are too high
lessens the risk for developing heart disease and
reduces the chance of a heart attack or dying of
heart disease
LIPID PROFILE
• a detailed measure of the fats in your blood
• consists of measuring your total cholesterol, HDL
cholesterol, triglycerides and calculating your
LDL cholesterol
• Cholesterol is one of several components that
form your lipid profile
• HDL: good cholesterol
• LDL: bad cholesterol
• Triglycerides: fatty acids and glycerol
So, what are the desired
numbers?
• TOTAL
CHOLESTEROL
• < 200
• TRIGLYCERIDES
• < 150
• HDL
• HDL
• > 40 for men
• > 50 for women
• LDL
• < 100
What Affects Cholesterol Levels?
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Diet
Weight
Physical Activity
Age & Gender
Heredity
How many risk factors do you
have?
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High LDL?
Low HDL?
High Blood Pressure?
High Glucose?
Overweight?
Smoker?
Inactivity & Lack of Exercise?
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
GET YOUR NUMBERS!
• See your primary care
physician
• Therapeutic lifestyle
changes:
• diet
• weight management
• physical activity
• drug therapy