The Facts
Cholesterol is a fatty substance your body needs to rebuild its cells and
to make certain hormones. It's carried throughout your body in your bloodstream.
Your body only requires a small amount of cholesterol.
When there's too much cholesterol in your bloodstream, you have high cholesterol.
This is quite a common condition. Cholesterol levels generally rise with age.
High cholesterol can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke and peripheral
vascular disease.
Most of your body's cholesterol is made in your liver. The rest comes from your
diet. Dietary cholesterol is found in foods from animal sources, such as eggs,
meats, and dairy products. There are two important types of cholesterol you
should know about:
- low density lipoprotein (LDL) or "bad" cholesterol
- high density lipoprotein (HDL) or "good" cholesterol
Most of the LDL or "bad" cholesterol circulates in the blood and
remains unused. Normally, the liver removes this "extra" cholesterol,
but many people have more LDL cholesterol than the liver can handle.
HDL gets its "good" name by picking up LDL cholesterol from the arteries
and tissues and carrying it back to the liver, where it can be broken down.