A Brief Note On Cholesterol Counts
As estimated by American Heart Association, nearly one among three individuals in the United States is suffering from high cholesterol. Although increased cholesterol levels are considered one of the leading causes of heart-related disorders, the condition is reversible. Once you start managing your cholesterol levels, you are reducing the risk of getting heart attack quite significantly. Having a high cholesterol count is considered as one of the major risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease. In fact, it is one of the leading causes of mortality in the United States in recent years.
Implications
The cholesterol count essentially explains four types of cholesterol level - total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and triglyceride. The significance of the cholesterol count for each types are different from the other types. For example, if the total cholesterol level is lower than 200mg/dL, it implies an optimally desirable level. The cholesterol count in between 200mg/dL and 239mg/dL implies borderline risk, however, for 240mg/dL or higher implies great risk. On the other hand, HDL with cholesterol counts of 60mg/dL or higher implies good health, but below 40mg/dL is absolutely non-desirable.
High cholesterol count on low density lipoprotein (LDL) or 'bad' cholesterol implies a serious health risk. LDL cholesterol count of 100mg/dL or lower is optimal. But it may lead to different health hazards including cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis and many others if it becomes higher than 190mg/dL.
If someone is having his cholesterol count for LDL in between these two values, still it is an issue of immediate medical concern. Triglyceride is also very important in terms of understanding potential health risks. While a count lesser than 150mg/dL is considered safe for health, over 200mg/dL can be implied as considerably high and higher than 500mg/dL can cause a serious health risk.
Understanding Ratios
An important diagnostic tool known as cholesterol ratio has been developed on the basis of cholesterol count. Typically it is obtained by dividing the total cholesterol count by high density lipoprotein cholesterol count. The higher the ratio is, the higher the health risk is. A value 3:1 is considered acceptable, while 5:1 is considered ideal. However, a ratio value over 5:1 can be considered as a health concern.
Another kind of cholesterol ratio is also considered. This is obtained by dividing HDL cholesterol count with LDL count. Many doctors find it more reliable at the time of their assessment of potential risk factors for coronary heart diseases. For this ratio, a count less than 2.5 implies an optimally acceptable condition.
