What is Considered to Be a Normal Cholesterol Level?
We have all had the friend or relative that always asks for the left over fat, drinks unfiltered coffee (raises cholesterol), loves their bologna sandwiches with cheese and mayo, and smokes like a chimney, only to live to be in their late eighties or early nineties.
There is an interesting story about two famous brothers of cereal fame, one of ran the most exclusive health resort of his day and the other figured out how to spend his cereal money by drinking, smoking, and eating as much high fat food as he possibly could.
They both lived to be over ninety and died within one year of each other.
Perhaps not the story to tell some of you who are trying to find a way to reduce those elevated cholesterol levels to a more normal cholesterol level! Some people are just lucky or have a hereditary advantage.
Or they may eat in a way that raises good cholesterol (HDL).
Nevertheless, for the rest of us, especially for those who have a family history of heart attack or stroke, reducing cholesterol levels is a very important part of overall health.
But what are normal cholesterol levels? Cholesterol and triglycerides are blood lipids, or fats.
These fats float freely in the blood waiting to catch a ride from one of the two lipoproteins (HDL and LDL).
HDL is considered to be good cholesterol due to its density and propensity to take the fats to their intended location.
On the other hand LDL drops cholesterol along the way leading to plaque deposits.
So maybe our not so health conscious cereal baron had high levels of HDL in his blood! For adults, a total cholesterol readings of 200 mg/dl is desirable and from 200 to 239 is considered borderline high.
In parts of the world such as Japan and China where high cholesterol foods are less common, the average cholesterol level is about 150 mg/dl.
This accounts for the lower incidence of coronary artery disease.
The total cholesterol level is only considered a general guide with the levels of HDL and LDL considered to be more important.
LDL of 100 mg/dl or less is considered optimal with 100 to 129 considered desirable.
For HDL 60 mg/dl or more is considered good with 40 to 59 considered borderline.
As you can see there might some debate as to what normal cholesterol levels really are.
Additionally, finding normal cholesterol levels will vary slightly depending on age, gender, and heredity.
Nevertheless, the above numbers and ranges give a pretty fair indication of normal cholesterol levels.
What Next? Lowering cholesterol and achieving normal cholesterol levels, in most cases, is about changing old habits, adopting new healthier habits, and enlisting the help of convention medications such as statins or natural cholesterol reducing remedies if needed.
Put simply, this basically means finding ways to increase HDL (good cholesterol) and decrease LDL (bad cholesterol levels).
Certainly the aforementioned statin drugs will be one of your options, but they do carry a number of serious label warnings.
The side effect risks have made natural cholesterol reduction supplements combined with diet modification a safe alternative treatment option worth considering.
There is an interesting story about two famous brothers of cereal fame, one of ran the most exclusive health resort of his day and the other figured out how to spend his cereal money by drinking, smoking, and eating as much high fat food as he possibly could.
They both lived to be over ninety and died within one year of each other.
Perhaps not the story to tell some of you who are trying to find a way to reduce those elevated cholesterol levels to a more normal cholesterol level! Some people are just lucky or have a hereditary advantage.
Or they may eat in a way that raises good cholesterol (HDL).
Nevertheless, for the rest of us, especially for those who have a family history of heart attack or stroke, reducing cholesterol levels is a very important part of overall health.
But what are normal cholesterol levels? Cholesterol and triglycerides are blood lipids, or fats.
These fats float freely in the blood waiting to catch a ride from one of the two lipoproteins (HDL and LDL).
HDL is considered to be good cholesterol due to its density and propensity to take the fats to their intended location.
On the other hand LDL drops cholesterol along the way leading to plaque deposits.
So maybe our not so health conscious cereal baron had high levels of HDL in his blood! For adults, a total cholesterol readings of 200 mg/dl is desirable and from 200 to 239 is considered borderline high.
In parts of the world such as Japan and China where high cholesterol foods are less common, the average cholesterol level is about 150 mg/dl.
This accounts for the lower incidence of coronary artery disease.
The total cholesterol level is only considered a general guide with the levels of HDL and LDL considered to be more important.
LDL of 100 mg/dl or less is considered optimal with 100 to 129 considered desirable.
For HDL 60 mg/dl or more is considered good with 40 to 59 considered borderline.
As you can see there might some debate as to what normal cholesterol levels really are.
Additionally, finding normal cholesterol levels will vary slightly depending on age, gender, and heredity.
Nevertheless, the above numbers and ranges give a pretty fair indication of normal cholesterol levels.
What Next? Lowering cholesterol and achieving normal cholesterol levels, in most cases, is about changing old habits, adopting new healthier habits, and enlisting the help of convention medications such as statins or natural cholesterol reducing remedies if needed.
Put simply, this basically means finding ways to increase HDL (good cholesterol) and decrease LDL (bad cholesterol levels).
Certainly the aforementioned statin drugs will be one of your options, but they do carry a number of serious label warnings.
The side effect risks have made natural cholesterol reduction supplements combined with diet modification a safe alternative treatment option worth considering.
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