High Cholesterol

What is high cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a type of fat (lipid) made by the body. It is needed to keep healthy and is found in every single cell within the human body. However, a high cholesterol level in the blood (hypercholesterolaemia) is known to give you an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. Seven out of 10 people over the age of 45 have high cholesterol.

What causes us to have high cholesterol?

There are a number of reasons that can contribute to us having high cholesterol:

age and gender - cholesterol generally rises slightly with increasing age, and men are more likely to be affected than women overall.

• Not enough or a lack of physical activity can increase the amount of LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lower the HDL ("good") cholesterol.
• If you eat too much food containing saturated fat.
• Hereditary - people have a higher risk of having high cholesterol if they have a direct male relative under 55 or a female relative under 65 affected by cardiovascular (heart) disease.
• Being overweight or obese.
• If you drink too much - drinking more than the recommended amount of alcohol (ie more than three to four units per day for men and two to three units per day for women).
• Health problems such as badly controlled diabetes, kidney and liver diseases and an underactive thyroid gland might also let cholesterol levels to shoot up. Medicines such as beta-blockers, steroids or thiazides (a type of diuretic) can also have an affect on blood lipid levels.

Should I get tested?

If you have cardiovascular disease, such as coronary heart disease, peripheral vascular disease (disease in the blood vessels that supply the limbs) or if you have had a stroke, If you have a family history of familial hypercholesterolaemia. If you are 35 or over should consider having their cholesterol measured in any case and especially if you have one or more of the following risk factors for Cardiovascular disease: family history of early heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or if you smoke.

How Can I get a Cholesterol Test?

Measuring cholesterol involves a simple blood test. In normal circumstances, you will be asked to refrain from eating anything for 12 hours before the test so that your food is completely digested and so that it doesn't affect the test result. A blood sample can be taken either by using a needle and a syringe, or by using a finger prick. You can have this test at a doctor?s surgery.

There are many home testing kits for cholesterol and some of them may not be very accurate - so be careful. If you decide to opt for a home test, Bear in mind that, cholesterol is just one of the risk factors for heart disease. It should ideally be measured under medical supervision so that other important issues, such as blood pressure, age and whether or not you smoke, are taken into account. At 121doc, we take these factors into consideration as part of the online consultation process with our experienced and qualified doctors.

Is there a way to reduce my cholesterol?

The reason for wanting to lower cholesterol is to reduce the risk of heart disease. The type of treatment depends on the overall risk of heart disease.

There are two ways to lower your cholesterol. The first is to with simple lifestyle changes including changing diet, managing weight and increasing exercise. The second is to combine lifestyle changes with cholesterol-lowering medicines.