What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxlike and white substance that is present in some of the foods we eat. It is also manufactured by the cells of our body, but most importantly by the liver cells. A certain amount of cholesterol is critcial to good health.

It's not only an important component of cell walls, it is essential for the production of certain hormones. For most people, between 70 and 75 percent of the cholesterol in their blood is manufactured by their liver; the other 25 to 30 percent comes from the food they eat. Your foods cholesterol, therefore, is something that you can directly affect yourself.

Your body needs fat and cholesterol to maintain good health. During infancy and childhood fat is essential for normal brain development; throughout life, it is essential to provide energy and support growth. Cholesterol is used to build the walls of cells throughout the body and to manufacture essential substances like hormones and vitamin D. That makes it important to have at least some fat and cholesterol in your body at all times.

If cholesterol is needed for healthy bodily function, in what way is cholesterol bad for you? It's simple.The answer to these questions is simple. A certain amount of cholesterol is important for your. But when your blood cholesterol level exceeds 200mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter), you become at risk for developing heart disease. It's the reason so many of us are looking for a solution to high cholesterol.

Elevated total blood cholesterol is very much a modifiable heart disease risk factor. Many times heart attacks, bypass surgeries, angioplasties, and sudden cardiac deaths occur in people with total cholesterol levels above 200mg/dL. Cholesterol medication is used to help control those levels.

A better way to estimate your risk of heart disease is to know your ratio of total cholesterol to good cholesterol. It's not just the total amount of high cholesterol that tells you what your risk is: you need to know what your ratio is.

Always seek your doctor's advice for all health related issues. The information in this post is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose any ailment or suggest any treatment.