There is an alarming prevalence of High Cholesterol Levels in Americans. According to the CDC, an estimated 93 million American adults –at least 20 years old – have cholesterol levels higher than 200 mg/Dl (the maximum range for healthy cholesterol levels).
For emphasis, 29 million adult Americans have their total cholesterol levels higher than 240 mg/dL.3. Oh, I can see knitting your brows already.
High cholesterol levels can result in complications like heart attack, high blood pressure, Cardiovascular disease (CVD), and even stroke. But wait, what really is cholesterol?
What you should know about Cholesterol
Fundamentally, we all have cholesterol in our body. Your cells are made of fat-like substances called cholesterol.
Cholesterol plays critical functions in your everyday life processes like hormone and Vitamin D production, fat digestion, even as far as structuring the cells. The liver produces cholesterol.
Now, there are two types of cholesterol. These are Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and High-density lipoproteins (HDL).
These two types of cholesterol have diverse effects on the body. Indeed, HDL is beneficial to the heart, absorbing cholesterol from the blood, transporting it to the liver to be dispelled out of the body.
On the other side, we have LDL, who is the bad guy. LDL triggers an unhealthy buildup of cholesterol, narrowing the arteries. This condition, called atherosclerosis, is the infamous culprit behind strokes, peripheral artery disease, and heart attacks.