Hypercholesterolemia

Morning Work Outs Proven to be a fat killer – carb reserves in muscles are nearly empty in the morning, causing body to burn fat for energy Morning work outs help people burn fat all day long The body produces “feel good” hormones when exercising which make you less stressful during day and more confident Jump starts metabolism Helps you sleep which also helps with weight loss

Ways to Increase HDL Drink OJ – drinking 3 cups of OJ increases HDL by 21% Replace saturated fats with monounsaturated fats (liquids at room temp) Substitute soy products for animal-based products Drink alcohol only in moderation Moderately intense exercise at least 30 minutes everyday Don’t smoke Maintain proper weight

Familial Hypercholesterolemia This is an autosomal dominant disorder Affects 1 in 500 people in most countries Men with this have a 50% of a heart attack by age 50 and women 30% by age 60 A person can have heterozygous FH (Ff) or homozygous FH (FF) Heterozygous can be treated with statins Statins cause the liver to produce more LDL receptors which pulls LDL out of blood system Homozygous is harder to treat LDL receptors are minimally functional People with this need high doses of statins and this only modestly effects LDL levels A process similar to dialysis may be used to filter LDL Severe cases may need a liver transplant

How is FH detected? DNA is obtained from patient’s blood or saliva The section of DNA that contains the LDL receptor gene is amplified by PCR (polymerase chain reactions) These segments are cut into smaller pieces by restriction enzymes This is allowed because of RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) These different lengths are used for comparison in gel electrophoresis

Procedure Number 2 Man with FH – Ff Woman w/out - ff F f f Ff ff f Ff

Procedure Number 2 Man with FH – FF Woman w/out - ff F F f Ff Ff f Ff

Anna’s Family ff Ff ff Ff Ff Ff FF