Cholesterol Waseem Irshad

What is Cholesterol ? Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance found in all of your body's cells. Your body needs cholesterol in order to work properly. “Cholesterol is a substance your body uses to hold cells together and to make vitamin D, hormones, and substances that help digest foods.”

What is Cholesterol ? “Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that’s found in all cells of the body.” Our body needs some cholesterol to make ◦ Hormones ◦ Vitamin D ◦ substances that help you digest foods

Sources of Cholesterol Cholesterol comes from two places. 1. Our body 2. food we eat. a) Actually makes most of the cholesterol it needs in the liver. b) The rest of the cholesterol in your body comes from the food you eat.

Sources of Cholesterol 1. Actually, our liver produces about 1,000 milligrams of cholesterol a day Which is the enough cholesterol so that if you never touched another cheese fry, you'd be “ OK ” But it's hard to avoid cholesterol entirely because so many foods contain it.

How Cholesterol travels ? o Cholesterol travels through your bloodstream in small packages called lipoproteins (lip-o-PRO-teens). o These packages are made of fat (lipid) on the inside and proteins on the outside.

Types of Lipoproteins Two kinds of lipoproteins carry cholesterol throughout your body: 1. low-density lipoproteins (LDL) 2. high-density lipoproteins (HDL). Having healthy levels of both types of lipoproteins is important.

low-density lipoproteins (LDL) o LDL cholesterol sometimes is called “bad” cholesterol. o A high LDL level leads to a buildup of cholesterol in your arteries. (Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to your body.)

high-density lipoproteins (HDL). o HDL cholesterol sometimes is called “good” cholesterol. o This is because it carries cholesterol from other parts of your body back to your liver. Your liver removes the cholesterol from your body.

Cholesterol in Arteries.

Too much cholesterol in the body can lead to serious problems like heart disease. Many factors can contribute to high cholesterol, but the good news is there are things you can do to control them.

Risk factors Smoking. Obesity. Poor diet. Lack of exercise. High blood pressure.

Complications Chest pain. If the arteries that supply your heart with blood (coronary arteries) are affected, you may have chest pain (angina) and other symptoms of coronary artery disease. Heart attack. blocking the flow of blood or if blood flow to part of your heart stops, you'll have a heart attack.

Prevention Lose extra pounds and maintain a healthy weight Quit smoking Eat a low-fat, low-salt diet that includes many fruits, vegetables and whole grains Exercise on most days of the week for at least 30 minutes