Cholesterol is a necessary evil. Cholesterol is a fatlike, waxy substance mainly produced in the liver but can also get from animal and milk products in the diet. Considered a steroid, a lipid and an alcohol, cholesterol has so many functions in the human body that are unavoidable. Cholesterol are of two types which include good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. You may be wondering what all the confusion is about good and bad cholesterol. Is good cholesterol really good or is it just a ‘not-so-bad’ form of cholesterol that isn’t as problematic as bad cholesterol? It is actually the first one. “Good” cholesterol has useful qualities and is not merely less “bad.” We need to understand properly about the good and bad cholesterols to maintain healthy body without high blood cholesterol. Bad cholesterol is otherwise called as LDL(Low Density Lipoprotein) and good cholesterol is otherwise called as HDL(High Density Lipoprotein). More amount of cholesterol in your blood is called high blood cholesterol. It can be problematic. It increases your chances of having fatal health problems. The primary risk factors associated with high blood cholesterol are obesity, poor diet and lack of exercise.
Obesity is now a common problem among all age groups of people. Having overweight increases your risk of having high blood cholesterol. Those ones with a high body mass index (BMI) used to have lower levels of ‘good’ HDL and higher levels of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and triglycerides than people of normal weight.The presence of more LDL cholesterol in blood is not good for health and it may results in fatal health problems. We should be always aware about the bad LDL cholesterol level in our blood. According to researchers across the world high blood cholesterol can be controlled by maintaining proper body weight and obese people are more prone to high blood cholesterol. Family history also plays a major role in relation between obesity and high blood cholesterol. The risk rises if anyone has the family history of high blood cholesterol. Those people with more fat around their belly and hip area have more chance for getting high blood cholesterol.We should control our body weight to reduce the chances to get high blood cholesterol and related fatal health problems.
Now a days most of the people never care about their diet. People of all age groups are fond of fatty junk foods. These so called mighty junk fast foods increases the chances of high blood cholesterol and may lead to serious health problems. Eating cholesterol and saturated fat increases bad cholesterol levels in the blood. Research shows that the quantity and type of fat intake can affect blood cholesterol levels. Dietary fat especially Trans and saturated fats, may raise blood cholesterol levels. Replacing some saturated fats with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats (especially olive and canola oil) also can help lower blood cholesterol. Dietary cholesterol can raise blood cholesterol but generally is not as important as saturated fat and total fat in the diet. Anyway we should reduce the over consumption of fatty foods to avoid high blood cholesterol. We should rely on balanced diet to keep us healthy.
Exercise is very essential in our day to day life because proper exercise make us healthy and free from diseases. Researchers aren’t entirely sure how exercise lowers cholesterol, but they are beginning to have a clearer idea. “Lots of people, even lots of doctors, assume that exercise lowers cholesterol,” says Amit Khera, MD, director of the University of Texas, Southwestern, Medical Center’s Program in Preventive Cardiology. “But until recently, most of us weren’t sure just what the connection was.” One way exercise can help lower cholesterol is by helping you lose — or maintain — weight. Being overweight tends to increase the amount of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in your blood. Part of the confusion about the effect of exercise on cholesterol stems from the fact that most early cholesterol studies focused on both exercise and dietary changes, making it hard to tease out which of these factors was actually making the difference. But recent studies have more carefully examined the effect of exercise alone, making it easier to evaluate the relationship between exercise and cholesterol. We all should do proper exercise and workouts to maintain proper body health.
The above mentioned are the risk factors related to high blood cholesterol. We should follow healthy lifestyles to reduce our chances to get high blood cholesterol . Sometimes high blood cholesterol may become dangerous to our life. Modern dietary habits and lack of physical activities made us more prone to high blood cholesterol and its after effects.
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