We all know the importance of checking our blood cholesterol levels, in order to maintain them at optimal conditions. We need to carryout regular tests to ensure our cholesterol level has not increased. When you go in for your regular health examination, your blood is drawn out to carryout various tests, amongst which your blood cholesterol is tested too.
Let’s try to understand what these tests mean and how they interpret results in general terms, so that you will have a better knowledge on the subject, instead of blindly following your doctors’ advice.
Before you go in for testing, you need to ensure you prepare for the test by:
Avoiding intake of food 12-14 hours before the test is being conducted. This is important, as fasting ensures your lipid levels are tested accurately.
Not taking any other medications such as antibiotics, oral contraceptives, steroidal treatments and other such drugs
Avoid alcohol intake for 24 hours before the test
Blood is usually drawn from a vein in your arm. A very small amount, about 5 ml is drawn out this way for testing.
A standard cholesterol test will be investigating your total blood cholesterol level. This level should be below 200 mg/dl for you to be in the ‘no risk’ zone. Where necessary, doctors will ask to carryout tests to determine your LDL level, HDL level, LDL to HDL ratio and your triglyceride levels, among other criteria. The optimum levels are considered as:
Total Cholesterol (TC): Below 200 mg/dl
HDL Cholesterol: Above 40 mg/dl.
LDL Cholesterol: Below 130 mg/dl
TC/HDL ratio: Below 4.0
If your levels deviate drastically from these optimal amounts, then your risk of developing heart disease is very high.
The main difference behind a cholesterol test from other tests is that it doesn’t diagnose a disease as such. It only monitors the risk of developing a disease, i.e. heart disease.
The general recommendation for people with normal cholesterol levels is to carryout a profile test every five years. But for those with high levels, testing should be done according to doctors’ advice. Doctors also recommend more regular testing for those with:
Diabetes mellitus
High Blood Pressure
Family history of heart disease
Smoking habits
Alcoholism
Obesity
Age, sex and race too play a big role in determining your cholesterol levels.
Best practice would be to always control your cholesterol by following a healthy diet of vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains and avoid fatty and oily food, especially takeaway and fast food. It is also important to maintain a healthy weight that suits your age, sex and body type. Regular exercise and a stress free lifestyle too would contribute towards maintaining your cholesterol levels at an optimum and carryout out a healthy living.
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