Total cholesterol is the sum of
all the cholesterol in the blood. High total cholesterol level, means
greater the chances for heart disease.
The total cholesterol reading does not tell everything and could be hazardous to the health or a cause of undue alarm.
It
is assumed that one with total blood cholesterol level below 200 mg/dl
(milligrams per deciliter) were at a lower risk for heart disease than
those who has 200 mg/dl and above.
Understant total cholesterol
But the actual thing is different than these assumptions; just see below said example discussion for details.
- Two
types of cholesterol: Good cholesterol or high density lipoprotein
(HDL) and a bad cholesterol or low-density lipoprotein (LDL). What
really turns out to be important is not the total of HDL and LDL, but
its ratio.
- For example, one has a total cholesterol number of
161, considered as good because it is lower than standard that is less
than 200 mg/dl. But, if the HDL contributes only 15 points of that
total, then as per The National Cholesterol Education Panel suggestion;
the HDL levels below 35 mg/dl as a major risk factor for heart disease.
So one with a total reading of 161 might be at the very opposite end of
the risk scale than one thought.
- Another example, one has a
total cholesterol reading of 229, considered as bad because it is
higher than the standard that is more than 200 mg/dl. But, if the HDL
contributes some 68 points of that total, then as per The National
Cholesterol Education Panel suggestion; the HDL levels above 60 is
recognized as actually lowering the risk of atherosclerosis, thus
lowering the causes of heart attacks. So one with a total reading of
229 might be at the opposite end of the risk scale than one thought.
