High Cholesterol Causes and Definition – High cholesterol is often referred to as the disease of the elderly or obese people. In fact, youths and skinny people can also have cholesterol levels above the normal limit. Well, it’s important that you know what your cholesterol is causing up to know how much you risk, as well as avoiding the risks of complications in the future.
Cholesterol function in the body
Cholesterol is a fat-like waxy substance that is white in color. Cholesterol is spread throughout the body’s cells. The human body actually produces its own supply of cholesterol in the liver. However, most of the cholesterol intake can come from daily food.
Cholesterol is not always bad. In fact, we need cholesterol to form cells and keep them healthy. In addition, cholesterol is also needed by the body to help make hormones (cortisol, tes**tosterone, and estrogen), vitamin D, and bile acids. Each of these substances certainly has its own role and benefits for the health of the body.
What is high cholesterol disease?
High cholesterol disease is a condition that occurs when the level of cholesterol in the body is higher than usual.
When high cholesterol, fat deposits may accumulate in the blood vessels. Consequently, these deposits complicate blood to flow through the arteries. This condition can make the heart may not get the oxygen-rich blood according to its needs. Finally, the condition will increase the risk of heart attack.
High cholesterol diseases can also cause blood flow to the brain to be disturbed. The decreased blood flow amount of the brain can cause stroke.
Read also:
Difference between stroke and heart attack symptoms.
High cholesterol diseases are generally caused by unhealthy lifestyles. So, actually high cholesterol can be prevented and overcome. Healthy diet, routine exercise, and sometimes treatment can decrease the cholesterol rate.
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High Cholesterol Causes
Many factors can cause high cholesterol, one of which is lifestyle. The following are things that are categorized as unhealthy lifestyles that can trigger an increase levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) in the blood:
Consuming unhealthy foods
The first high cholesterol causes is the habit of consuming unhealthy foods, which have high levels of saturated fat. For example egg yolks, butter, biscuits, cheese, cream, or coconut milk.
Lack of exercise or activity.
This condition can also increase the levels of bad cholesterol in the blood.
Smo**king habit.
In ciga**rettes, found a chemical substance called acrolein. This substance can stop the activity of HDL or good cholesterol to transport fat deposits from the body towards the liver to be disposed. Consequently, there can be arterial narrowing or atherosclerosis.
Genetic.
One can inherit high cholesterol from its parent. Called Familial hypercholesterolemia. If one or both of your parents, brother or sister have this condition, chances are, you can also suffer from high cholesterol. Check cholesterol levels since the age of the children to avoid the risk of heart complications. People with high cholesterol because of derivatives have very high cholesterol levels of 300 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) or higher. The person may not realize that he or she has it, or a symptom called asymptomatic.
Age and gender
Cholesterol levels tend to increase with age. The American Heart Association states, males over the age of 45 years old and women over 55 years of risk of experiencing high cholesterol. Cholesterol levels also increase as your abdominal circumference increases.
The National Institute of the Heart, lungs, and blood in the U.S. set the size of a healthy waist circumference in women is less than 88 cm, whereas in males smaller than 102 cm. More than that number is called having a distended stomach and is at risk of Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease, as well as higher risk of mortality.
Overweight or Obesity
Excess weight can be one of the causes of high cholesterol levels. Because, excess weight is usually a sign of excess fat levels in the body. This condition can be the cause of high cholesterol levels.
In addition, being overweight can increase the risk of heart disease that occurs due to increased cholesterol. For example, the risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack, to heart failure. Meanwhile, many factors can be the cause of overweight, which also leads to an increase in cholesterol levels. For example, lazy exercise, the habit of eating fat-rich foods, to lack of sleep.
If you do not want to experience high cholesterol levels, you can avoid the cause of this condition by maintaining an ideal body weight. This is an effort to make good cholesterol or HDL levels and bad cholesterol or LDL levels in the body become stable.
To find out if your weight is classified as exceeding the normal limit, try to measure it with a Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator. If your BMI is 30 or more, then you are already in the overweight category.
Therefore, by trying to maintain the ideal weight, it means you have maintained the health of the body to avoid various other diseases that may arise due to high cholesterol levels.
Other High Cholesterol Causes:
- Consuming too much alco**holic beverages.
- Have certain diseases, such as hypertension or high blood pressure, diabetes, a less active thyroid gland (hypothyroidism), liver disease, and kidney disease.
- Ethnicity.
- Stress.
- Certain drugs.
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The natural way to lower cholesterol.
Thank you very much for reading High Cholesterol Causes, and Definition, hopefully useful.
