You should start on your life's work in regards to cholesterol testing at about the age of 20; while it is likely that your levels should be normal at that time of your life, it would provide a baseline for your doctor. A test can follow every five years until symptoms of high cholesterol become evident when cholesterol testing would become more frequent. The lipoprotein profile shows levels for good and bad cholesterol.

Helpful Cholesterol

Despite its bad reputation, cholesterol is necessary to the working of the human body. It helps to build and maintain the membranes of the body's cells and may act as an antioxidant. Cholesterol helps make bile and digest fat. Your cholesterol testing takes a look at the amount of cholesterol that is present in the blood at the time. In most people, about 85% of the cholesterol was made by the liver and the rest comes from food.

Cholesterol found in the blood is a joining of the fatty cholesterol made by the body with protein molecules. Good cholesterol has a higher ratio of protein to fat, while bad cholesterol has a higher ratio of fat. Your cholesterol testing measures both types. Low density lipoprotein (LDL) is bad cholesterol. It develops plaque in the arteries and causes clogging which constricts the blood flow and results in heart disease.

High density lipoprotein (HDL) is the good cholesterol which does all of the good work including some unclogging of the LDL problems. Your cholesterol testing shows the balance between the two.

While cholesterol testing shows how much of each type of cholesterol is present in the body, it does not show why cholesterol is high or low. Genetics can go far in determining how one's body deals with cholesterol. Some people can have high cholesterol while on a low fat diet and vice-versa. Your cholesterol testing also measures the fats that travel through the bloodstream.

This fat is triglycerides and is made up of excess calories, alcohol and sugar. Since this fat is directly from the diet, cholesterol testing can help show what can be done to decrease it and prevent coronary artery disease.

Regular exercise of just half an hour a day can raise good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol. Limiting fats, especially saturated fats and trans fats will deal with the 15% of cholesterol that comes from outside the body. If those methods are tried and further cholesterol testing shows little improvement, then medicine can be added to the regimen. The whole cycle begins with cholesterol testing and can end with improved odds for a long, healthy life.

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