What is cholesterol and the lipid profile?
We hear a lot about cholesterol all the time: from TV commercials, newspapers, magazine ads, food manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. Most of us know what it means to have high cholesterol and how that can be bad for you, but, what exactly is cholesterol and how does it work within the body?

We all have it, some just have too much.
Everyone has cholesterol in their blood. Most of the cholesterol in our bodies is produced by our own liver. Cholesterol is also found in the food we eat, predominantly in foods produced by animals, like meat, milk and eggs. So, cholesterol is found in a lot of the high content animal foods most people love, like steak, cheese, ice cream and butter.

When you look at cholesterol under a microscope, it's a waxy, yellowish, fatty-substance. Our bodies must have a certain amount of cholesterol to function properly, because it's used for producing cell membranes and some hormones, and serves other important bodily functions. Too much cholesterol can allow the substance to coat the lining of the bodies' arteries, narrowing the amount of space for blood to lead to the heart (or brain). This condition, known as atherosclerosis – or hardening of the arteries – leads to heart disease and stroke.

Cholesterol levels: the amount of fat in relation to protein.

When you get your cholesterol level checked at the doctor, you are actually getting your "lipoprotein file" checked. Lipoprotein is how cholesterol travels around in your body. The cholesterol attaches itself to a protein, sort of like "hitching a ride." Think of proteins as the car and cholesterol is the passenger. Together, they travel throughout the Interstates and highways (arteries and blood vessels) of your body. Sometimes, there's another passenger: triglycerides. Triglycerides are another type of fat that is carried around the body by lipoproteins. Triglycerides form when the body has excess calories, alcohol and sugar, and converts it into fat cells throughout the body.

Lipoproteins are either "high", "low" or "very low" depending on how many proteins there are in relation to the cholesterol (fat). Low-density lipoproteins, also called LDL, are known as "bad" cholesterol, because there's more fat than protein present. LDL is the type of cholesterol that can cause buildup on the walls of the arteries. High-density lipoproteins are also called HDL, and they are the "good" cholesterol, because there is more protein than fat. HDL can actually help your body eliminate the bad cholesterol. Very low-density lipoproteins means there's mostly fat and very little protein. This is similar to LDL, but worse.

Can I make my cholesterol levels go up or down?
Yes, but only to a certain point. There are about 5 major factors that affect your cholesterol level. Let's start with the two you cannot control first:

  1. Age and gender. Simply put, as we get older our cholesterol levels go up.
  2. Heredity. High blood cholesterol can run in families. If it's in your genes to have high cholesterol, your body is simply born to make a certain amount of cholesterol.

Now, there are factors that contribute to cholesterol that you can control:

  1. Weight. If you have high cholesterol, and you're overweight, losing excess weight can help lower your LDL cholesterol and overall cholesterol levels.
  2. Diet. The food you eat is directly related to our cholesterol levels. Reducing the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in your diet will improve your levels.
  3. Exercise. There are many reasons why exercise helps your body. As for cholesterol, being physically active for 30 minutes daily helps lower your LDL (the "bad") and raise your HDL (the "good") cholesterol. It also helps lower blood pressure, one of the factors in arterial age. Physical activity also helps with weight control, a factor that affects heart disease risk. Finally, your heart is a muscle, so like any other muscle, it gets stronger from working hard. There's also a variety of medications available to control cholesterol. However, even if your doctor prescribes cholesterol-reducing medication, you should still be making important lifestyle changes, like following a low-cholesterol, low-fat diet, losing weight and exercising.

Is there anything else I should know?

Remember that high cholesterol doesn't cause any symptoms that people can feel. The only way to know if your cholesterol levels are rising is to get routinely checked by your doctor. Most doctors recommend that people begin testing their cholesterol levels in their 20s, and get tested at least every five years. Damage from high cholesterol can take years – even decades – to take its toll. The sooner you act and become proactive about reducing your high cholesterol, the better.