What Are Healthy Cholesterol Levels?

As you may know, your body contains good (HDL – high density lipoprotein) and bad (LDL – low density lipoprotein) cholesterol. These two types of cholesterol combined, make up the total blood cholesterol levels. According to American Heart Association there are three categories of cholesterol in your blood:

• Desirable – Less than 200mg/dL
• Borderline High Risk – 200 to 239mg/dL
• High Risk – 240mg/dL and over

Desirable means that your cholesterol levels are at low risk of getting a heart attack. There are however, other risk factors of heart disease besides cholesterol. But even if your cholesterol is low, it doesn’t mean you should start eating everything in a row. You should still eat healthy food and do exercises.

Borderline high risk means that people who have cholesterol levels between 200 and 239mg/dL are in borderline high risk. If your cholesterol is in this range, you should go to doctors and recheck your health every two or three years. In such case, you should lower the intake of foods that are high in saturated fat to lower your total cholesterol below 200mg/dL.

High risk means that your total cholesterol level is very high. It also means that you have much greater chance of getting a heart disease than regular people. In this case, you should be very concerned about your health. Check your cholesterol much more often and try to change your diet.

Besides total it’s also important to measure your LDL cholesterol levels. This bad type of cholesterol greatly affects your heart. So, the lower the LDL, the lower the risk of heart disease. There are few categories of low-density lipoprotein in your blood:

• Optimal - Less than 100mg/dL
• Near Optimal – 100 to 129mg/dL
• Borderline High – 130 to 159mg/dL
• High – 160 to 189mg/dL
• Very High – 190mg/dL and above

It is very important to realize that if you fall into category where your bad cholesterol level is high and above, your are at high risk of having a heart stroke. You should try lowering your LDL by eating more vegetables and fruits, doing exercises. In some cases, these are too hard to do for people. Then, medications can be prescribed to lower LDL cholesterol levels in your body.

You have to realize that high levels of cholesterol are very dangerous for your health. If you do not take any actions to reduce it, you are risking your health. Go to your doctor and check your cholesterol levels to see in which category you fall into. If your levels are high, try to maintain a healthy diet.