LDL Cholesterol

LDL cholesterol has been in the news a lot in recent years. It has become known as "bad cholesterol" meaning it's the type that contributes to a number of health risks. High blood pressure (also known as hypertension) and heart disease are at the top of the list.

So what does LDL cholesterol do deserve the name "bad cholesterol?"

To answer that question, let's go back to basics for a minute.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance that does a number of good things for your body. The fats in cholesterol help you make hormones you need, contribute to vitamin D production, and provide you with a source of energy. The medical or scientific name for these fats is "lipoproteins."

Your body manufactures cholesterol, but it also captures cholesterol from the food you eat.  

There are two main types of cholesterol. HDL or high density lipoproteins and LDL or low density lipoproteins.

High density lipoproteins are considered "good cholesterol" because they're like the "scrubbing bubbles" of the bloodstream. As they circulate through our blood vessels, they collect the gunk that sticks to artery walls and eventually this gunk gets flushed it out of the system.

LDL cholesterol is the gunk.

Low density lipoproteins stick to the walls of the blood vessels. Eventually they build up in the form of a substance that's commonly called plaque.

Plaque is bad for your heart because it narrows the space in your veins and arteries where blood flows, bringing life-sustaining oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and organs. And that's not all the bad news about LDL cholesterol.

When blood vessels become cramped, your heart has to work harder to push blood through the circulatory system. The extra workload eventually takes a toll, aging your heart, so to speak, before its time.

Plus, if the plaque sticks to the arteries of the heart, you get a condition called coronary artery disease. The heart muscle doesn't get the oxygen and nutrients it needs, and is likely to start deteriorating.

In an extreme circumstance, when you're exercising or doing some other activity that requires your heart to work harder, you become a candidate for what doctors call a myocardial infaction: better known as a heart attack. A stroke, which occurs because blood vessels serving your brain are clogged, are also a possibility.

So to keep your heart healthy - and therefore, to keep you healthy - you have to take steps to lower your LDL cholesterol level and raise your HDL.

When you have a good ratio of good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, you have a much better chance of keeping your heart in good working order.

One of our doctor friends - a cardiologist - says this about LDL cholesterol.

"You don't have to remember that LDL stands for low density lipoproteins. Think of LDL instead as standing for "low down and lousy." That's a pretty apt description.

We have a number of other articles on this website that give you more information about this topic. Click on LDL diet and HDL diet. 

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