A recent '07 document from the Women's Health Study showed that high levels of cholesterol, even in healthy women, was a risk factor that increased a woman's chances of having a stroke. Other studies have shown a link between high levels of cholesterol and Alzheimer's illness. Plus the press has been warning us for years to cut down our intake of cholesterol because high cholesterol leads to hardening of the arteries. However what is cholesterol and why is it even it the body?
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Cholesterol is a normal product in all of us that is manufactured by the body. It is a soft, waxy, fat-like compound that is in each of your cells and can be found in all parts of the body - including the skin, blood vessels, muscles, etcetera. Because the body regularly creates cholesterol, we can assume that having cholesterol in your body is not necessarily bad. As a matter of fact, even if you wished to, you could not eliminate all the cholesterol from your body.
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Here's the key reason why Cholesterol is essential for the body. The body's cells make use of cholesterol as aa essential building block in creating their protective membrane. Scientific tests have suggested that "good" HDL cholesterol helps to protect against heart disease and stroke even when "bad" LDL cholesterol levels are high. Moreover, good cholesterol helps in the prevention of unsafe breakaway blood clots - which can be caused by sitting in a cramped position for too long. Cholesterol also helps the body to manufacture vitamin D from the sun. Quite simply, there's a lot of good that cholesterol performs.
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Additionally there is a second source of cholesterol. Dietary cholesterol comes form the food items that we eat. It can be only be observed in animal foods and eating it raises the bad cholesterol level in your own body. We have witnessed numerous studies over the years that correlate a high intake of dietary cholesterol to coronary heart disease. In other words, the more high cholesterol foods we eat, the greater our chance of developing heart disease or a stroke.
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High density lipoprotein (HDL), the good cholesterol, is a type of cholesterol that circulates in the bloodstream. Among its jobs is to eliminate excess cholesterol from the body's tissues and transport it to the liver where it will be passed from the body. This process of "taking out the garbage" or purifying the bloodstream is why HDL is a called good cholesterol and also why it's good for your body to have a relatively high HDL level. Some research workers state that an HDL of 60 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) or better is good and will protect you against hardening of the arteries and minimize your risk of getting heart disease.
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Conversely, a reduced level of HDL, like less then 40 mg/dl, has a negative effect on the body. A lot of studies seem to emphasize that a low level of HDL combined with a high level of LDL is a precursor of heart disease
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You can control your cholesterol. The total amount of cholesterol inside you at any point in time is a function of how fast your HDL and liver can cleanse your system of it's existing cholesterol together with the amount of dietary cholesterol that you've eaten during recent hours.
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Managing the amount of cholesterol that you allow into your body is a huge part of your lifestyle that you can modify to reduce your chances of heart disease or stroke. According to the American Heart Association, to eat less then 300 mg of cholesterol a day, you can considerably reduce your cholesterol levels. By paying more attention to the foods you eat, you can help to assure yourself of a long and healthy life.
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