| A link between Cholesterol and Heart |
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| What is Cholesterol? |
Cholesterol is a waxy substance the body uses to protect nerves, make tissues and produce certain hormones. Our liver makes most of the cholesterol in the body. Some cholesterol also comes from foods such as eggs, meats and dairy products. |
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| Good or Bad? |
| Cholesterol can be both good and bad however in many cases, high level of Cholesterol is always dangerous. So it becomes necessary to know how it affects your health and how to manage your blood cholesterol levels. Understanding the facts about cholesterol will help you take better care of your heart and live a healthier life, also it may reduce your risk for heart attack and stroke. |
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| If your total cholesterol is less than 200 mg/dL, the risk of heart attack can be minimized with balanced low saturated diet and regular physical activity. |
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| Why is this harmful? |
| High level of Cholesterol is always harmful and dangerous. Most of the time, it turns to produce Heart Disease in human body and resulting the cause of deaths, stroke or related diseases. Being a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, it is the main culprit of lacks of deaths due to heart attack every year. |
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| How cholesterol is linked with heart problems? |
The extra cholesterol in your blood gets stored in your arteries (blood vessels that carry blood) and will cause them to narrow or sometimes it blocks the arteries. This is called atherosclerosis. Large deposits of cholesterol can completely block an artery, so the blood can't flow through the arteries and finally it causes the heart attack. |
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| If you have high cholesterol, it is not a matter of despair, instead high cholesterol can be modified, and there are active steps one can take to lower his cholesterol to its normal range. |
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| Can it be lowered? |
Cholesterol-lowering medicines, such as Zocor (simvastatin), Lipitor (atorvastatin), Pravachol (pravastatin), and Crestor (rosuvastatin), work mainly with your liver to decrease production of cholesterol and reduce cholesterol in your bloodstream. They can be taken to lower your cholesterol level depending on your previous medical history and consultation with your doctor. |
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Changing our eating habits is the best and effective way to help lower blood cholesterol levels. Intake of foods low in saturated fat helps lowering our blood cholesterol level. For this, we can take bread, cereals, rice, pasta, vegetables, fruits, legumes (dried peas, beans and eggs), lean meats, poultry, fish, and reduced fat dairy. |
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In addition to high cholesterol, there are other risk factors that can increase your chance of developing heart disease. So take precautions and enjoy with more healthy life than ever. |
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