Cholesterol (cont.)
Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEM
Dr. Ben Wedro practices emergency medicine at Gundersen Clinic, a regional trauma center in La Crosse, Wisconsin. His background includes undergraduate and medical studies at the University of Alberta, a Family Practice internship at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and residency training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR
Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
In this Article
- Cholesterol facts
- What is cholesterol?
- What are LDL and HDL cholesterol?
- What determines the level of LDL cholesterol in the blood?
- Does lowering LDL cholesterol prevent heart attacks and strokes?
- How can LDL cholesterol levels be lowered?
- What are the current NCEP cholesterol treatment guidelines?
- Why is HDL the good cholesterol?
- What are triglycerides and VLDL?
- What medications are available to lower cholesterol, lipids, and triglycerides?
- Is lowering LDL cholesterol enough?
- Pictures of Cholesterol Levels - Slideshow
- Take the Cholesterol Quiz
- Lowering Cholesterol 15 Tips Slideshow Pictures
- High Cholesterol (Hyperlipidemia) FAQs
- Find a local Internist in your town
How can LDL cholesterol levels be lowered?
Therapeutic lifestyle changes to lower cholesterol
Therapeutic lifestyle changes to lower LDL cholesterol involves losing excess weight, exercising regularly, and following a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
Medications to lower cholesterol
Medications are prescribed when lifestyle changes cannot reduce the LDL cholesterol to desired levels. The most effective and widely used medications to lower LDL cholesterol are called statins. Most of the large controlled trials that demonstrated the heart attack and stroke prevention benefits of lowering LDL cholesterol used one of the statins. Other medications used in lowering LDL cholesterol and in altering cholesterol profiles include, fibrates such as gemfibrozil (Lopid), resins such as cholestyramine (Questran), and ezetimibe, Zetia.
What are "normal" cholesterol blood levels?
There are no established "normal" blood levels for total and LDL cholesterol. In most other blood tests in medicine, normal ranges can be set by taking measurements from large number of healthy subjects. The normal range of LDL cholesterol among "healthy" adults (adults with no known coronary heart disease) in the United States may be too high. The atherosclerosis process may be quietly progressing in many healthy children and adults with average LDL cholesterol blood levels, putting them at risk of developing coronary heart diseases in the future.
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