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Linking Cholesterol and Heart Disease

For years, the medical community has held that a high level of cholesterol causes heart disease. While few will dispute this belief, there are other factors that may lead to severe and even fatal heart conditions.

Medical experts who took part in the Framingham Heart Study determined that high blood cholesterol is one of the factors leading to coronary heart disease or CHD. Results of this study showed that people with higher cholesterol levels were also more likely to have coronary heart disease. In fact, it's unusual for people with low cholesterol to suffer from CHD.

The connection between heart disease and high blood cholesterol has also been confirmed by another group of experts. These studies suggested that by lowering the total level of LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, we can drastically reduce the chance of coronary heart disease. Recent cholesterol trials using statin drugs showed that lowering the levels of both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol can greatly reduce the chance of experiencing a heart attack, angioplasty (surgical bypass) or even death due to coronary heart disease-related causes.

In addition to high cholesterol levels, there are other risk factors that can increase the risk of developing heart disease. Even though some risk factors can be lowered with diet, medication or lifestyle changes, others cannot be altered. The more combined risk factors you have, the higher your chance will be of experiencing heart disease.

The leading unchangeable risk factors are as follows:

* Age (45 and over for men, 55 and over for women)

* Family medical history. If you have parents or a sibling who died from heart disease at the ages stated above, you face a higher risk

There are some risk factors that you have the power to change. They are:

* Cholesterol. Limit your high total cholesterol and your high LDL or "bad" cholesterol. Lower your levels of HDL or "good" cholesterol

* High blood pressure

* Quit smoking

* Diabetes (diabetics face a higher risk of developing heart disease)

* Little or no physical activity

* Lose excess weight

If you have one or more of these high-risk factors, see your physician to find out how you can take action and reduce your chances of suffering a heart attack.

Some experts insist that high blood cholesterol and heart disease are connected. Others feel that too much animal fat, resulting in high cholesterol, contributes to heart disease. These experts will argue that there is no such thing as "good" or "bad" cholesterol. Further, they believe that mental stress, physical activity and a change in body weight all have influence over the levels of blood cholesterol, and that high blood cholesterol is no more than a harmless reflection of an unhealthy lifestyle.

While the experts may disagree on the factors of cholesterol and heart disease, everyone can agree that we all need to reduce our risks and increase our quality of life.