Let's talk about... High cholesterol
- Dr Vicky Kamwa
- Oct 22, 2023
- 3 min read
Hypercholesterolemia
What is it?
Cholesterol is a fat that our body needs to function properly. It is also very often called lipid.
We get it from meat, dairy products, other animal products and our body also produces it mainly in the liver.
Hypercholesterolemia is simply the description of high cholesterol in the body and a simple blood test will make the diagnosis. There are many other medical terms for it; we will mainly talk about lipid disorder, dyslipidemia or hyperlipidemia.
There are many types of cholesterol:
Total cholesterol – which, as the term suggests, refers to all of the cholesterols combined in your body.
High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol - often called “good” cholesterol.
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol - often called “bad” cholesterol.
What are the risk factors for high cholesterol?
There are some risk factors that we can control and others we unfortunately have no or very little control over.
As for what we can control:
Eating in excess, all that contains saturated fats such as butter, cakes, biscuits, bacon, sausages, salami, chorizo, cheese, chocolates, etc.
Having a lot of body fat, especially around the waist.
Not being active enough or lack of physical exercise altogether.
Smoking can also cause high cholesterol: the build-up of inhaled toxic substances it causes in your arteries makes it easier for bad cholesterol to stick to the walls of those arteries.
Another thing to mention is this: If you are overweight or have diabetes, you are at greater risk of having high cholesterol.
Risk factors over which you have no or little control:
Physiological ageing.
If you are a man or a woman: we know that from puberty, young girls generally have a lower bad cholesterol level than young boys and women have a higher good cholesterol level than men (this partly thanks to our hormones, especially estrogen).
Our race and/or ethnic group: Cholesterol level also varies according to this.
Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH): this is a condition that runs in the family and which you are therefore born with.
Any disease affecting your kidneys or liver.
Hypothyroidism: an under-active thyroid gland.
What does having high cholesterol mean for your health?
If you have high cholesterol, your risk of heart and circulatory disease is increased, especially if in addition to this you also have other risk factors, such as:
Smoking
High blood pressure
Sedentary lifestyle
Overweight
Diabetes
Family history of premature coronary (heart) disease (before age 55 for men and before age 65 for women).
The more risk factors you have, the higher your risk of developing heart or circulatory disease such as heart attack, stroke, or vascular dementia (reduced blood supply to the brain that makes you forget things, think or speak inappropriately).
Excess of bad (non-HDL) cholesterol can be harmful because it sticks to the inside walls of your arteries. This can lead to a build-up of fat (also called atheroma) - this process is known as atherosclerosis. This makes it more difficult for blood to circulate, which can lead to heart attack, stroke or/and vascular dementia as mentioned earlier.
The next best steps for you to prevent it!
So the good news is that we can all make an effort to prevent high cholesterol:
Adopt a healthy and balanced diet, low in saturated fats.
Let's be and stay active; physical exercise is very important.
For those who smoke, we strongly recommend to quit smoking.
You are more likely to need medication(s) called statins to lower your cholesterol if:
You have heart disease or diabetes.
You are at risk of heart disease (even if you do not yet have heart problems).
Your LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) level is equal to or greater than 190 mg/dL.
A call to action
🦋 I will end by urging you to adopt the right attitudes to prevent this disease and if you think you are at risk of developing it, please book a consultation and see your doctor today.
Look after yourself and see you soon!
Dr Vee 💋
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