4.3.1 What is Cholesterol?

Structural difference between LDL and HDL

- 50 percent of the weight of an LDL particle is cholesterol and 25 percent is protein -20 percent of weight of an HDL particle is cholesterol and 50 percent is protein

What can patients do to change the levels of LDL and HDL in their blood?

- Choose healthier fats: saturated fats, choose leaner cuts of meat, low fat dairy and monounsaturated fats. - Eliminate trans fat: trans fats can increase the risk of heart attacks. Trans fats are found in friend foods and commercial products - Eat foods rich in Omega-3 fatty acids: it helps increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, reducing you triglycerides and reducing blood pressure. - Exercise to increase your physical activity: excursive can improve cholesterol, physical activity can help raise high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. 30 minutes of exercise a day - Quit smoking: it might improve your HDL cholesterol, your blood pressure and heart rate decreases. - Lose weight: losing 5 to 10 pounds percent of your weight can improve your cholesterol levels.

How does intake of unsaturated, saturated, and trans fats affect cholesterol levels and overall health?

- Knowing which fats raise LDL cholesterol and which ones don't is the first step in lowering your risk of heart disease and stroke. Eating foods with saturated and trans fats cause your body to produce even more, raising your blood cholesterol levels.

What other molecules in a patients blood are monitored doing with LDL and HDL?

- LDL and HDL molecules in the patients blood are monitored along is triglycerides, low density lipoproteins and high density lipoprotein. Triglycerides are a type of fat found in the bloodstream inside of cholesterol molecules. Meaning, high levels of triglyceride increase high risk heart disease

Why do doctors monitor the concentrations of LDL and HDL in patients blood?

- Physicians monitor both LDL and HDL because their levels in their blood help doctors to evaluate a person's health status and to determine whether a person is at risk or cardiovascular disease

How are the concentrations of LDL and HDL associated with the risk for heart disease and associated disorder?

- When theres too much cholesterol in you blood, the LDL cholesterol can combine with other substances to form plaque that coats after walls, causing them to narrow. The condition is called atherosclerosis, increase your risk of cardiovascular diesel such as heart attack and stroke

HDL

- a lipoprotein of blood plasma that is composed of a high proportion of protein with little triglyceride and cholesterol. Reduced risk of atherosclerosis.

LDL

- low density lipoprotein cholesterol thats referred as bad cholesterol. A lipoprotein of blood plasma that is composed of a moderate proportion of protein which little triglyceride and high proportion of cholesterol.

Functional Difference between LDL and HDL

-LDL primarily carries cholesterol, they bring cholesterol to cells throughout your body and cause cholesterol build up within you arteries can cause hardness -HDL can benefit your health because these particles carry cholesterol away from your heart and other organs and deliver it back to your liver - they both deliver cholesterol to different parts of the body

What do the results of a cholesterol test mean? How do patients interpret each value?

The test will show your cholesterol levels in milligrams per deciliter of blood. The total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol are among numerous factors you doctor can use to predict your lifetime or years risk of heart attack or stroke. The doctor will do a blood test called a fasting "lipoprotein profile" to measure your cholesterol levels. the test gives you 4 results: total cholesterol, LDL(bad), HDL (good), cholesterol and triglycerides(blood fats)