High cholesterol, more than half of the population suffers from it

What does it mean to have high cholesterol?

Cholesterol is an essential fat for the proper functioning of the body, but an excess of this lipid can cause serious cardiovascular problems. People with high cholesterol double the risk of myocardial infarction.

In order for cholesterol to circulate in the blood, it needs to bind to lipoproteins, of which there are two types:

– LDL (Low Density Lipoproteins): they are responsible for transporting new cholesterol from the liver to all the cells of the body. However, an excess of these causes the accumulation of cholesterol in the walls of the arteries. This is the so-called “bad” cholesterol.

– HDL (High Density Lipoproteins): their function is to collect unused cholesterol and return it to the liver for storage or excretion through bile. It is the so-called “good” cholesterol.

In Internal Medicine it is considered that for cholesterol levels to benefit our health, LDL should not exceed 100mg/dl and HDL should be above 35 mg/dl in the case of men and 40 mg/dl in the case of women. It is normal not to exceed 200 mg/dl of total cholesterol. A diet rich in saturated fats increases the risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases or strokes. In fact, these diseases are the leading cause of death in developed countries, although we know that we can prevent them with a proper diet, maintaining an optimal weight, not smoking and exercising.