GOOD AND BAD CHOLESTEROL

We get some of our cholesterol from foods like eggs, dairy products, and red meat. But our bodies also produce cholesterol in an organ called the liver.

Your risk is normal if the answer is less than 5.

Over 40

Under 40

Under 100

Over 159

Under 200

Over 239

Cholesterol level is measured in mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter). That is, the milligrams of cholesterol in one deciliter, or one-tenth of a liter, of your blood.

Both dietary and natural cholesterol are put into the bloodstream to travel to where it is needed in the body. Cholesterol doesn't mix well with our watery blood because it's a lipid. A lipid is like an oil, it doesn't mix with water. So the cholesterol must be transported through the blood stream highway by special proteins. When cholesterol is traveling with a protein it is called a lipoprotein.

High Density Lipoproteins (HDLs) deliver cholesterol to the liver to be excreted.

Low Density Lipoproteins (LDLs) deliver cholesterol to cells for storage.

Lipoproteins exist in different forms: LDLs (Low Density Lipoproteins) and HDLs (High Density Lipoproteins). LDLs deliver cholesterol to cells, whereas HDLs remove excess cholesterol from the blood and bring it to the liver to be excreted. So, HDLs are good to have around. A healthy person will have more HDLs (good cholesterol) than LDLs (bad cholesterol).

National Cholesterol Education Program

The Cholesterol Low Down (American Heart Association)

Supported by the Utah Department of Health Chronic Disease Genomics Program through Cooperative Agreement Number U58/CCU822802 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.