Cholesterol is a fatty substance. It doesn’t sound like something you would want in your body, but you do need some. It plays a role in the production of many things your body needs, which I’ll cover later. The problem lies in having too much of the bad fatty substance that can lead to clogged arteries cutting off blood flow throughout your body, but especially to your brain. This can be a particular problem for elderly people who are often less active but still have the same basic health requirements as the rest of us. Lets take a quick look at why controlling your cholesterol and minimising its negative effects is so important, particularly if you are older.

First of all, you have good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. Your objective is to raise the good and lower the bad. First, though, you need to understand what the numbers mean.

Cholesterol is measured in 4 ways; total cholesterol, good cholesterol, bad cholesterol, triglycerides. When the doctor does a blood test and sends you the results, it will be a measure of the numbers above. Here’s a breakdown of what those numbers indicate.

Total cholesterol measures the amounts of LDL and HDL levels in the blood. It’s a count of the overall amounts of cholesterol–good and bad.

LDL or Low Density Lipoprotein is bad cholesterol. It should be less than 100mg/dL (100 milligrams per deciliter). Anything above 129 is cause for concern.

HDL or High Density Lipoprotein is good cholesterol. It should be 60 mg/dL or … Read the rest