LORI MOSCA, MD: When we talk about total cholesterol, we have LDL cholesterol, which is the bad cholesterol. One way to remember that is "L" is for lousy; we want it lower. And then we have the good cholesterol, which is the HDL cholesterol. "H" is for healthy; we want it higher.
ANNOUNCER: Another consideration in managing cholesterol are triglycerides, which are another form of fat found in the blood.
LORI MOSCA, MD: Triglycerides are also important. They are also contained in the plaque buildup that leads to heart disease and they're very strongly related with the development of heart disease.
ANNOUNCER: When doctors measure a person's cholesterol levels, the goal is to have LDL cholesterol levels less than 100mg/dL. For HDL cholesterol, the higher the better, greater than 40 mg/dL for men and 50mg/dL for women and triglyceride levels should be less than 150 mg/dL. Physicians agree that the closer patient's levels are to these optimal levels, the less risk they face of heart attack or stroke.
LORI MOSCA, MD: We really don't talk too much about the total cholesterol anymore. It's not really as predictive in terms of future heart disease risk as knowing the specific levels of the good, the bad, and the triglycerides.
ANNOUNCER: But how does one manage unhealthy cholesterol levels? The first step is understanding where the cholesterol comes from.
LORI MOSCA, MD: Cholesterol comes from two sources. There is the cholesterol that you eat in food and there is also the cholesterol in your body. So it's very important when we think about methods to lower cholesterol we have to think about reducing it in the diet, but we also, in some situations, need to reduce the amount that our body makes.
