To talk about normal levels of cholesterol, first we should define the term cholesterol. Cholesterol represents a kind of fatty substance which cannot dissolve in the blood. Still cholesterol has many crucial functions:
- It is important to each body cell to build the membrane that protects it from dangerous substances.
- Cholesterol helps to keep water necessary for the body.
- Cholesterol participates in hormones’ production in adrenal glands, ovaries and testes.
- Cholesterol produces vitamin D necessary for the body.
Normal levels of cholesterol are not harmful for our bodies, so they are necessary to be maintained in the blood.
The bad and good cholesterol
Cholesterol cannot dissolve in our blood as it is actually a fatty substance, so it moves around in the body before it can latch on to some fatty proteins. There 2 types of proteins – HDL cholesterol which is high density lipoprotein and LDL cholesterol that is low density lipoprotein.
HDL cholesterol is the body substance moving cholesterol liquid in the body. It generally attaches itself to cholesterol and prevents it from getting stuck to arteries’ walls.
LDL cholesterol is not useful. LDL when oxidized provokes damage to the arteries’ walls and leaves fat and mineral deposits, which form blockages. It is necessary to reduce LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol.
Normal levels of cholesterol
Normally, cholesterol levels can be determined with a blood test. It is crucial to know normal levels of cholesterol not to become paranoid about anything you may read in the profile reports about lipid and blood. To normalize cholesterol levels, you need to change a lifestyle. The normal levels of cholesterol are the following:
- Overall levels are to be 135 – 200 mf/dL.
- LDL cholesterol should be below 130mg/dL.
- HDL cholesterol should be more than 30mf/dL.
- The normal ratio of total cholesterol to HDL one ought to be 4.0 – 6.0 for males and 3.7 – 5.7 for females. The ratio indicates how healthy you are.
Actually, in past times doctors used to insist on reducing the levels of LDL cholesterol which was considered bad cholesterol. And nowadays the focus is made on raising HDL levels that is good cholesterol. In understanding cholesterol rates we should mention here that it is crucial to remember that women and men have different normal cholesterol levels.