Cholesterol is NOT a Major Indicator of Your Risk for Heart Disease.

Cholesterol Not an Indicator of Heart Attacks

Health authorities in the United States have recommended that individuals over the age of 20 check their cholesterol levels once every five years. Total cholesterol is part of this test, or the sum of the cholesterol content in the blood, including HDL, LDL, and VLDL…

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that total cholesterol be less than 200 mg/dL, but what they do not mention is that the total cholesterol level is almost useless for determining the risk of heart disease unless it is above 330.

Additionally, the AHA updated its guidelines in 2004, lowering the recommended LDL level from 130 to less than 100, or even less than 70 in high-risk patients.

In order to achieve these extremely low levels, which are highly dangerous, it is generally necessary to take various medications to lower cholesterol. Therefore, this guideline serves to increase the market for these types of dangerous medications. Currently, it is also recommended that children check their cholesterol levels, further increasing their market.

I have seen many people with a total cholesterol level above 250; however, they actually have a low risk of developing heart disease due to their HDL levels. Conversely, I have seen many people with cholesterol levels below 200, but they have a very high risk of heart disease based on the following tests:

• HDL/Cholesterol Ratio
• Triglycerides/HDL Ratio

The percentage of HDL is a very important risk factor for heart disease. All you need to do is divide your HDL level by your cholesterol. Ideally, this percentage should be above 24 percent.

You can do the same with the triglycerides and HDL ratio. That percentage should be less than 2.

However, keep in mind that this is simply a guideline and that there are many more factors that influence the risk of heart disease aside from these numbers. In fact, it was not long ago that it was discovered that total cholesterol does not serve to predict heart disease, which is why more attention has been paid to HDL and LDL.

The latter gives you a better idea of what is happening; however, it does not show everything that is really going on.