The symptoms of high cholesterol – and how to know if it’s ‘good’ or ‘bad’
We all know that high cholesterol is not a good thing, but why is it unhealthy for you – and what’s the difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’?
If you have high cholesterol you are not alone. A recent study from Our Future Health, found 54 per cent of us have high total cholesterol levels. “The good news is that once you become aware of it, high cholesterol is preventable and treatable,” says Dr Dermot Neely, a former lipid specialist and trustee with Heart UK, the cholesterol charity. “Cholesterol is a type of blood fat that is made in the liver, found in some foods too. We all need some cholesterol in our bodies to keep us functioning, but having high cholesterol can clog up your arteries.”
What are the symptoms of high cholesterol?
High cholesterol is symptomless, which is a major concern because if left untreated, it can lead to heart attack and stroke,” says Ruth Goss, a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation.
Overt symptoms of high cholesterol may manifest in people with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), a hereditary disorder in which the liver is unable to adequately handle cholesterol, where you may suffer from:
- Tendon xanthoma – swellings made from cholesterol on the knuckles of your hands, your knees or the Achilles tendon at the back of your ankle.
- Xanthelasma – small, yellow lumps of cholesterol near the inner corner of your eye and eyelids.
- Corneal arcus – a pale white ring around the coloured part of your eye, your iris.
Causes of high cholesterol
High cholesterol doesn’t have one cause but is affected by many factors, says Goss:
- Your diet: Eating too much saturated fats – this reduces the liver’s ability to remove cholesterol, so it builds up in the blood.
- Lack of exercise: Being physically inactive – being active raises the level of “good” cholesterol and reduces the level of “bad” cholesterol.
- Smoking: Smoking can lead to high cholesterol levels and it causes tar to build up in your arteries, making it easier for cholesterol to stick to your artery walls.
- Age: You are also more likely to have high cholesterol as you get older, if you’re male and if you have a south Asian background, or if you have the genetic condition FH.
Other things that might increase your risk of high cholesterol:
- Kidney disease: When your kidneys aren’t working well, it also changes the way your body handles cholesterol.
- Liver problems: The liver both produces cholesterol and clears it from the body, but if the liver isn’t working well the body struggles to do this.
- Other considerations: Excess weight (especially around your middle), Type 2 diabetes, underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism – when your body doesn’t make enough thyroid hormone) or growth hormone deficiency (when not enough of the growth hormone is made).
Diagnosing high cholesterol
Ask your GP to check your cholesterol levels, which are measured using a simple blood test, sometimes referred to as a “lipid profile”. Your GP or practice nurse will take a blood sample, to check for the following:
- Levels of good cholesterol (HDL)
- Levels of bad cholesterol (non-HDL)
- Triglycerides
- Total cholesterol result
“If there is too much non-HDL in the blood, cholesterol can fur up the blood vessel walls, clogging them up, that’s why it’s called ‘bad cholesterol’,” says Neely.
HDL (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol contains lots of protein and very little cholesterol. It carries cholesterol away from the cells and back to the liver, removing the cholesterol from the body in the process, which is why it’s called “good cholesterol”.
There is another kind of fat in our blood called triglycerides, which is found in fat cells. These can also make arteries shrink.
Triglyceride amounts can be high if:
- You are overweight
- Eat a lot of sugary and fatty foods
- Drink too much alcohol
“Your GP should not make any decision on the results of a cholesterol test alone. You need to look at all the potential risk factors for heart disease at the same time. We have very sophisticated computer algorithms these days, which look at body weight, height, cholesterol results, blood pressure, blood sugar and will give you a risk estimate for the next 10 years,” says Neely.
Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/conditions/heart-health/high-cholesterol/