Cholesterol – What’s your number?

By Barbara Jarmoska

Cholesterol - the fat molecule with the dreaded name is actually a critical component to good health since it is the building material for many hormones. Because there are several numbers that tell you about the level of fats (lipids) in your blood, knowing more than a single cholesterol number is very important.

Total cholesterol is said to be acceptable if less than 200. It is not true that the lower the number, the healthier you are. There is some evidence that people with very low cholesterol are at increased risk for certain cancers and other health problems.

High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) are even more important than total cholesterol as indicators of cardiovascular health. These are often called good and bad cholesterol. If you can’t keep them straight, think “Happy” and “Lousy.” You can imagine these two numbers as the taxicabs of cholesterol traffic, as they are the molecules providing transportation. The bad guys (LDL molecules) carry cholesterol away from the liver and deposit it in your arteries. Good cholesterol (HDL) provides transportation out of the arteries and back to the liver where cholesterol can be excreted from your body through the bowel.

HDL should be over 35...and the higher the better. It is not uncommon for healthy people to have HDL numbers in the 60s or 70s. LDL should be under 100, and the lower the better. Changing your HDL/LDL ratio can have a significant impact on your risk for heart disease. For every 1-percent drop in your LDL, your risk for heart attack goes down by 2 percent. For every 1-percent increase in your HDL, your risk of a heart attack goes down by 3.5 percent! Those are some nice odds, and good reason to take steps to change your ratio in the right direction.

When you know your HDL and LDL, you can determine your ratios by comparing one number to another. These ratios will give you what is known as your "Cardiac Risk Factor" because they reflect whether cholesterol is being deposited into arteries or broken down and excreted. The total cholesterol-to-HDL ratio should be no higher than 4, and the LDL-HDL ratio should be no higher than 2.5.

Improving your Cardiac Risk Factor by changing ratios is an even more important step toward preventing heart disease than focusing on your total cholesterol. For example, if your total cholesterol is 225 and your HDL is 68, your ratio is 3.3. On the other hand, someone with a total cholesterol of 198 and an HDL of 42 has a ratio of 4.7 (NOT a good reading). Get out the calculator and do your division, because your heart health is in the ratios.

To change your numbers, eliminate bad fats from your diet. These are the partially hydrogenated fats found in margarine and commercially prepared foods such as crackers, cookies, bread, chips, candy and snacks. A heart-healthy kitchen needs only three fats – extra-virgin olive and coconut oil and a bottle of organic flax seed oil. With these three, you can prepare nearly any recipe and replace the unhealthy salad dressings and buttery spreads.

The most effective way to lower cholesterol naturally is with an extract from red yeast rice. Used successfully in China for more than 2000 years, red rice yeast contains compounds known as monacolins that work to lower cholesterol by blocking its production in the liver. With over 34 clinical studies performed in both the United States and Canada, data was presented at the 39th annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease showing improvement in 92 percent of the subjects taking the supplement. The studies demonstrated the ability of red yeast rice to decrease total cholesterol and triglycerides and raise HDL. Please note: red yeast rice should not be combined with the statin drugs such as Mevacor, Lipitor, and Zocor.

It is important to be aware that red yeast rice can lower your levels of Coenzyme Q-10, an enzyme critical to heart, gum and muscle health. If using red yeast rice, 30 mgs daily of Co Q-10 is recommended as a companion supplement. If you are on a prescription statin drug, your need for Co Q-10 is far more critical because statins guarantee Co Q-10 depletion. Anyone on a statin should choose a soft gel Co Q-10, take with meals and dose at 1 mg per pound of body weight.