A special content area from the editors of Diabetes Forecast.
Cholesterol is a fatlike substance that serves several useful functions. Your liver makes cholesterol, and you get some from your diet. Cholesterol travels around the body in tiny clumps of fat and protein called lipoproteins. Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) carry cholesterol where it is needed. High-density lipoproteins (HDL) carry leftover cholesterol back to the liver.
When cholesterol levels are high, LDL dumps it in arteries, where it builds up in hard lumps called plaques. For good blood flow, blood vessels need to be flexible and free of plaques. Cholesterol buildup in arteries makes them rigid (“hardening of the arteries”) and narrower. The result: high blood pressure, blood clots, even heart attacks and strokes. Luckily, HDL carts away from arteries some of the cholesterol LDL leaves there. For these reasons, it is healthiest to have low LDL cholesterol levels and high HDL cholesterol levels. |
Are You at Risk?
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