Check Your Bad Cholestrol

Keep your bad cholesterol level below 70mg / dl if you are at risk of hert disease or stroke, say new US guidelines. Earlier international recommendations had put the bad cholesterol (low density lipoprotein or LDL) upper limit at 100mg / dl.

Those at risk include people diagnosed with heart disease , diabetes and those who have at least two risk factors for heart disease, such as obesity, smoking, family history of heart attack, inactive lifestyle or high blood pleassure.

Experts in India, however, say keeping LDL under 80 mg / dl is good enough, provided you ensure that your good cholesterol (high density lipoprotein or HDL ) stays over 50 mg / dl. Total cholesterol should not exceed 180 mg / dl.

“More than total cholesterol, the ratio of total cholesterol and HDL is a more accurate indicator of heart disease, Below 3 is ideal, below 4 is acceptable, but ratio over 4.5 indicates heart disease”, says Dr.Srinath Reddy, head of cardiology, AIIMS. Factors that lower HDL are smoking, diabetes, high triglycerides, abdominal obesity and lack of exercise.

The US government recommendations say that all those at risk of heart attack would benefit from taking cholesterol-lowering drugs such as stains to keep their LDL level below 100 mg / dl.