HDL and LDL Cholesterol Levels

What is hdl and ldl cholesterol levels?Most people know that there are three types of cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglycerides.

The combination of these three is your total cholesterol level. The HDL level is the good cholesterol. Of course, the triglyceride and HDL levels are the bad cholesterol levels. A higher amount of either of these two fats in the blood is associated with heart and cardiovascular disease. It clings to the walls of the arteries and causes blockage of the blood flow. If you have it form on a major artery, it cuts off the oxygen supply to the heart and causes heart damage from the blockage.

Don't expect to have any symptoms of high cholesterol levels or raising hdl cholesterol levels. There are no symptoms. The first sign comes once the arteries block. To avoid this, a simple blood test after a 9 hour fast to find your cholesterol levels is important. High cholesterol affects everyone at any age. Even children can display high cholesterol, particularly if there's a family history and their diet includes high concentrations of fat.

LDL and HDL Cholesterol Charts

If you aren't certain what your hdl and ldl cholesterol levels should be, there are numerous cholesterol charts to help. Most of them offer total cholesterol levels and LDL levels. Reading your levels without a chart makes no sense. No matter whether you understand increasing hdl levels and that higher HDL levels are good and higher LDL levels are bad, you still don't have a base as a reference point.

To help you understand what your cholesterol levels mean, here's a quick reference for you to check.

LDL Levels

Less than 100 mg/dL is the best you can be here. Many people, however, fall into the category of 100 to 129 mg/dL. While this is still good, it's not the best. If you have LDL levels between 130 and 159, you are bordering on high cholesterol and should take precautions to lower your cholesterol. Those with cholesterol levels of 160 to 189 are high and need to take immediate action. Any higher than 189, you have a definite problem with your blood LDL cholesterol. Follow the advice of your physician to a T or you'll find yourself with severe problems later in your life.

HDL Levels

The HDL cholesterol, good cholesterol, should be higher than 60 mg/dL if you want to help prevent heart disease. Anything below 50 mg/dL is dangerously low. As mentioned earlier, the higher the HDL level, the better. This type of fat, cholesterol, in your blood helps prevent heart disease.

hdl ldl triglycerides levels

Triglycerides levels also play a role in heart disease. The lower the amount of triglycerides you have in your blood, the better. Anything above 150mg/dL is high, but if your levels for triglycerides are above 200, you need to take action to lower the amount.

Total Cholesterol

Total Cholesterol is also an indication of a potential problem, but without knowing your HDL and LDL levels,it may be a hard job lowering ldl levels, not an extremely accurate tool. Less than 200 mg/dL is good. Middle of the road is between 201 and 239. 240 mg/dL is high and you need to look further into the ratio between the HDL and LDL levels as well as the triglyceride levels.

HDL/LDL Ratio Cholesterol Risk

To know your hdl and LDL Cholesterol Levels,you divide the good cholesterol by the bad cholesterol to find if you have the right amount of each. If you have an answer that's higher than 0.33, and hopefully as high as 0.4, you're in good shape. If your answer is less than 0.33, take steps to lower you LDL and increase your HDL.

Go to Cholesterol from HDL and LDL Cholesterol Levels