Normal Cholesterol Levels in Western Countries Is Twenty Percent Higher Than Those of Asians

Cholesterol is the waxy substance that is contained in many body tissues and is an essential nutrient required for healthy cell membranes as also to synthesize vitamin D and some hormones. The liver makes it from digested fats and it is transported in the blood. One can also find cholesterol in certain foods such as the yoke of an egg and in liver. Diet contributes significantly to the level of blood cholesterol because cholesterol is present in some foods and is also manufactured from digested fats. It is possible to test the blood for cholesterol levels. Normal cholesterol levels can be found out from the readings obtained from such tests and concern total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol as well as triglycerides. For a total cholesterol reading that does not exceed 250 mg/dL a person need not worry as it is considered to be normal. Normal HDL cholesterol levels are above 60 mg/dL which will greatly reduce the risk for heart disease while low levels such as less than 35 mg/dL will indicate a risk for heart disease. Normal cholesterol levels depend on the age, culture as well as genes of the person and an ideal blood cholesterol level is anything less than 200 mg/dL.

Things to Consider

According to researchers, anyone that has normal cholesterol levels as well as high amounts of blood fats would be four times as likely as others to have a heart attack, and may be erroneously be given a clean bill of health. This may be due to the fact that a number of doctors are not really attuned to the significance of high levels of blood fats or triglycerides as they are also known as. Thus, people with normal cholesterol levels will fail to be identified as having special risks.

It has been observed by experts that people with normal cholesterol levels or those with slightly elevated levels were also at risk of having high triglycerides as well as a high proportion of bad cholesterol in their bloodstreams and it could account for twice as many heart attacks as compared with any other group. In the Western countries, the normal cholesterol levels are normally given as 140-220 mg/dL in adults even though about five percent of the population has a total cholesterol level in excess of 300 mg/dL. These figures are twenty percent lower in the case of Asians and the levels of total cholesterol and LDL levels are known to rise as people get older.