Health Guide By: Rebekah O’Bryan, Naomi Belcher, and Miranda McCormick.

Health Guide By: Rebekah O’Bryan, Naomi Belcher, and Miranda McCormick

What is it? Saturated Fat- is found in foods that are unhealthy for you, it is not heart

healthy, and contains Low-Density Proteins-the bad cholesterol. By choosing to eat foods with saturated fat, you will have an increase in LDL. This can cause major issues.

Examples: Butter, Animal Products-mostly the fat-, chocolate, cheese, and cream

Unsaturated Fat- is found in healthy foods, is heart healthy, and has High-Density Proteins-the good cholesterol. You will have a fair level of HDL. This will help your overall health.

Examples: Oils, olives, nuts, avocado, seeds, and nuts

Trans Fat- a saturated fatty acid, typically processed, it raises cholesterol levels. Eating lots of processed foods can cause issues due to the amount of LDL.

Examples: Fries, fried chicken, pancakes, popcorn, and cookies

Cholesterol- The good and bad proteins, it affects your health greatly. By eating too much bad cholesterol it raises LDL levels, and causes atherosclerosis which causes your veins and arteries to become brittle.

Knowing the Difference

HDL(High Density Lipoprotein) Good Cholesterol

Removes excess cholesterol from the blood stream to the liver

High LDL

Goal: Greater than 60

Smaller

Double Molecular Bond

LDL(Low Density Lipoprotein)

Bad Cholesterol

Transports cholesterol to the cells

High Risk

Goal: Less than 100

Larger

Single Molecular BondPictured to the right is an example of the size difference of HDL and LDL.

Pictured here is the structural difference between HDL and LDL.

Previewed above is the HDL “cleaning out” the LDL from the artery.

Why do Cholesterol Levels Matter?

Doctors need to know the amount of LDL and HDL in your bloodstream because when they are out of the normal range, all kinds of unfortunate events can occur. When the LDL and HDL levels are out of sync, they can create adverse health conditions/disturbances such as heart attack, stroke, atherosclerosis, plaque build-up, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Having high cholesterol makes your odds a lot higher for getting any number of conditions or problems. Physicians check your levels yearly(or as needed) to ensure you are relatively healthy.

How does Cholesterol Effect Your Heart?

When you have bad cholesterol levels, it causes plaque to build up in your arteries. This causes your heart to work overtime and it puts strain on your heart. This can cause irregular heart beats. Heart attacks also occur due to the excess work it is putting in. The plaque build ups cause blood to not circulate as good, too. To put this in perspective, imagine when you get toothpaste on the outside of the hole. The next day when you go to squeeze the toothpaste, it doesn’t come out as easy or as fast because the hole-vein walls- have a layer of plaque-dried up toothpaste-, and the blood-toothpaste- can’t fit through as easily as it could the day before.

What Other Tests can Be Run When Monitoring Cholesterol Levels?

Triglycerides Fatty Acids VLDL (Very Low Density Lipoproteins)

Getting your Results

After having your blood drawn and sent to a lab, you get the results of the lab work. You can interpret this in a multitude of ways. You can say that you’re good, bad, borderline, need some work, etc. It depends on you and how your doctor presents the data to you. When the LDL levels are too high, you’ve got some work to do. When the HDL levels are too low, you’ve got some clean eating to do.

What can you do?

Eat Healthy Exercise regularly-the FDA recommends that adults

and children get at least one hour of exercise daily Take medication to help lower LDL levels Quit smoking Think ahead by knowing your food types (first slide)

Works Cited

American Heart Association. (nd). Cholesterol. [accessed 11 March 2015]. Retrieved from: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Cholesterol/Cholesterol_UCM_001089_SubHomePage.jsp

Cholesterol. (nd). The Pros and Cons of Cholesterol Meds: Taking Cholesterol Lowering Medications for Your Health. [accessed 11 March 2015]. Retrieved from: http://www.cholesterol-loweringfoods.org/cholesterol-meds/

Life Science Academy. (nd). Unit 4. [accessed 11 March 2015]. Retrieved from: http://www.lifescienceacademy.net/unit-4-pbs-heart.html

WedMD. (nd). Cholesterol and Triglycerides Test. [accessed 11 March 2015]. Retrieved from: http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/cholesterol-and-triglycerides-tests