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Your cholesterol: Watching and managing itIt's easy for cholesterol levels to get out of control and threaten your health. That's why health experts encourage people to watch and manage their cholesterol. What is cholesterol?Cholesterol is a hard waxy substance that the liver makes naturally. It's also in animal foods, such as meat, whole milk and egg yolks.
Why watch my cholesterol?The typical American diet includes a lot of fat and sugar. Diet and other factors can cause our body’s natural production of cholesterol to slow down. Then extra cholesterol builds up in the arteries. Checking your cholesterolEvery three to five years, people age 20 and older should go to their doctor for a blood test that measures their cholesterol three ways:
Managing your risksHeredity, age and gender can make you prone to high cholesterol.
While you can't do anything about your heredity, gender or age, you can control other risk factors for high cholesterol. This is why, to prevent or treat heart disease, health experts often recommend that you…
When making lifestyle changes, it's best to talk with your doctor and come up with a plan to integrate changes gradually in a way that works for you. Taking medicineIn addition to a healthy diet and regular exercise, some people need to take medicine to lower high cholesterol. Their doctor may recommend aspirin therapy or statins.
Surgery sometimes necessarySurgery may be necessary if your arteries are blocked by too much cholesterol.
Related Links Cardiovascular disease specialists Cholesterol: What you need to know Foods that may help lower your cholesterol level Source: Allina Patient Education, What You Need to Know About Cholesterol, cvs-ahc-32371 (4/05); American Heart Association; Health Online, Inc.; Journal of the American Medical Association, May 16, 2001; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institutes of Health; A Weil. Eating Well for Optimum Health. Alfred A Knopf, New York, New York, 2000; S Fallon, M Enig. Nourishing Traditions; NewTrends Publishing, Inc, Washington, DC 20007, 1999 First published: 08/01/2001 Reviewed by: Paul Kleeberg, MD, medical director, Internet/Intranet Services, Allina Hospitals & Clinics
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