Health Beauty and Disease Information

There are many factors that affect your ability to lower cholesterol. Not all of them are within your control. Age is one such factor that affects cholesterol levels and over which we have no control. However, with diet and exercise, even older people can lower cholesterol.

Men and women are not created equally when it comes to cholesterol. Women, in general, before reaching menopause have lower cholesterol than men their same. An exception to this is found in women with a strong family history of high cholesterol. As women increase in age, their blood cholesterol also increases. Then, by about the age of 60 most women’s cholesterol readings level off to be comparable with men the same age. Finally, women over 65-70 usually have lower cholesterol levels than men of the same age. (more…)

Cholesterol levels have a direct relationship on the occurrence of coronary heart disease. Lower cholesterol and you reduce your chances for developing this deadly disease that strikes millions of people each year. Lower cholesterol levels also protect the body from numerous other health problems.

There are different types of coronary heart disease that can develop from high cholesterol. All are the result of cholesterol building up in the coronary arteries, a network of arteries surrounding the heart, and forming a plaque that reduces the flow of oxygen that is vital to the function of the heart. Cholesterol in the arteries that causes them to harden is also called arteriosclerosis. This condition is accelerated in people who smoke, have high blood pressure, diabetes, and/or high cholesterol level. (more…)