What’s your cholesterol ratio?
Dr Paul Martiquet, Medical Health Officer
Are you feeling sluggish
and often tired? Do you have
When too much cholesterol is present, plaque (a
thick, hard deposit) forms in the arteries, narrowing
the passage for blood flow to the heart. Over time, the
pain in your lower left calf?
arteries can harden, leading to heart disease.
Or how about a throbbing in
Cholesterol travels through the blood attached to
your big toe? Then you may, or may not, have a choa protein, called a lipoprotein. Lipoproteins are claslesterol problem.
Of course these “symptoms” are nonsense, but they sified as high or low density, or very low density,
depending on how much protein there is in relation to
remind us that high levels of blood cholesterol do not
fat. The so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol is the low density
provide any symptoms — you might never know…
(or very low) type (LDL). The more LDL, the greater
until it’s too late. But there is something you can do:
get your cholesterol tested, and do it sooner rather than the risk of heart disease. Triglycerides are another
form of very low density lipoproteins.
later.
On the other hand there are high density lipoprotein
A long-term study presented in the Annals of In(HDL) also called the ‘good’ cholesterol. The name
ternal Medicine found that elevated cholesterol levels
reflects that HDL helps to rid the body of LDL, manbefore age 35 was strongly associated with the presaging its levels in the blood.
ence of build-up (cholesterol calcifiA blood test for cholesterol will
cation) at age 45. Subjects with high
Your
ideal
provide two numbers, one each for
levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol when they
and HDL. A good level of HDL
were young were three to five times
cholesterol ratio LDL
is at least 60mg/dL. Levels of 40 to 60
more likely to have calcification at age
are considered okay; the optimal level
45 than those with low levels.
is about 3.5:1
of LDL cholesterol is under 100 mg/
This suggests that testing for chodL. To simplify, we can calculate a
lesterol should begin quite early. Doratio of total to good cholesterol.
ing so could help nip a serious health problem in the
This ratio, a measure of the relative amounts of each
bud rather than waiting until the risk of heart attack
type is easy to calculate. Take the total cholesterol
and stroke is much higher.
number and divide it by the HDL number. The result
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance made in
is your cholesterol ratio. A figure below 5 to 1 (5:1) is
the liver. It is found in certain foods such as food
from animals including dairy products, eggs and milk. good; the ideal is about 3.5:1.
What’s yours?
Cholesterol is not immediately bad for you as the
body needs a certain amount to function properly. That
amount, however, is quite low; too much and health
problems can develop.
Dr Paul Martiquet is the Medical Health Officer for Rural Vancouver Coastal Health including Powell River, Sunshine
Coast, Sea-to-Sky, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.