Cholesterol Numbers: An Introduction
Knowing your
cholesterol numbers is vital to understanding your potential risk for
heart disease. Because
high cholesterol does not cause noticeable symptoms, the only way you can know if your levels are too high is to get your cholesterol checked.
A number of different
cholesterol tests are available today, and each can be slightly different in what they measure. For example, some home tests will only provide you with total cholesterol numbers. Another test, called a lipid profile or lipid panel, will measure several things, including:
- Total cholesterol
- Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) -- the "bad" cholesterol
- High-density lipoprotein (HDL) -- the "good" cholesterol
- Triglycerides.
What Do Total Cholesterol Numbers Measure?
Total cholesterol numbers (as the name implies) measure the total amount of cholesterol in the bloodstream.
These numbers combine levels for HDL, LDL, and another type of cholesterol known as
VLDL, or very low-density lipoprotein.
However, these numbers can be misleading because a person can have a healthy total cholesterol reading and still have low HDL or high LDL. Therefore, most
cholesterol treatment decisions are based on HDL and LDL cholesterol numbers, not total numbers. Therefore, it's best to consider total cholesterol as an
overview of your cholesterol level.
