Cholesterol testing meters are an easy way to do a cholesterol check at home.
A cholesterol check meter can produce results in minutes, and some are known as a glucose cholesterol meter because they can check your glucose levels too.
Cholesterol meters are fast becoming a tool commonly found in the home of health conscious individuals, and are used as a part of a stay healthy regime.
Although everyone needs cholesterol to help the body build new cells and produce hormones, high cholesterol levels can be harmful.
The body gets its cholesterol (a fatty substance) via the diet and the liver. While the liver produces around 80 percent, foods such as meat, fish, cheese, and animal products provide the rest.
Foods that contain saturated fats result in the body producing more cholesterol.
Many people think that avoiding animal products is the answer for how to reduce cholesterol, but there are foods that don't contain animal products but do contain trans-fats which will still lead to the body making more cholesterol.
Cholesterol travels around the bloodstream by latching on to specific proteins.
Very bad cholesterol is known as VLDL or very low density lipoprotein.
Bad cholesterol is known as LDL or low density lipoprotein.
Good cholesterol is known as HDL or high density lipoprotein.
Chylomicrons carry a small amount of cholesterol but a large amount of fat known as triglycerides.
High LDL cholesterol levels is often a factor in coronary artery disease such as atherosclerosis. This sort of disease can lead to strokes and heart disease, etc.
High fat diets, obesity, stress, and inactivity, are all contributing factors in raising cholesterol levels. The problem can also be hereditary. Hospitals frequently advise doing a cholesterol check on these vulnerable groups of people, and they use very similar machines to the cholesterol meters you would use at home.
Many people are unable to pay for frequent cholesterol testing and this is where a home blood cholesterol meter comes in very handy.
A cholesterol monitor (such as a home cholesterol meter) allows you to see what is actually going on inside your bloodstream and make any necessary adjustments, such as trying a cholesterol diet where you introduce foods to lower cholesterol.
Using a cholesterol test meter will allow you to take control of your health and you should then take steps to find out exactly how to lower LDL cholesterol.
Before we talk about how to use a cholesterol test to determine our cholesterol levels, we should know what cholesterol is, and what it does to our bodies.
Cholesterol Test
Our liver produces a wax like substance which is also found in some foods. This waxy substance called cholesterol is needed in order to produce vitamin D.
It is also used by our bodies to build walls around cells, and to make bile salts that will allow us to digest fats.
A thousand milligrams of cholesterol is produced by our liver each day, which is enough to sustain us without ever eating another cholesterol loaded thing.
There are so many foods that contain cholesterol that it is not easy to avoid it. A cholesterol test helps that.
Heart disease is only one of the problems that can come from too much cholesterol, but there are ways to contain it.
The one thing you need to do first is talk to your doctor and have a cholesterol test.
A cholesterol meter, monitor, or other testing kit, can be used at home to monitor levels on a regular basis, and so adjust your lifestyle to improve your health and lessen the chances of getting a life threatening illness in the future.
The test is different from most of the other medical tests any adult might undergo, as it is not necessarily used for diagnosing disease, or to monitor a disease.
The cholesterol test is used for noting whether the patient is at risk for a disease such as heart disease or atherosclerosis, or perhaps death from a stroke or heart attack. An important part of preventative health is the cholesterol test.
There are two types of cholesterol (also known as lipoproteins) and they are HDL which is the high density, and LDL which is the low density.
HDL is considered to be the good cholesterol, and LDL is considered to be the bad cholesterol. The bad cholesterol will block the blood vessels and keep the blood from flowing through the body properly.
A routine cholesterol test is done during a patient's routine physical at least once every five years. This is so unless the patient has a history of having a cholesterol problem; then it is suggested that the patient have a cholesterol test several times throughout the year. This is to monitor how well the cholesterol is being held at bay.
There is much talk these days about high cholesterol and the diet, and sometimes altering eating and drinking habits can make a big difference. Many patients that have been diagnosed with high cholesterol will need to have medication and diets prescribed for them.
A cholesterol test may be needed more frequently if the patient is at higher risk for heart disease because one of these factors which are considered to be major:
The patient is a smoker,
The patient is over the age of forty five (men) and fifty five (women).
The patient suffers from hypertension with a blood pressure of more that 140/90,
If the patient has a family history of premature heart disease,
If the patient has already had a history of heart problems, or
If the patient has diabetes.
The patient is over the age of forty five (men) and fifty five (women).
The patient suffers from hypertension with a blood pressure of more that 140/90,
If the patient has a family history of premature heart disease,
If the patient has already had a history of heart problems, or
If the patient has diabetes.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children between the ages of two and ten that are at high risk for high cholesterol should have a cholesterol test, and the testing should be continued every three to five years.
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