People with high cholesterol levels are at a greater risk of suffering from cardiovascular conditions such as heart disease. Usually, high cholesterol intake results in it clogging the walls of your blood vessels which might also lead to conditions such as hypertension. For this reason, most health care specialists encourage you to adopt good eating habits, which include consuming low cholesterol diets. Doing so reduces your chances of suffering from serious illnesses like heart attacks, strokes, or heart failure. Therefore, if you are looking for various ways of identifying and reducing high cholesterol foods, high cholesterol-Astoria specialists are here to your rescue. The qualified and experienced specialists screen and treat high cholesterol to reduce your risks of developing other medical conditions. Therefore, if you are interested in learning more about the symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment of high cholesterol, read below.
What is high cholesterol?
High cholesterol is a condition where a waxy substance is found in the blood, which increases your chances of developing stroke, heart disease, or heart attack. High cholesterol leads to the deposition of fatty substances into your blood vessels, reducing blood flow to various body parts. If you want to know whether you are at risk of suffering from a condition, you are encouraged to go for routine screening.
What are the symptoms of high cholesterol?
Generally, there are no symptoms of cholesterol. Therefore, all you are required to do is go for regular high cholesterol screening to help determine if you are suffering from this condition. During your appointment, your care provider can use a simple blood test to determine if your cholesterol levels are high.
What are the risks of high cholesterol?
Usually, some people are at a higher risk of developing high cholesterol than others. Some factors that increase your risks are obesity, diabetes, family history of cholesterol, older age, smoking, physical inactivity, and poor dietary habits. Some serious or life-threatening complications commonly associated with high cholesterol are coronary artery disease, heart attack, and stroke. Therefore, early detection and treatment of high cholesterol are essential in maintaining optimal health and wellness.
How can you lower your risk of developing high cholesterol?
Adapting healthy lifestyle habits help reduce your chances of developing high cholesterol. For instance, you can focus on eating vegetables, a lot of fruits, fiber-rich diets, whole grains, and legumes. Reduce the consumption of alcohol, animal fats, sodium, and stress reduction. You should also avoid smoking and manage your weight.
How is high cholesterol diagnosed?
Your health care specialist collects a blood sample from your arm and takes it to the lab for analysis to help diagnose high cholesterol. Using the sample, they can evaluate LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol to help determine if you are at risk of developing certain cardiovascular conditions.
How is high cholesterol treated?
The main treatments for high cholesterol are taking cholesterol-lowering drugs and adopting a healthy lifestyle. Healthy eating, weight loss, regular exercise, and dietary supplements also help treat high cholesterol.
High cholesterol can also be managed by consuming a high-fiber diet and not drinking alcohol. Therefore, if you are interested in learning various ways of reducing your risk of developing high cholesterol, you can start by scheduling your appointment at New York Medical and Vascular Care today.
