Key to heart health - Know your numbers!

According to the American Heart Association, everyone over the age of 20 should have their cholesterol checked at least every five years.

Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs. Eating food high in saturated fat and cholesterol can raise your blood cholesterol level. Cholesterol builds up in the artery walls causing high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.

There are two kinds of cholesterol. The good cholesterol—or HDL—helps to clean cholesterol from the artery and carries it to the liver to be removed. The LDL — or bad cholesterol—deposits cholesterol in the artery wall causing them to become narrowed which increases the potential for blocking the blood flow. When an artery that gives blood to the heart becomes blocked, a heart attack occurs. The cause of a stroke is the blocking or rupture of an artery in the brain.

Your cholesterol numbers should be:

• Total cholesterol is desirable at less than 200mg/dl.
• HDL should be 35mg/dl or higher—the higher, the better.
• LDL should be less than 130mg/dl—the lower, the better.
• Triglycerides should be less than 150mg/dl. Triglycerides are fats that circulate in your blood.

Improving your cholesterol numbers can take up to three months of lifestyle change. Some of these lifestyle changes include the following:

• Don't smoke.
• Get regular exercise.
• Eat foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol: lean meats, chicken, and fish.
• Avoid trans fat or products that list hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil in the ingredient list. This ingredient is often used in snack foods, highly processed foods and margarine.
• Use olive, canola, or Enova oil.
• Use skim or one percent milk, milk products.
• Eat more fiber.
• Add soy to your diet.
• If you are overweight, lose weight sensibly.

Sometimes lifestyle changes are not enough and your doctor may prescribe a cholesterol reducing medication.

You also need to know your blood pressure. The higher your blood pressure, the greater the chance of heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and kidney disease. Following are the guidelines for blood pressure:

Other risks for heart disease are smoking, obesity, lack of physical activity, diabetes, heredity, age, and stress.

The more risk factors you have the greater the risk you have for heart disease and stroke. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States and stroke is the number one cause of disability and the third cause of death.

The American Heart Association web site has a wealth of information and tools to help you in your pursuit of heart health at www.americanheart.org

You can also call the DMH Heart and Lung Institute ext. 2473 for more information.

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