Ramanisblog

Tag: High-density lipoprotein

  • Understanding Cholesterol Infographic

    Understanding cholesterol  may even increase your Blood pressure.

    LDL,HDL,Ratio, tend to be on the higher side etc will make you confused.

    Here is an Infographic.

    Cholesterol.
    Understanding Cholesterol. from Tumblr.

    s Cholesterol Good or Bad?

    Just as homemade oil-and-vinegar dressing separates into a watery pool with a fat-slick topping, so also would fats and cholesterol if they were dumped directly into the blood. To solve this dilemma, the body transports fat and cholesterol by coating them with a water-soluble “bubble” of protein. This protein-fat bubble is called a lipoprotein.

    • Low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) carry cholesterol to the tissues. This is “bad” cholesterol, since high LDL levels are linked to increased risk for heart disease.
    • High-density lipoproteins (HDLs) carry excess cholesterol back to the liver, which processes and excretes the cholesterol. HDLs are “good” cholesterol: The more HDL you have, the lower your risk for developing heart disease.
    • HDLs and LDLs are found only in your blood, not in food.

    Test Your Cholesterol

    Your risk for heart disease can be assessed with a blood-cholesterol test. In this test, your total-cholesterol reading should approximate the sum of your LDL, HDL, and other lipoproteins. If you have 3.5 milligrams of total cholesterol, or less, for every 1 milligram of HDLs, then your cholesterol ratio is ideal. According to guidelines from the National Cholesterol Education Program:

    • Total cholesterol should remain below 200 mg/dL, unless HDL is high.
    • LDL should be lower than 130 mg/dL.
    • HDL should be 40 mg/dl or higher.

    However, if you have any risk factors for heart disease, you’ll want to get your LDL even lower, less than 100 is optimal, and less than 70 is targeted in people who have heart disease.

    Which Fats Are Saturated?

    Saturated fats increase your total cholesterol levels and are generally associated with an increased risk of heart disease.  In general, the harder a fat, the more saturated it is. Beef and dairy fats are mostly saturated fats. Liquid oils are usually unsaturated fats, including monounsaturated fats in olive and canola oils and polyunsaturated fats in safflower, corn, soybean, and fish oils. Coconut, palm, and palm kernel oils are exceptions to the rule; these liquid vegetable oils are highly saturated fats.

    Fear of Frying

    Eating foods with a lot of saturated fat may raise your risk for heart disease; this causes the amount of bad LDLs in your blood to increase while good HDLs decrease. Cut the saturated fat, and your blood-cholesterol levels and your risk for heart disease can fall, too. Your risk for cancer also decreases. A diet with more polyunsaturated fats, rather than saturated fats, lowers total blood-cholesterol levels, but unfortunately also drops HDL levels, so you lose both good and bad cholesterol. Olive oil is another story. This oil lowers total-blood cholesterol and LDL cholesterol without causing HDL levels to drop. By using olive oil, you can decrease your total-cholesterol levels while maintaining your HDL levels, thus decreasing your risk for heart disease. Fish also lowers heart disease risk. Consequently, olive and fish are the oils of choice.

    Hydrogenated fats are liquid vegetable oils made creamy when manufacturers convert some of the unsaturated fats into saturated ones through a process called “hydrogenation.” This process also rearranges the molecular shape of the remaining unsaturated fats. The resulting shape is an abnormal “trans” shape.

    Trans fatty acids constitute up to 60% of the fat in processed foods containing hydrogenated fats. TFAs raise blood cholesterol levels and increase heart disease risk even more than saturated fats. Knowing your fats gives you an edge when it comes to buying and preparing the right foods to eat. And when you steer away from the saturated fats and trans fatty acids, you can live a heart-healthy life. The bottom line is:

    * I do not believe in Cholesterol Non sense.

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  • Indians Find Cholesterol By The Photo of The Back of the Hand

    Cholesterol is Good for You!
    Cholesterol is Good for You! (Photo credit: Mr Jaded)

    An Indian Research Team Has developed a new process by which the Cholesterol  level can be found.

    This is from The  Sree Sastha Institute of Engineering  and Technology ,Thanjavur,Tamil Nadu

    Story:

    Researchers in India have developed a total cholesterol test that uses a digital camera to take a snapshot of the back of the patient‘s hand rather than a blood sample. The image obtained is cropped and compared with images in a database for known cholesterol levels.

    Writing in the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics, N.R. Shanker of the Sree Sastha Institute of Engineering and Technology and colleagues describe how they have developed a non-invasive way to test cholesterol levels in patients at increased risk of heart disease. Their approach is based on the creation of a large database of cholesterol levels recorded using standard blood tests and linked to a standardized photograph of the hand for each patient; cholesterol is concentrated in the creases of one’s fingers. They developed an image-processing computer program that compares the image from a new patient with the thousands of entries in the database and matches it to a specific cholesterol reading.

    Measuring the amount and type of cholesterol circulating in the blood is an important risk factor in cardiovascular disease. Excess cholesterol not used by the body in making hormones and building cells is laid down on the inner wall of arteries as a waxy plaque, which can reduce the normal flow of blood potentially causing heart problems and increasing the risk of cerebral stroke. Total cholesterol is a useful early indicator, although more detailed testing that distinguishes between the HDL high-density lipoprotein) and LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and triglycerides are needed for a more accurate health assessment of patients found to have high total cholesterol. It is LDL, so-called “bad” cholesterol that contributes to the formation of arterial plaques, atherosclerosis. The presence of different total levels of cholesterol can be revealed through image analysis of the skin.

    A non-invasive and inexpensive method for cholesterol screening would allow this risk factor be determined in much larger patient populations without the need for costly and inconvenient blood tests. The team will also soon publish details of the extension of this work to classifying cholesterol type using their approach.

    ###

    “Non-invasive method of detection of cholesterol using image processing” in Int. J. Medical Engineering and Informatics, 2012, 4, 223-230

    http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-08/ip-pct081712.php

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  • 7 Ways Alcohol is Good,Unsupported and Dangerous

    If one goes through the article carefully , not a single reference to medical study has been provided.

    Cholesterol emboli
    Cholesterol emboli (Photo credit: Boonyarit Cheunsuchon)

    Looks as though some one has written this just to be different so that he can be noticed.

    To the best of my knowledge Medical professionals speak nothing about these ‘good effect of alcohol’

    On cholesterol. now there is evidence that cholesterol has nothing to do with Heart ailment.

    ”

    The saturated fat found mainly in meat and dairy products has been regularly vilified by health professionals and the media, but a new analysis of published studies finds no clear link between people’s intake of saturated fat and their risk of developing heart disease. In the new analysis in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition January 13, 2010, which combined the results of 21 previous studies, researchers found no clear evidence that higher saturated fat intakes led to higher risks of heart disease or stroke.

    Those who are regular readers of this website over the last few years are well aware of my long standing opinion that saturated fats and cholesterol are not the cause of heart disease and this most recent analysis of the scientific literature has validated this opinion.

    The demonization of saturated fat began in 1953 with Dr. Ancel Keys’ publication of a paper comparing fat intake and heart disease mortality, and the misguided ousting of saturated fat has continued ever since.

    The idea that saturated fat is bad for your heart became so ingrained in the medical and health community, anyone daring enough to question this dogma was automatically viewed as a quack, regardless of the evidence presented.

    Instead, trans fats became all the rage and have since saturated the market. But times are a-changing, and in many ways for the better. Medical scientists have finally begun to take a hard look at the link between saturated fats and heart disease – only to find that there is none.

    http://www.westernherbalmedicine.com/nutrition/animal-fat-and-cholesterol-has-nothing-to-do-with-heart-disease.html

    Fiber in take facilitates bowel movement.

    Check with any Drinker,, he will tell you drinking makes bowel movements not easy.

    As to Neurological conditions,intake of Alcohol is contra indicated with medicine.

    In fact the main complaint against Drinking is that it attacks the Brain and the nervous system to make you tipsy.

    As to Cancer, growth of Cancer affects the Liver and degenerates it, an Organ that regenerates itself.

    Oncologists advise you to stop Alcohol for any type of Cancer.

    “Good cholesterol. Beer and wine can both increase HDL cholesterol (the good kind). Going along with this, it can also help to prevent excess plaque build-up in your arteries. This can prevent hardening and clogging of said blood vessels (atherosclerosis), which relates back to point number one. We’ll drink to that. Just be wary of the empty calories that are in beer, especially darker brews. The lighter stuff won’t be so unkind to your midsection.

    Arthritis. Alcohol can considerably lessen your chance of getting arthritis when you become old and wrinkly. However, booze is said to increase your risk of developing osteoporosis. So while a glass of wine might prevent your bones from getting persistently achy, it can make them more prone to snapping like twigs. It’s a fine line to walk, but you know what might help? White Russians. There’s milk and alcohol, together, and that means you can help your bones in two ways. It’s genius!

    Fiber. Being derived from grains, beer is actually an alright source of fiber. In fact, 500 milliliters (a little less than two cups) of beer can provide over a quarter of your necessary daily intake of fiber. Of course, too much fiber may lead to toilet trouble. Well, maybe not trouble, but at the very least it can lead to a lot of wasted toilet paper. You don’t want to blow your beer budget on TP.

    Certain cancers. Yup, even the threat of relapse and death from certain cancers can be reduced with a few swills of wine. Specifically, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and kidney cancer are said to be positively affected by-and maybe even prevented by-a little of the red. If it means you can avoid the difficulty and hardship of chemotherapy, why wouldn’t you down the occasional glass of Cabernet?

    Neurological conditions. According to a few studies, partaking in a little alcohol once in a while may help keep Uncle Alzheimer and strokes at bay. The proteins in the myelin sheaths that help guard the neurological pathways in the nervous system respond positively to the alcohol. Of course, too much alcohol has been linked to the death of brain cells, so once again, moderation is the key here.

    Life saving. Well, it may only be able to save you in one very particular way. Should you happen to ingest antifreeze for whatever reason, marathon-chugging vodka or whiskey could honestly save your life. The alcohol works by cancelling out the dangerous effects of ethylene glycol, the main component in antifreeze. Seriously!

    As a final note, these do not apply to former alcoholics. If you used to throw back entire bottles of whiskey every night for years and have since sobered up, there’s no way falling off the wagon is going to help you more than staying steadfastly on it. Stay strong!

    http://digg.com/newsbar/topnews/7_ways_alcohol_is_good_for_you

  • CHOLESTEROL And Heart Attack Not Linked.

    In a language that can be understood by people like me ,

    Medicine has no clue about the linkage of Cholesterol and Heart attack.

    Please follow the Link.

    http://www.avoidheartattack.com/755280.html

    Gingely oil has been used by people of India for ages.

    To the best of my knowledge they did not get heart attacks.

    It is said that Gingely oil is good for over all Health including Heart.

    Best is to follow time tested Food Habits that have been arrived at by the society over hundreds of years by the process of elimination, taking into account the climate as well.These will vary from Region to Region.

    Let us follow them.

    A recent large government study found that raising levels of HDL “good” cholesterol using a drug did not reduce the risk of heart disease. ..

    As The New York Times reported:

    Patients taking the medicine along with Zocor had higher levels of H.D.L. and lower levels of triglycerides, a fat in the blood. Despite these seeming improvements, the patients fared no better and may have done slightly worse than those taking Zocor alone. That is why the entire theory behind trying to increase H.D.L. levels in patients with heart disease may need rethinking…

    Many people, including most physicians, believe that HDL is “good cholesterol” and LDL is “bad cholesterol.” Therefore, anything that raises HDL cholesterol is good….
    Not everything that raises HDL is good for you. For example, if you increase the amount ofsaturated fat and cholesterol in your diet, you may increase your HDL because your body is trying to get rid of the extra “garbage” (fat and cholesterol) by increasing the number of available garbage trucks (HDL) if you are genetically able to do so. Eating a stick of butter or having a cheeseburger will raise HDL in those who are able to do so, but that does not mean that butter and burgers are good for your heart. They aren’t…

    So, rather than being concerned about how to raise your HDL, eat a whole foods, plant-based diet–and spend a few minutes a day exercising, meditating, and loving more. Heart disease is completely preventable–today–in at least 95 percent of people simply by changing our diet and lifestyle. We don’t need a new drug or breakthrough technology; we simply need to put into practice what we already know.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-dean-ornish/cholesterol-the-good-the-_b_870655.html