Cholesterol and Fat both belong to the family of lipids, but unlike Fat, Cholesterol stays. Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that is helpful in building hormones and producing vitamin D. However, keeping a check on the cholesterol levels is very important as one ages.
Dr. Rajesh Vukkala, MD (General Medicine), Consultant Physician at VINN Hospital, Hyderabad says, “All cholesterol is not bad for the body, but there is a limit that is to be maintained. For a healthy person, reading around 200 mg/dL is acceptable. However, people with other medical conditions must have a reading of 150 mg/dL, and the control of cholesterol for them is much intense”.
He further explains that blood vessels play an important role in the case of high cholesterol. They get choked up, blocking the blood circulation, which results in the damage of organs like the brain and the heart, resulting in a brain stroke or heart attack. Therefore, HDL or High-Density Lipoprotein (good cholesterol) is responsible to take care of this condition, whereas, LDL or Low-Density Lipoprotein contributes to the risk of strokes.
Some common diseases that we usually come across, which can be linked with cholesterol problems are Hypertension, Diabetes, Hypothyroidism, and Obesity. “In the recent past, Obesity has been a pandemic. In these people we observed liver failure at an alarming rate, even requiring a transplant. It is called Non-Alcoholic Liver Failure. A common man would hear it as a fatty liver, which is nothing but higher levels of cholesterol and it is not being utilized adequately. It is a new spectrum of disease that we are now looking at.” explains Dr. Rajesh.
Does One Need to depend on Cholesterol Medication forever?
It is not completely true. We asked our expert, and he explains that it depends on one’s condition:
- For a healthy person without any risk factors like diabetes, hypertension, etc., once the cholesterol level is normal, the medications are discontinued. However, they may require a little diet and lifestyle changes.
- For people having family-related cholesterol, i.e. those who have genetically inherited this problem, they are not able to utilize the cholesterol properly or they have it accumulated in excess because of some genetic deformity. Therefore, they require cholesterol medicine lifelong.
- People with other diseases like diabetes, hypertension, hypothyroidism, etc. who require lifelong medications for these conditions, which also correlates to high cholesterol should be on medication, but with a variable dosage depending upon the cholesterol level.
Therefore, in case your lipid profile is not in the range, it is better to consult a doctor and get the levels in control before it's too late, as it may increase the chances of heart attacks and strokes.
