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By getting a simple cholesterol test and making positive lifestyle changes, most people can keep their cholesterol levels healthy.
Cholesterol is a fatty substance which is made in the liver. It’s found in some foods too.
We all need some cholesterol in our bodies just to keep us ticking over, but having too much can clog up your arteries and lead to health problems in the future.
By getting a simple cholesterol test and making positive lifestyle changes, most people can keep their cholesterol levels healthy.
Cholesterol plays a vital role in how your body works. There is cholesterol in every cell in your body, and it's especially important in your brain, nerves and skin.
Cholesterol has three main jobs:
Some of our cholesterol comes from the food we eat, but most (about 80%) is made in the liver in a complex 37-step process.
Cholesterol and another type of blood fat called triglycerides cannot circulate loosely in the blood, so the liver packages them into “parcels” called lipoproteins.
The lipoproteins are then released into the blood and carried around the body to wherever they're needed.
Once in the blood stream, some cholesterol will be returned to the liver and broken down. It’s used to make bile acids which are released into the intestines to help with digestion – bile acids break down the fats in food.
A small amount of bile acids will be removed from the body as a waste product in your poo. But most will be absorbed back into the blood, returned to the liver and used again for digestion.
Some treatments for high cholesterol work by stopping bile from being absorbed back into the blood. The liver has to take more cholesterol out of the blood to make more bile, lowering your cholesterol levels.
There is another type of blood fat called triglycerides.
Triglycerides enter the blood stream after a meal. Some are also made by your liver. Triglycerides are packaged into lipoproteins along with cholesterol. When they reach the cells throughout your body, the triglycerides are used for energy or stored for later.
A high triglyceride level in your blood should be investigated by your GP. There can be many reasons for a high triglyceride level and it's important to find out the exact cause. Raised triglycerides can add to your overall risk of developing heart disease, and if they're very high, they can cause other serious problems such as pancreatitis.
It's useful to have your triglycerides tested when you get a cholesterol check.
Read more about triglycerides and what can raise them
Cholesterol is a type of blood fat, and blood fats are known as lipids. Cholesterol and other lipids are carried in the blood attached to proteins, forming tiny spheres, or "parcels" known as lipoproteins. So, lipoproteins are lipids plus proteins.
When people talk about the different types of cholesterol, they’re usually talking about these lipoproteins: