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Thanks for watching HealthiNation, I'm Malachy Cleary.
High Cholesterol, it's been called the "silent killer" for its role in causing heart attacks
and strokes, but cholesterol isn't all bad. In fact, the right kind of cholesterol is
vital to a healthy body.
Having too much of the wrong kind can lead to problems including heart disease, which
kills nearly one million Americans every year. That's more than all cancer deaths combined.
However, there is good news: high cholesterol can be prevented and even reversed. In this
segment of HealthiNation, we'll show you why high cholesterol is so dangerous and tell
you what you can do about it.
Let's hear from Dr. Tanya Benenson to find out more.
To understand how high cholesterol affects you, let's first understand what it is.
Cholesterol is a natural substance found in foods, and is even created by our bodies to
help build and maintain our cells. But too much cholesterol can lead to major problems,
which most commonly include heart attacks and strokes.
This happens when the amount of cholesterol in our diet plus the natural cholesterol made
inside the body add up to levels that are too high.
The area most affected by high cholesterol is the circulatory system; your blood vessels.
Here's how that happens: Our body naturally makes cholesterol in the
liver.
The body also gets cholesterol from foods we eat; which get digested in the stomach,
moves to the small intestine and then enters the blood.
But, when there is too much cholesterol in the blood, deposits can start to form inside
the arteries. This is a serious problem, because over time, those deposits can grow and restrict
the flow of blood to our vital organs.
A blocked artery in the heart can cause a heart attack, while a blocked artery in the
brain can cause a stroke. Genetics, lifestyle and diet are the main
culprits of high cholesterol. You can't do anything about your genes, but you can control
your lifestyle and diet, and with the right changes, you can prevent or even reverse high
cholesterol.
Now, there are no signs or symptoms of high cholesterol, so the only way to know if you
have it is getting it checked.