You\u2019ve likely heard that there is \u201cgood\u201d cholesterol and \u201cbad\u201d cholesterol, but knowing what ranges are healthy for each might be a little hard to discern\u2014especially because the numbers do change with age.<\/p>\n
Cholesterol is a waxy substance, similar to fat, that is produced by the liver. It\u2019s found in all of the cells in your body. It comes in two forms: blood cholesterol in our body and dietary cholesterol in food. Blood cholesterol is made by your own liver and helps to make hormones and digest fatty foods. Dietary cholesterol is found in animal foods like meat, eggs, seafood, poultry, and dairy products; it contributes only a modest amount to the blood cholesterol level.<\/p>\n
Blood cholesterol accounts for your total cholesterol level, which is measured by a group of blood tests called a lipid panel. You don\u2019t want your total numbers to be too high\u2014but past that, things can be confusing. However, it\u2019s important to try to understand your ideal numbers because high cholesterol levels can lead to heart disease, heart attack, or stroke.<\/p>\n
Read on to learn about the different types of cholesterol and the numbers to shoot for in each stage of your life. The sooner you understand what a healthy level is for you, the sooner you can start doing something about it.<\/p>\n
After you provide blood work for a lipid profile (also known as a lipoprotein panel), your total cholesterol level is determined along with three other values:<\/p>\n
\u201cA healthy triglyceride level and a healthy LDL cholesterol level are both less than 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg\/dL),\u201d says Roger Blumenthal, MD<\/a>, director of the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Preventive Cardiology Center<\/a> and spokesperson for the American Heart Association<\/a>. \u201cFor men, a healthy HDL cholesterol level is 45 or greater. For women, it\u2019s 50 or greater.\u201d Dr. Blumenthal cited those numbers as a healthy standard for all adults, regardless of age, but, for most people, as they get older, it can get harder and harder to maintain those levels. Meaning, the guidelines for what\u2019s considered optimal change because cholesterol levels naturally increase with age.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we\u2019re younger, on average, the LDL cholesterol is maybe 10, 20, or 30 points lower,\u201d Dr. Blumenthal says. As people age, their bodies lose the ability to clear cholesterol from the bloodstream as efficiently as they did when they were younger\u2014which increases the risk of high cholesterol and associated complications.<\/p>\n \u201cFor most people, regardless of what you do, LDL cholesterol tends to go up as you age,\u201d says Samuel Kim, MD<\/a>, the director of preventive cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center<\/a> and spokesperson for the American College of Cardiology<\/a>. \u201cPost menopause we can often see a substantial jump, as well. So it\u2019s even more important as we get older to continue leading a healthy lifestyle to maintain those lower levels.\u201d<\/p>\n You will often have a lipid panel as part of a routine checkup, especially when people have one or more risk factors for high cholesterol. \u201cWhen you get a cholesterol panel, you\u2019re probably going to see four main numbers,\u201d Dr. Kim says. \u201cThe first one is your total cholesterol, which is sort of a summary score based on the three components of your cholesterol: your LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. Those are the other three numbers from the panel.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED: <\/b>What are the early signs of high cholesterol?<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Made up of HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, and largely determined by your metabolism and genetics and to a lesser extent the dietary cholesterol that you ingest, total cholesterol paints an overall picture of the amount of cholesterol in your bloodstream.<\/p>\nTotal cholesterol<\/h3>\n