How good high density lipoprotein (HDL) benefits your health
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/VWH-GettyImages-1760412667-e2a1388b27ca491eae7cade406419025.jpg?w=780&resize=780,470&ssl=1)
Main to remember
- Lipoprotein with high density (HDL) is known to be good cholesterol because it has many advantages for your health, in particular to reduce harmful fats in your body.
- Low HDL can contribute to health problems, such as vascular diseases and inflammation.
- Some things you can do to increase your HDL level include regular exercise, follow a healthy diet, avoid smoking and seek treatment for underlying health problems.
High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) is considered to be a “good” cholesterol because it has beneficial effects, such as helping to eliminate the harmful types of fat and cholesterol from your body. You can do things in your daily life to maintain the target range of good cholesterol.
FreshSplash / Getty images
What is HDL, known as good cholesterol?
High density lipoprotein is a type of healthy lipid for your body. Cholesterol and body fats are called lipids. Your body produces high density lipoproteins, which are often called good cholesterol, using fat and food proteins you eat.
The characteristics of high density lipoprotein cholesterol include:
- HDL is a lipoprotein Because it contains lipids (fat) and proteins
- HDL is high density Because it has a higher proportion of fat proteins than other types of cholesterol types, and fats are a lower (lighter) density than proteins
Good cholesterol has a chemical composition that affects its function in the body.
What is the right cholesterol doing?
The different types of lipids created by your body are important for your health, but HDL is specifically described as good cholesterol because it prevents other types of lipids from accumulating and provoking diseases.
HDL roles include:
- Binds to other types of cholesterol and fat, eliminating these particles from blood vessels, so that they do not accumulate or cause a disease in blood vessels
- Carries other types of fat in the liver, where these particles are broken down and removed from the body
- Reduces inflammation harmful throughout the body
- Reduces harmful oxidative damage (caused by highly reactive molecules produced in cells) in the body by antioxidant properties
How good cholesterol affects your health
A healthy level of HDL cholesterol helps prevent many different diseases from developing, including:
Good cholesterol prevents these diseases while keeping your blood vessels healthy. A large amount of unhealthy fat and cholesterol in your blood vessels can damage their inner lining, and can cause atherosclerosis (fatty deposits in the arteries), as well as the narrowing of these blood vessels, all contributing to vascular disease (blood disgusting).
How is cholesterol measured?
Blood tests can be used to measure cholesterol levels, including HDL cholesterol. These blood tests are often part of routine screening during an annual physique.
The ideal cholesterol and the fat levels in milligrams by decilitre (MG / DL) are:
- Total cholesterol: Less than 200 mg / dl
- Lipoprotein cholesterol with low density (LDL): Less than 100 mg / dl
- Hdl: At least 40 mg / dl in men, at least 50 mg / dl in women
- Triglycerides: Less than 150 mg / dl
Different HDL subtypes or HDL function measures can be assessed with specialized blood tests that are not routine.
What does cholesterol level mean?
Having low HDL can increase your risk of vascular disease. Having high levels of LDL or triglycerides may increase your risk of vascular disease.
This combination – HDL -HDL and high LDL and high triglycerides – is a common problem, so most of the treatment and lifestyle recommendations to manage cholesterol and reduction LDL and triglycerides and croissant HDL.
Less often, a person may have excessively high HDL – due to food or genetic factors – or a very low LDL and triglyceride level – generally due to malnutrition or disease.
How can you increase good cholesterol?
Life -style factors, such as your diet, exercise, weight management, overall health and genetics, contribute to your levels of good cholesterol and bad cholesterol.
You can increase your levels of good cholesterol with lifestyle measurements that affect how your body uses and decomposes fat particles.
Lifestyle measures that can increase good cholesterol include:
- Do regular exercise.
- Reduce saturated fats in your diet (red meat, full dairy products and fried food) and avoid trans fats. Eat a diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, poultry, fish, nuts and non -tropical vegetable oils.
- Don’t smoke.
- Lose an excess weight.
Medicines can help reduce triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. Obtaining medical treatment for illnesses, such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, liver disease or gastrointestinal disease, can also have a beneficial impact on HDL levels.

:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Health-GettyImages-148198988-2638f309585b4a4e8d325da5cf3563b4.jpg?w=390&resize=390,220&ssl=1)

:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Health-GettyImages-1203392811-d7b532109ae648f29c53dd079b53f8ae.jpg?w=390&resize=390,220&ssl=1)
