Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance found among fats circulating in your bloodstream and in all of your body’s cells.  You can get cholesterol in two ways.  Your body makes some cholesterol and the rest comes from animal products you eat such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, butter, cheese, and whole and 2% milk.  Cholesterol is not found in foods from plants.

Healthy levels of cholesterol are an important part of a healthy body.  Your body needs cholesterol to produce cell membranes and certain hormones.  Cholesterol plays an important role in other bodily functions as well.  Cholesterol can be good or bad, so it’s important to learn what it is, how it affects your health, and how to manage your levels.  Unhealthy levels of cholesterol can lead to heart disease or stroke.

The medical term for “good” cholesterol is high-density lipoprotein (HDL). HDL carries cholesterol away from your arteries and takes it to your liver, where it’s removed from your body.  High levels of HDL protect you from heart attacks.  HDL levels less than 40 mg/dL for men and less than 50 mg/dL for women may increase your risk for heart disease.  HDL levels higher than 60 mg/dL may help protect you against heart disease.

The medical term for “bad” cholesterol is low-density lipoprotein (LDL).  High levels of “bad” cholesterol in your body can clog your arteries and increase your risk of heart attack and stroke.  That’s the ugly truth.  When there is too much bad cholesterol in your body, it can slowly build up in the walls of the arteries in your heart and brain.  Once there, it can combine with other substances to form plaque, which can narrow your arteries and make them less flexible.  This is a medical condition called atherosclerosis.  If a blood clot forms and blocks an artery narrowed by plaque, you could have a heart attack or stroke.  So for good health, keep your LDL low—below 100 mg/dL.

Triglyceride is a form of fat that’s made in your body.  People who have high levels of triglyceride often have a low level of “good” cholesterol and a high level of “bad” cholesterol.  Triglyceride levels of 150 mg/dL or higher may increase your risk for heart disease.  Many people with heart disease, diabetes or both have high triglyceride levels.

The only accurate way to find out your cholesterol levels is to have blood drawn for a complete blood test.  This test should examine your blood for HDL (“good”) cholesterol, LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and triglycerides.  To accurately determine the level of triglycerides, you need to fast for 12 hours before having blood drawn – no food or liquids other than water.  All adults age 20 and older should have their cholesterol levels checked at least once every five years.

Not usually.  Quick cholesterol tests are becoming commonplace at health fairs and shopping malls.  These quick tests may not always be comprehensive, however.  It’s usually best to view these quick tests as screenings.  That means you should follow them up with a complete blood test if the results indicate unhealthy levels of cholesterol.

Adults should have their cholesterol levels tested at least once every five years.  Be aware that, even if your cholesterol levels are unhealthy, you may not feel sick.  That’s why it’s important to have your levels checked regularly.

Saturated fats have a chemical makeup in which the carbon atoms are saturated with hydrogen atoms.  Saturated fats are typically solid at room temperature.

Eating foods that contain saturated fats raises the level of cholesterol in your blood.  High levels of blood cholesterol increase your risk of heart disease and stroke.  Be aware, too, that many foods high in saturated fats are also high in cholesterol – which raises your blood cholesterol even higher.

Saturated fats occur naturally in many foods.  The majority come mainly from animal sources, including meat and dairy products.  Examples are fatty beef, lamb, pork, poultry with skin, beef fat (tallow), lard and cream, butter, cheese and other dairy products made from whole or reduced-fat (2 percent) milk.  These foods also contain dietary cholesterol. In addition, many baked goods and fried foods can contain high levels of saturated fats.  Some plant foods, such as palm oil, palm kernel oil and coconut oil, also contain primarily saturated fats, but do not contain cholesterol.

The American Heart Association recommends limiting the amount of saturated fats you eat to less than 7 percent of total daily calories.  That means, for example, if you need about 2,000 calories a day, no more than 140 of them should come from saturated fats.  That’s about 16 grams of saturated fats a day. 

You should replace foods high in saturated fats with foods high in monounsaturated and/or polyunsaturated fats.  This means eating foods made with liquid vegetable oil but not tropical oils.  It also means eating fish and nuts.  You also might try to replace some of the meat you eat with beans or legumes. 

Trans fats (or trans fatty acids) are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid.  Another name for trans fats is “partially hydrogenated oils."  Look for them on the ingredient list on food packages.

Companies like using trans fats in their foods because they’re easy to use, inexpensive to produce and last a long time.  Trans fats give foods a desirable taste and texture.  Many restaurants and fast-food outlets use trans fats to deep-fry foods because oils with trans fats can be used many times in commercial fryers.

Trans fats raise your bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and lower your good (HDL) cholesterol levels.  Eating trans fats increases your risk of developing heart disease and stroke.  It’s also associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Before 1990, very little was known about how trans fat can harm your health.  In the 1990s, research began identifying the adverse health effects of trans fats.

Trans fats can be found in many foods – but especially in fried foods like French fries and doughnuts, and baked goods including pastries, pie crusts, biscuits, pizza dough, cookies, crackers, and stick margarines and shortenings.  You can determine the amount of trans fats in a particular packaged food by looking at the Nutrition Facts label.  You can also spot trans fats by reading ingredient lists and looking for the ingredients referred to as “partially hydrogenated oils.”

Small amounts of trans fats occur naturally in some meat and dairy products, including beef, lamb and butterfat.  It isn’t clear; though, whether these naturally occurring trans fats have the same bad effects on cholesterol levels as trans fats that have been industrially manufactured.

Read the Nutrition Facts label on foods you buy at the store and, when eating out, ask what kind of oil foods are cooked in.  Replace the trans fats in your diet with monounsaturated or  polyunsaturated fats.

From a chemical standpoint, monounsaturated fats are simply fats that have one double-bonded (unsaturated) carbon in the molecule.  Monounsaturated fats are typically liquid at room temperature but start to turn solid when chilled.  Olive oil is an example of a type of oil that contains monounsaturated fats.

Monounsaturated fats can have a beneficial effect on your health… when eaten in moderation and when used to replace saturated fats or trans fats.  Monounsaturated fats can help reduce bad cholesterol levels in your blood and lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.  They also provide nutrients to help develop and maintain your body’s cells.  Monounsaturated fats are also typically high in vitamin E, an antioxidant vitamin most Americans need more of.

Yes.  Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats can have a positive effect on your health, when eaten in moderation.  The bad fats – saturated fats and trans fats – can negatively affect your health.

Most foods contain a combination of different fats.  Examples of foods high in monounsaturated fats include vegetable oils such as olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil and sesame oil.  Other sources include avocados, peanut butter, and many nuts and seeds.

he American Heart Association recommends limiting the amount of trans fats you eat to less than 1 percent of your total daily calories.  That means if you need 2,000 calories a day, no more than 20 of those calories should come from trans fats.  That’s less than 2 grams of trans fats a day.  Given the amount of naturally occurring trans fats you probably eat every day, this leaves virtually no room at all for industrially manufactured trans fats.

Monounsaturated fats – like all fats – contain nine calories per gram.

The fats in the foods you eat should not total more than 25–35 percent of the calories you eat in a given day… and, for good health, the majority of those fats should be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated.  Eat foods containing monounsaturated fats and/or polyunsaturated fats instead of foods that contain saturated fats and/or trans fats.

From a chemical standpoint, polyunsaturated fats are simply fats that have more than one double-bonded (unsaturated) carbon in the molecule.  Polyunsaturated fats are typically liquid at room temperature and when chilled.

Polyunsaturated fats can have a beneficial effect on your health when consumed in moderation and when used to replace saturated fats or trans fats.  Polyunsaturated fats can help reduce the cholesterol levels in your blood and lower your risk of heart disease. They also include essential fats that your body needs but can’t produce itself – such as omega-6 and omega-3.  You must get essential fats through food. Omega-6 and omega-3 play a crucial role in brain function and in the normal growth and development of your body.

Yes.  Polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats can benefit your health, when eaten in moderation.  The bad fats – saturated fats and trans fats – can negatively affect your health.

Most foods contain a combination of fats.  Foods high in polyunsaturated fat include  a number of vegetable oils, including soybean oil, corn oil and safflower oil, as well as fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring and trout.  Other sources include some nuts and seeds such as walnuts and sunflower seeds.

Polyunsaturated fats – like all fats – contain nine calories per gram.  All fats are equally high in calories.

The fats in the foods you eat should not total more than 25–35 percent of the total calories you eat that day and, for good health, the majority of those fats should be monounsaturated, polyunsaturated or both.  Eat foods with monounsaturated fats and/or polyunsaturated fats instead of foods with high levels of saturated fat or trans fat.