Cholesterol helps the body digest dietary fats, produces hormones, builds cell walls, and aids with other important body functions. If blood flowing to the heart is slowed down the heart muscle can become starved of oxygen resulting in chest pain referred to as angina. Blood clots that fully blocked a coronary artery can cause a heart attack (myocardial infarction) or death can happen.
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Cholesterol is carried through the bloodstream to the body’s tissues where it is used, stored, and excreted. These particles are referred to as lipoproteins. Lipoproteins can be bad or good. The bad lipoproteins are called low-density lipoprotein or LDL. The good lipoproteins are called high-density lipoprotein or HDL.
The bad kind of cholesterol or LDL is carried through the blood. It is bad for you because it causes a harmful fatty buildup in the arteries. High levels of LDL blood cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease, which is the number one thing that kills men and women in the United States.
The good kind of cholesterol or HDL takes blood cholesterol through the blood to the liver for it to be eliminated from the body. Thus it helps avoid the buildup of bad cholesterol in the blood vessels.