What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a naturally occurring fatty substance produced by your liver. You need a small amount of cholesterol to stay healthy — it is an important building block of the cells in your body and is used to make some hormones.

	You need a small amount of cholesterol to keep your body healthy and working properly.

There are basically two types of cholesterol, good and bad, which are carried around the body by proteins called lipoproteins. About 70% of the cholesterol in your body is transported as bad (low-density lipoprotein or LDL) cholesterol. LDL carries cholesterol away from the liver to the rest of the body. If there is too much bad (LDL) cholesterol in your blood it can lead to clogged arteries, which can eventually lead to heart attacks and stroke. You can see how cholesterol can cause these problems here.

A certain amount of cholesterol is transported around your body as good
cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein or HDL). HDL carries cholesterol back to the liver, where it is broken down and passed out of the body. By removing
cholesterol from the blood, good (HDL) cholesterol is thought to help prevent
clogged arteries.

Triglycerides (TGs) are another type of fat found in your body. Most TGs are stored in fat tissue but low levels can be found in the blood. People with a high TG level have a greater risk of heart problems, especially if they also have a high LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol level. People with diabetes usually have a high TG level.

You can learn more about cholesterol click hereor watch the interactive lesson.

Am I responsible for my high cholesterol?
There are several things that can cause high cholesterol (see list below). Some of these things you can control, but others you can’t.

• Things you can change — By improving your lifestyle you can help to reduce your bad cholesterol level. Things that increase your risk of high cholesterol include:
  • An unhealthy diet
  • Lack of exercise
  • Being overweight
  • Smoking
• Treatable medical conditions — Some medical conditions can increase the risks of having a heart attack or stroke. But if you manage your condition as your doctor advises you to then your risk is reduced. Conditions that can increase the risks of having a heart attack or stroke include:
  • High blood pressure
  • Diabetes
• Things that you can’t change — There are a few things that you have no control over that can increase your risk of heart attacks or strokes. These include:
  • A family history of high cholesterol
  • Being male
  • Age (the older you are the more at risk you are)

Is it something I ate?
It is a common mistake to think that the cholesterol in your blood comes from cholesterol-rich food. In fact, only a small amount of cholesterol (20% or more) comes directly from the food we eat. Foods that are high in cholesterol include eggs, liver and kidneys, and seafood, such as prawns.

	20% or more of the cholesterol in your body comes directly from the food you eat. Up to 80% is made by the liver.

Will I pass this on to my children?
A small number of people have high cholesterol caused by a rare condition that runs in families called inherited or familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). FH is passed from parent to child. So if you have FH your child has a 50% chance of having FH too. People with FH have high cholesterol from birth and are at an increased risk of the problems associated with this, such as clogged arteries, early heart attacks and strokes.

Although high cholesterol levels can run in families this does not mean that your children will get high cholesterol from you. Only about 1 in 500 people have FH. But it is important to remember that children can get high cholesterol because of their lifestyle. In fact, high cholesterol is becoming more of a problem in children because of their unhealthy diets and lack of exercise.

	Children today are more at risk of getting high cholesterol because of increases in childhood obesity and childhood diabetes.

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