According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, high blood cholesterol affects over 65 million Americans. High cholesterol can lead to heart disease and one that is often preventable, or at least manageable.

Cholesterol is a soft, fat-like, waxy substance found in the blood and the body’s cells. The body needs cholesterol as it’s a building block, but not all cholesterol is good and not all cholesterol is bad.
Which is which?
The low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is considered the “bad” cholesterol and what doctors are looking for when they’re sending you for cholesterol tests. The best way to remember is …read more

Heart disease is the number one killer of all women in the U.S.; African American women are at a 35% greater risk of some type of heart failure.
We put ourselves at a greater risk of heart failure by ignoring symptoms, such as chest pain, fatigue and perspiring more than usual.
When we are young and active we think heart failure does not happen to the young, but a heart problem has no age limit.
If you have high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol and you smoke along with little or no exercise you are at a much higher risk for heart …read more

If you are like me and have high cholesterol, but would still like to enjoy a snack once in a while I may have found a site for all of us.
Most snacks that we enjoy are full of saturated fats and cholesterol. There are still some snacks that we all can enjoy and not have that little voice inside our heads making us fell guilty.
The important thing to remember is that you have to limit your snacks, so that you are not adding a lot of calories to your daily diet. Just because the package says low in fat that …read more

Persons with heart disease need to worry with controlling their overall cholesterol levels and not just “bad” cholesterol levels.  So important that this is re-examined. High cholesterol and heart disease do not mix!
Researchers found that 37 percent of Americans with diseases that affect the heart and vascular system had reached recommended levels of LDL-C (bad cholesterol), but only 17 percent were at recommended levels for all lipids – LDL-C, HDL-C (“good” cholesterol) and triglycerides. In contrast, 85 percent of those without cardiovascular diseases were at recommended LDL-C levels, while 67 percent were at recommended levels for all lipids. 
What do we …read more

Leading US doctors are saying that children as young as 8 should receive statins as a course of treatment for high cholesterol. Currently in many places such as the UK kids with a rare gene fault are being prescribed statins but US pediatricians are taking it one step further.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, however, believes that the drugs, which are used by millions of adults worldwide, could benefit thousands more children who are already obese, or showing signs of high blood pressure or type II diabetes.
Many UK docs do not agree with this decision and state that this is being …read more

I saw a commercial for a new combination medicine. Caduet. It is a mix of Norvasc and Lipitor and I wrote about it last year when it first came on the scene. It lowers your blood pressure while lowering your cholesterol. I still have yet to really see this medication prescribed. Here are its benefits…

CADUET can be taken anytime, day or night, with or without food.

CADUET offers every dose combination of Norvasc and Lipitor for flexible dosing options (excluding 1 combination: CADUET 2.5 mg/80 mg).
CADUET is available on many managed care plans nationwide.

It is like killing …read more