Blood Lipids

What are blood lipids?

Lipids are fatty substances in the blood. Cholesterol and triglycerides are blood lipids. Lipids carry some vitamins and are a source of energy. Some lipids come from the foods we eat. Some are made by the body.

Why are high blood lipids important?

High levels of blood lipids don’t cause any symptoms, but over the years they hurt your blood vessels and increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. You cannot know that your cholesterol is too high until you have a blood test to check your lipid levels.

Ask your healthcare provider how often you should have your blood lipids checked. If your lipids are high, there are things you can do to lower them, which will lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.

How can I lower my blood lipids if they are too high?

Diet can help lower your blood lipid levels. Most of the lipids in your blood are made by your liver from the fats, carbohydrates, and protein you eat. Eating the right amounts of fat, carbohydrates, and protein helps your body keep normal blood lipid levels.

Your healthcare provider can help you learn what to eat and what to avoid eating. In general, you should eat foods low in cholesterol and lower the total fat in your diet. Reducing fat, cholesterol, and calories in your diet can often lower blood lipid levels.

If you already have heart disease or are at high risk for developing it, you should follow a low-saturated-fat, low-cholesterol diet. This decreases your chance of developing heart disease, having a heart attack, or developing other heart problems. To follow this diet, you should eat:

• less than 7% of the day's total calories from saturated fat
• 20 to 35% of the day's total calories from fat
• as little trans fat (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils) as possible
• less than 200 milligrams (mg) of cholesterol a day (high levels of cholesterol are found in eggs, dairy products, and red meats)
• just enough calories to achieve or keep a healthy weight

Getting more exercise can also improve your blood lipids.

Drinking alcohol can increase some kinds of blood lipids, such as triglycerides. If you have a problem with high triglycerides, you may need to lower the amounts of carbohydrates you eat and the amount of alcohol that you drink.

If eating the right foods doesn’t lower your lipids enough, your healthcare provider may prescribe medicine for lowering lipid levels. Drugs commonly used for this purpose are ezetimibe, niacin, gemfibrozil, atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin, simvastatin, and rosuvastatin. Each has slightly different effects on the various blood lipids and different side effects. Your healthcare provider will help you find the best medicine for you.