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Cholesterol
4 key facts
It’s easy to ignore cholesterol—
after
all, you can’t see it, taste it, feel it or smell it. But this
waxy, fatlike substance in the blood can do some serious
damage to your health if you don’t pay attention to it.
Here are four key points to remember:
Not all cholesterol is created equal.
Cholesterol moves
through the blood in fat-protein combinations called
lipoproteins. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol
is often called bad cholesterol because it’s the type that
can build up and block arteries. High-density lipoprotein
(HDL) cholesterol is considered the good kind because it
helps to remove bad cholesterol from the body. The third
component of the lipoprotein trio is triglycerides, another
type of blood fat that also contributes to heart disease.
Cholesterol affects more than your heart.
Excess
cholesterol can join with fat, calcium and other sub-
stances to make a thick, hard substance called plaque.
Plaque can block the arteries to the heart, causing heart
disease. If patches of plaque break open, the resulting
blood clots can set off a heart attack. However, plaque
can also build up in arteries away from the heart,
stopping the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain or
limbs. These blockages put you at risk for stroke or
peripheral arterial disease.
You can control most risk factors for high cholesterol.
Men who are 45 or older and women who are 55 or older
are at increased risk for having abnormal cholesterol
levels simply because of their age. You can also inherit a
greater risk for the condition. However, you can control
most of the factors that lead to abnormal cholesterol. For
example, if you eat a low-fat diet, stay physically active,
don’t smoke and maintain a healthy weight, you’ll help
keep your cholesterol levels in balance.
You need to have your cholesterol levels checked.
The only way to detect abnormal cholesterol is to be
tested. Once you turn 20, you should have your levels
checked every five years. If you are at high risk for cho-
lesterol problems, your doctor may recommend more
frequent testing.
Sources: American Heart Association; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Your chances of surviving
a heart attack or
stroke have improved.
In November 2012, Glendale Adventist Medical Center
(GAMC) opened a state-of-the-art biplane catheterization
lab, which uses catheters and x-ray equipment, rather
than surgery, to get an accurate picture of what’s going
on inside your body.
The cath lab makes GAMC one of the first hospitals in
To learn about our
Heart & Vascular Institute, visit our
Web site at GlendaleAdventist.com/heart
.
Try Some TLC for your cholesterol
What you eat can affect your blood cholesterol levels—for better or worse. To help keep your cholesterol
numbers in a healthy range, follow these recommendations from the TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes) diet.
Food group Servings
Examples
Breads
Cereals
Grains
6 or more servings a day—
depending on how many calories
you need to reach or maintain a
healthy weight
■
Whole-grain breads and cereals, pasta, rice, potatoes, low-fat
crackers and low-fat cookies
Vegetables
Dry beans
Dry peas
3-5 servings a day
■
 Fresh, frozen or canned—without added fat, sauce or salt
Fruits
2-4 servings a day
■
 Fresh, frozen, canned or dried—without added sugar
Dairy
products
2-3 servings a day of fat-free or
low-fat varieties
■
 Fat-free or low-fat milk, buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, cot-
tage cheese and cream cheese—cheeses with no more than
3 grams of fat per ounce
Eggs
2 or fewer yolks per week—
including yolks in baked goods
and in processed foods
■
Egg whites or egg substitutes have no cholesterol and fewer
calories than whole eggs
Meat
Poultry
Fish
5 ounces or less a day
■
 Lean cuts of meat (such as sirloin tip, extra lean hamburger
and rump roast) and poultry without skin
Fats
Oils
Amounts depend on how many
calories you need
■
Vegetable oils that are high in unsaturated fat (such as
canola, corn, olive, safflower and soybean oils)
■
Soft or liquid margarines that have unsaturated liquid veg-
etable oil as the first ingredient rather than hydrogenated or
partially hydrogenated oil
■
Salad dressings that have only 1 gram of saturated fat per
serving
Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Your heart
in 3-D
Los Angeles County to introduce the Toshiba 3-D biplane
imaging to its patients. Furthermore, the addition of the
new cath lab will bring the total number of cath labs at
GAMC to five, an unprecedented number that will allow
the hospital to treat more patients in less time with supe-
rior technology.
GAMC interventional neuroradiologists and cardiolo-
gists will use the technology to produce an unparalleled
range of meticulous images that recreate even the most
difficult angles of a patient’s arteries.
In addition, dose control tools and faster scans reduce
radiation exposure to patients and staff, while quiet,
liquid-bearing x-ray tubes enhance communication
among physicians, staff and biplane patients in the cath
lab.
“The debut of the 3-D biplane technology is an exciting
moment for GAMC and our community,” says Fred Duran,
GAMC cath lab manager. “The 3-D images created by the
technology allow us to build remarkable representations of
the heart and surrounding arteries so that we can provide
complex neurovascular and vascular interventions with
greater speed and unmatched precision.”
The system was designed to accommodate multiple
specialists and additional equipment often needed dur-
ing complex procedures in the cath lab.
To learn more about the biplane and other
procedures offered at GAMC, visit
Glendale
Adventist.com/heart
. For a referral to a GAMC
cardiologist, neurologist or other specialist, call
(818) 409-8100
.
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