what should your levels be

Hello kathy,

Depends on your risk factors for heart disease!  Let me explain.

Cholesterol is a modifiable factor in the developement of heart disease.  Based on your other risk factors for heart disease, like if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, family history of heart disease, age, menopausal status, smoking status, and other.

Essentially, it comes down to this:

Total cholesterol should be less than 200 mg/dl.

LDL-cholesterol should be:

     less than 160mg/dl, if no risk factors for coronary artery disease

     less than 130mg/dl, if 2+ risk factors for coronary aterty disease

     less than 100mg/dl, if CHD (coronary heart disease) or equivelent

     less than 70mg/dl, if recent heart attack or unstable disease

HDL:

     greater than 40mg/dl, though greater than 60mg/dl is best

Triglycerides:

     less than 150mg/dl

For the patient, it's pretty simple.  LDL, triglycerides and total cholesterol should be as low as you can get them.  HDL should be as high as you can get it.  The number goals are arguably more useful for physicians to determine treatment changes - that is, if you need to be on a medication, if you need to increase a dosage, or add a second therapy.

To your health,

Neil MD

By the way, this web site has an EXCELLENT tutorial on cholesterol.

http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/understanding-cholesterol-000023_1-145.html?ic=506019