Does your heart always pound heavily or does your blood pressure rise for no apparent reason? This might be caused by your cholesterol! Cholesterol is often mentioned as a risk factor for heart and cardiovascular disorders as well as strokes. But there are two types of cholesterol – LDL and HDL.
LDL is considered the ‘bad’ cholesterol because a high LDL level leads to a build-up of cholesterol in your arteries. Arteries constrict, and blood begins to clot. Over time, blood thickening and artery constriction combined make a heart attack or high blood pressure more likely.
HDL is called the ‘good’ cholesterol because it carries LDL cholesterol from other parts of your body back to your liver. Your liver then removes the LDL cholesterol from your body. This helps to keep the blood vessels clean. High HDL levels reduce the risk of heart disease, but low levels increase the risk.
Like cholesterol, triglycerides are a type of fat, or lipid, in your blood. Elevated triglyceride levels can raise your chance of vessel constriction and heart disease.
Advantages of the Cholesterol Test
Knowing your cholesterol levels can help you take thoughtful steps to improve the health of your blood vessels. High LDL cholesterol means an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases – but it is very manageable through lifestyle changes and by optimising your cholesterol levels.
With the cerascreen® Cholesterol Test you don’t have to visit a doctor’s surgery, and you don’t have to wait. With a small prick of the finger, you can take a few drops of blood at home and send in your sample. Experts in a medical laboratory will then evaluate the sample in vitro.
Benefit from Cerascreen's expertise: cerascreen® is the market leader for medical sampling and submission kits in Europe, with eight years of experience in test development and analysis. We have developed more than 50 approved send-in test kits (medical devices), evaluated 250,000 samples and serve 19 countries.