Health Advices Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Hypercholesterolemia’

Although you should always follow the diet described, it is difficult to normalize cholesterol levels only with dietary changes. Therefore, usually require treatment with medications, as well as changes in lifestyle.

The most effective medications currently are statins, which lower LDL cholesterol production in the liver. Thus, it can reduce blood levels of this cholesterol by up to 50%.

Another medication used is ion exchange resins, which favors the elimination of cholesterol content in bile from the intestine. These are the only drugs recommended for use in children and adolescents. Read the rest of this entry »

How does the doctor make the diagnosis?

It requires a blood test after fasting for 12 hours (which can only drink water). In the sample measured levels of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol (known as bad cholesterol), HDL cholesterol (known as good cholesterol) and triglycerides. The results suggest a HF if LDL cholesterol levels are very high and triglycerides are normal, with no other data associated disease.

They are very typical of the FH foreign deposits of cholesterol, above, and a family history of elevated cholesterol and/or premature cardiovascular disease. In specialized centers the diagnosis can be confirmed by genetic testing. If the levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides are increased at the same time is more likely to be suffering from familial combined hyperlipidemia. Read the rest of this entry »

What is the cause of Familial Hypercholesterolemia?

All body cells, but more marked in the liver, have some elements on its surface or receptors that serve to collect the cholesterol is transported in the blood in particles called low-density lipoprotein (LDL).

People with FH have a defect in the DNA of the gene for the production of these receptors. For this reason, LDL cholesterol, which can not be removed from the blood, builds up and raise their levels. Eventually deposited on the walls of the arteries, which accelerates atherosclerosis.

The genetic mechanisms for the production of LDL receptor are well known and have identified more than 300 different genetic errors that lead to HF. Read the rest of this entry »

Cholesterol levels in many different factors involved: race, geographic origin, diet, lifestyle, etc. The main factor is, however, influence or heredity. This is why you can find several people with high cholesterol in the same family. There is an inherited form that produces slight elevations of the levels (polygenic hypercholesterolemia), but when there are many families with very high cholesterol, you should suspect a metabolic disorder such as familial hypercholesterolemia (FH).

The HF is due to a genetic defect that affects some elements of the surface of cells, called LDL receptors (English acronym for low-density lipoprotein), being responsible for the uptake of this form of cholesterol. Enough that only one parent to transmit the disease, it manifests itself, which happens in about one in 500 people (called heterozygous form). Much more rare is that both parents transmit the disease (homozygous form), in which case the disease is severe and occurs at younger ages. Read the rest of this entry »