Put a check on your cholesterol levels

Kill the killer cholesterol

Cholesterol means a fatty solid substance synthesized by the liver. Today this simple world-'cholesterol', has gained a reputation of inducing panic. Cholesterol by itself is no medical ailment. It is not all bad either. Cholesterol is made of three main components: low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL) and triglycerides. LDL is bad cholesterol while HDL is good cholesterol. Medication is aimed at maintaining a balance between the LDLs and the HDLs.

Why is cholesterol harmful? Cholesterol deposits on the inner lining of the arteries and reduce the diameter. This obstructs normal flow of blood cutting off oxygen supply to the heart. This develops chest pains and a complete blockage can lead to heart attack. The difficult part of cholesterol medication is that, cholesterol is never a singular concern. It is usually clubbed with either heart ailments caused due to it or preceding it and diabetes. The discovery of statins has revolutionized the treatment of high cholesterol count.

Zocor and lipitor have been widely used to treat high cholesterol levels. These statins stop the production of cholesterol in the liver and control the level of cholesterol in the blood. Zocor is proved to work better on cholesterol as it is fat soluble and easily crosses the blood-brain barrier. Lipitor helps maintain the good cholesterol in the blood and helps metabolize the excess bad cholesterol.