Why cholesterol is bad for you

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Having high cholesterol, which is also known as hypercholesterolemia, means you have too much of a fatty substance called cholesterol in your blood. If left untreated this can build-up causing potential blockages. This raises your risk of serious medical emergencies such as strokes and heart attacks.

Often people with high cholesterol won’t know they have the condition unless they get tested, or it causes a serious problem.

But according to Doctor Joseph Ambani from GlowBar, there are some “unusual” signs that can indicate high cholesterol.

One such sign, he said, is memory loss.

“High cholesterol is a common condition that can have a variety of symptoms,” he told Express.co.uk.

“Some of the more unusual symptoms of high cholesterol include difficulty concentrating or memory loss.”

This is backed by various sources.

One study, published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association in 2008, concluded that those with low levels of high-density lipoprotein (“good” cholesterol) were more likely to have poor memory.

More specifically, from a trial of 3,673 participants, it discovered that by the age of 60, these men and women were 53 percent more likely to have memory loss than those with higher levels.

Lead author of the study, Archana Singh-Manoux, said: “Memory problems are key in the diagnosis of dementia.

“We found that a low level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) may be a risk factor for memory loss in late midlife. This suggests that low HDL cholesterol might also be a risk factor for dementia.”

High-density lipoprotein works to reduce cholesterol levels by absorbing it and carrying it back to the liver, where it is then removed.

Whereas, low-density lipoprotein (“bad” cholesterol) is what builds up on the walls of your blood vessels.

Over time this causes the insides of the vessels to narrow, leading to problems.

A separate study, from the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, found that having high levels of low-density lipoprotein could affect memory.

It said: “Higher plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was associated with poorer working memory task performance and reduced task-related default-mode network
suppression.

“These findings suggest a deleterious effect of elevated LDL-C on working memory task performance and task-related DMN suppression in older adults with cardiovascular risk.”

A healthy level of total cholesterol in the blood is considered to be five or less millimoles per litre (mmol/l).

Specifically, a healthy level of high-density lipoprotein is one or more mmol/l.

Four or less mmol/l of low-density lipoprotein is also considered normal.

Ways to reduce cholesterol include:

• Eating less saturated fat
• Exercising more
• To stop smoking
• Cutting back on alcohol.

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