High Cholesterol Bad For Heart, Bones
Author: ©Julia Carmichael

Everyone knows having high levels of cholesterol is not good for you. Medical experts have linked these high cholesterol levels to heart disease, heart attack and stroke. With these dangerous and sometimes deadly health conditions caused by uncontrolled cholesterol, there are some other lesser known ways high cholesterol can harm your health. Recent studies show high levels of cholesterol can be bad for bone health and can also bring on Type 2 Diabetes.

First, it has been found that high cholesterol levels can be bad for bone density. Studies have shown that women with high cholesterol levels have a higher risk of developing osteopenia, the condition where the bones become thin and less dense. Osteopenia is the forerunner to osteoporosis, a health condition where bones are fragile and break easily. According to a study conducted by the University of Milan, high levels of bad cholesterol seemingly make bone break down more quickly than normal cholesterol levels. Keeping bones strong is important since medical reports credit many deaths in elderly people to complications of hip or other bone fractures.

Second, having high cholesterol can also make you more vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes. This is especially true if your HDL, or good cholesterol level, is less than 35 mg/DL. Type 2 diabetes is more commonly known as adult onset diabetes. Diabetes patients must take prescription medication or insulin, and on top of that, this disease can cause vision problems or blindness, poor circulation, kidney damage and nerve damage.

While it is plain that these lesser known ways of high cholesterol can harm your health, there are also the more well-known outcomes of high cholesterol. These include heart disease, heart attack and stroke. High levels of cholesterol, particularly high levels of LDL cholesterol, can be adverse to your health. Over time excess cholesterol in the blood can also stick to and build up in the blood vessels. As this cholesterol continues to build up it hardens into a substance called plaque. This plaque is responsible for a disorder known commonly as hardening of the arteries.

This plaque interferes with blood circulation by blocking or partially blocking important vessels. If the heart muscle does not get the blood supply it needs, part of the muscle can stop working properly, resulting in a heart attack. These hardened, plaque covered arteries are also less flexible than normal arteries. The hardened arties can tear, which results in the blood clots responsible for strokes and for heart attacks. The blood clots are the body's way of protecting itself from bleeding to death through the tear in the artery. However, the clot will block the artery, by cutting off circulation.

There are many ways high cholesterol can adversely affect your health. High cholesterol can lead to a decrease in bone density and can also make a person more vulnerable to contracting Type 2

Diabetes. High levels of cholesterol can also lead to heart disease, heart attack or strokes. These conditions can all be either debilitating or deadly.