What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is white, waxy, and powdery. You can’t see it, taste it, or smell it. Your body needs some cholesterol to work right. But too much of the wrong kind of cholesterol can cause problems.
High cholesterol (cole-es-ter-all, a waxy film that can build up and clog your blood flow) is the main reason that people get heart disease.
Your blood carries cholesterol through your arteries to different parts of your body. Some of that cholesterol is made in your liver. The rest of it comes from what you eat. Your body needs some cholesterol to work right.
When you have too much fat in your body, that fat changes into LDL or what is called “bad” cholesterol.
Sometimes, LDL cholesterol sticks to the walls of your arteries. Over time, this blocks your arteries, and the blood flow slows down. Blocked arteries can lead to heart disease.
The other kind of cholesterol, called HDL, helps free some of the LDL cholesterol from the walls of your arteries, allowing your blood to flow better. That is why HDL is called “good” cholesterol.
