How Can You Determine Good and Bad Cholesterol?

I recently read an article about differences between good and bad cholesterol.
Having cholesterol in your body is not always bad for your body since they are also vital to the body’s normal function. It is a lipid or fat that is produced from the liver, and can even be taken from fatty products such as milk, eggs, and even fish meat. They become bad only when there are excessive amount of cholesterol in your body, since they travel in our blood.

There are two types of cholesterol that differs in its function. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is usually called as good cholesterol since it functions to remove the cholesterol away from the body. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is known as the bad cholesterol since it takes in cholesterol from the liver to the blood. When one takes in too much low-density lipoprotein, then more cholesterol will deposit in the blood and can cause narrowing of the blood vessels which can be fatal. This is usually the cause of a person suffering from shortness of breathing and can even cause stroke and heart attack when the blood vessel is blocked entirely.

Obesity, smoking and diet can greatly affect the amount of good and bad cholesterol in your body. You will have more of the good cholesterol if you exercise, and eat foods with high HDL level.