In France, millions of people live with an invisible enemy who painlessly weakens their arteries. This
silent killer is neither stress nor hypertension, but excess cholesterol in the blood. It is often discovered after a heart attack or stroke. The French Federation of Cardiology also describes cholesterol as a “silent killer”. She estimates that around 10 million people in France have too much. Santé Publique France even mentions nearly 12 million adults, or around 18% of the population.
How to reduce your cholesterol level?
In other words, without knowing it, around one in five adults walk every day with a vascular time bomb.
But the news is that this risk is not inevitable! Indeed, thehypercholesterolemia is detected by a simple blood test. It is also easily understood when a professional explains the figures.
Finally, it is treated by combining lifestyle changes and, if necessary, medication.
Here is a plan of attack to regain control of this silent killer: know when to get tested, read your results, change your attitude and move more, then discuss treatments like
statins with his doctor.
Why cholesterol becomes this silent killer
Cholesterol is not a poison in itself. About 75 to 80% of circulating cholesterol is made by the liver and only 20 to 25% comes from food, mainly animal products.
This lipid is used to build the membranes of our cells, certain hormones and vitamin D. This explains why the body produces it even if we eat little.
The problem, details the French Federation of Cardiology, occurs when the
LDL-cholesteroloften nicknamed “bad cholesterol”, exceeds the recommended thresholds. Typically above 2 g/L of total cholesterol or around 1.6 g/L of LDL.
This excess promotes atherosclerotic plaques which gradually thicken and harden the arterial walls, sometimes until they rupture suddenly and trigger a myocardial infarction or a stroke.
Hypercholesterolemia is therefore often considered a silent pathology. Because no symptom warns the patient until the arteries are already seriously affected.
Who should monitor their cholesterol
Hypercholesterolemia therefore affects a significant proportion of the French adult population. The risk increases with age, excess abdominal weight, diabetes, high blood pressure, sedentary lifestyle or smoking, especially when several of these factors add up.
A special case is thefamilial hypercholesterolemia. Around 300,000 people in France, or one in 250 people, are affected, but barely 15% are diagnosed. Even though the risk of early heart attack is very high.
Systematic lipid screening in the family is essential, as soon as a member is identified, in order to identify children or young adults at high risk before the first cardiovascular event.
Beat cholesterol every day
Finally, be aware that a drop of 1 mmol/L in LDL cholesterol reduces the risk of major cardiovascular accident by around a third.
To achieve this, experts recommend following a
Mediterranean dietpracticing regular physical activity, stopping smoking and, if necessary, statins or PCSK9 inhibitors, for treatments.