Today is Cholesterol Day: Time to do something good for your heart

Fact 1: Elevated cholesterol increases the cardiovascular risk

An elevated cholesterol level increases the cardiovascular risk. Other risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, high blood pressure, smoking or a family history further increase this risk.

Fact 2: LDL target values are individual

The risk and therefore also the target LDL, the cholesterol value on which most treatment is currently based, is determined individually for each person. In the case of cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease or peripheral vascular disease, chronic kidney disease and diabetes mellitus, risk classification is possible without a score. In these cases, there is usually a high to very high risk. Based on this risk classification, it is possible to determine which LDL cholesterol value should be aimed for.

Fact 3: Diet and lifestyle - important, but not always enough

A balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle play a key role in our health. Nevertheless, these measures sometimes reach their limits. In the case of elevated triglyceride levels, they are usually the treatment of first choice - ideally accompanied by qualified nutritional counselling.

The situation is different with an increase in LDL cholesterol: Here, a change in lifestyle can lead to a reduction of around 10 to 20 per cent. However, whether this is sufficient in individual cases depends on the individual starting and target values and should be carefully examined by a doctor.

Fact 4: Medication helps effectively

In many cases, lifestyle modification is not enough. Various well-tolerated medications are available. Lowering LDL cholesterol also dramatically reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.