Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Cholesterol – Panel Testing, Diet & Medication
Ways to monitor & reduce blood cholesterol levels…Cholesterol testing helps a lot in understanding the on-set cascades of several cardiovascular & degenerative diseases. There are several techniques to monitor & regulate cholesterol levels in serum. These include various non-invasive methods, like Laser cholesterol testing in which a laser is reflected upon patient’s eyes to determine the cholesterol levels, as well techniques like digital panel testing which are widely preferred across the globe.Cholesterol Panel testing involves assessing of cholesterol levels directly from the blood samples taken from the patients and are analyzed on specialized strips, especially designed for the purpose. These strips, with blood samples on them, can either be checked directly on machines or can be sent to labs with proper specifications and credentials.One can opt for dietary therapies and/or various medications in order to lower the cholesterol levels in the blood:• Dietary therapy: In this therapy, diet and lifestyles are modified in order to reduce the intake of cholesterol. These modifications are promoted as a prudent, an inexpensive, and a safe way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular, degenerative & other cholesterol associated diseases.Dietary therapy has multi-facet advantages. A DASH (Dietary Alternatives to Stop Hypertension) study has shown that additional servings of vegetables, fruit, and low-fat dairy products produce belittled but significant reductions in blood pressure. Various reports suggest limiting daily calories from saturated fats to the 7-10% of the total calorific intake. Cholesterol intake should be limited to 200 to 300 mg per day.Dietary therapy has been the primary treatment for hypercholesterolemia because of low risk of side effects, high benefits.• Medication/Drug therapy: Various medicines or counter-drugs are available in the market which can be used for reducing the blood cholesterol levels. One such drug is Statin, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl, a laboratory synthesized chemical, which dissembles the coenzymeA reductase class of cholesterol reducing compounds. These drugs are quite in vogue but they do have some side effects.Drug therapies are reported to have more profound effects than to dietary therapy. A 24% reduction in LDL has been observed by drug therapies where as only a 6% reduction has been reported in case of dietary therapies.Evidently, periodic testing helps in timely detection of diseases & helps us to take appropriate measures to nab the bud in the root. So, even if you believe that you don’t have any disease, keep yourself monitored, for just in case…
Cholesterol – Panel Testing, Diet & Medication
Ways to monitor & reduce blood cholesterol levels…Cholesterol testing helps a lot in understanding the on-set cascades of several cardiovascular & degenerative diseases. There are several techniques to monitor & regulate cholesterol levels in serum. These include various non-invasive methods, like Laser cholesterol testing in which a laser is reflected upon patient’s eyes to determine the cholesterol levels, as well techniques like digital panel testing which are widely preferred across the globe.Cholesterol Panel testing involves assessing of cholesterol levels directly from the blood samples taken from the patients and are analyzed on specialized strips, especially designed for the purpose. These strips, with blood samples on them, can either be checked directly on machines or can be sent to labs with proper specifications and credentials.One can opt for dietary therapies and/or various medications in order to lower the cholesterol levels in the blood:• Dietary therapy: In this therapy, diet and lifestyles are modified in order to reduce the intake of cholesterol. These modifications are promoted as a prudent, an inexpensive, and a safe way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular, degenerative & other cholesterol associated diseases.Dietary therapy has multi-facet advantages. A DASH (Dietary Alternatives to Stop Hypertension) study has shown that additional servings of vegetables, fruit, and low-fat dairy products produce belittled but significant reductions in blood pressure. Various reports suggest limiting daily calories from saturated fats to the 7-10% of the total calorific intake. Cholesterol intake should be limited to 200 to 300 mg per day.Dietary therapy has been the primary treatment for hypercholesterolemia because of low risk of side effects, high benefits.• Medication/Drug therapy: Various medicines or counter-drugs are available in the market which can be used for reducing the blood cholesterol levels. One such drug is Statin, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl, a laboratory synthesized chemical, which dissembles the coenzymeA reductase class of cholesterol reducing compounds. These drugs are quite in vogue but they do have some side effects.Drug therapies are reported to have more profound effects than to dietary therapy. A 24% reduction in LDL has been observed by drug therapies where as only a 6% reduction has been reported in case of dietary therapies.Evidently, periodic testing helps in timely detection of diseases & helps us to take appropriate measures to nab the bud in the root. So, even if you believe that you don’t have any disease, keep yourself monitored, for just in case…
Coronary Heart Diseases
How cholesterol testing can help…
Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), commonly known as coronary artery disease (CAD), atherosclerotic heart disease or ischemic heart disease, is a result of formation of cholesterol plaques on the inner side of the arterial (type of blood vessels) walls that supply oxygen and nutrients to the myocardium (heart muscles). So, in order to supply adequate blood to the body, heart has to do extra work. Now if you are assigned “extra” work on daily basis, what would happen? You will feel burdened & exhausted! That’s exactly what happens to our heart too; it feels burdened, tries to pull up, but at the end, crashes down to what you call - heart attack!
Some unhealthy dietary habits, such as cholesterol rich diet, smoking, & lack of exercise accelerate the deposition of fat & calcium within the inner lining of coronary arteries leading to hardening and narrowing of arteries, a common disease called atherosclerosis. Plaques deposited are like a firm shell with a soft inner core containing cholesterol. As the blood hits these plaques during each heartbeat, they may crack open and expose the inner cholesterol, which may even lead to blood clotting.
The Heart pumps the oxygenated blood at high pressure into the arteries, to be supplied to the body. This pumping requires high muscular strength which depends on oxygen & nutrients supply via coronary arteries. A blockage in these arteries deprives the heart muscles of adequate supply of oxygen & nutrients leading to muscular damage. This reduced level of blood flow causes chest pain i.e. angina pectoris. In most cases, symptoms for coronary heart disease can be observed at the advanced stages during the on-set of disease but in some cases, patients show no symptoms for decades!
Several risk factors have been reported for causing atherosclerosis, some of which can be controlled by changing dietary habits or by taking medicines:
• Tobacco smoke
• High blood Cholesterol
• Physical inactivity
• Obesity and discrepancy in Body-Mass Index
• Diabetes mellitus
• High blood Pressure
• Hereditary factors
Regular cholesterol testing may help your physician in planning your diet & physical exercises. This not only helps in the early diagnosis of diseases but also helps in living longer & healthier.
High levels of blood cholesterol directly or indirectly relates to other factors like obesity & high blood pressure. So, one of the major preventive measures of cardiovascular diseases is to monitor & regulate the cholesterol levels in the blood. You must be aware of the diet you are consuming; it should have lesser cholesterol & adequate nutrients.
Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), commonly known as coronary artery disease (CAD), atherosclerotic heart disease or ischemic heart disease, is a result of formation of cholesterol plaques on the inner side of the arterial (type of blood vessels) walls that supply oxygen and nutrients to the myocardium (heart muscles). So, in order to supply adequate blood to the body, heart has to do extra work. Now if you are assigned “extra” work on daily basis, what would happen? You will feel burdened & exhausted! That’s exactly what happens to our heart too; it feels burdened, tries to pull up, but at the end, crashes down to what you call - heart attack!
Some unhealthy dietary habits, such as cholesterol rich diet, smoking, & lack of exercise accelerate the deposition of fat & calcium within the inner lining of coronary arteries leading to hardening and narrowing of arteries, a common disease called atherosclerosis. Plaques deposited are like a firm shell with a soft inner core containing cholesterol. As the blood hits these plaques during each heartbeat, they may crack open and expose the inner cholesterol, which may even lead to blood clotting.
The Heart pumps the oxygenated blood at high pressure into the arteries, to be supplied to the body. This pumping requires high muscular strength which depends on oxygen & nutrients supply via coronary arteries. A blockage in these arteries deprives the heart muscles of adequate supply of oxygen & nutrients leading to muscular damage. This reduced level of blood flow causes chest pain i.e. angina pectoris. In most cases, symptoms for coronary heart disease can be observed at the advanced stages during the on-set of disease but in some cases, patients show no symptoms for decades!
Several risk factors have been reported for causing atherosclerosis, some of which can be controlled by changing dietary habits or by taking medicines:
• Tobacco smoke
• High blood Cholesterol
• Physical inactivity
• Obesity and discrepancy in Body-Mass Index
• Diabetes mellitus
• High blood Pressure
• Hereditary factors
Regular cholesterol testing may help your physician in planning your diet & physical exercises. This not only helps in the early diagnosis of diseases but also helps in living longer & healthier.
High levels of blood cholesterol directly or indirectly relates to other factors like obesity & high blood pressure. So, one of the major preventive measures of cardiovascular diseases is to monitor & regulate the cholesterol levels in the blood. You must be aware of the diet you are consuming; it should have lesser cholesterol & adequate nutrients.
Coronary Heart Diseases
How cholesterol testing can help…
Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), commonly known as coronary artery disease (CAD), atherosclerotic heart disease or ischemic heart disease, is a result of formation of cholesterol plaques on the inner side of the arterial (type of blood vessels) walls that supply oxygen and nutrients to the myocardium (heart muscles). So, in order to supply adequate blood to the body, heart has to do extra work. Now if you are assigned “extra” work on daily basis, what would happen? You will feel burdened & exhausted! That’s exactly what happens to our heart too; it feels burdened, tries to pull up, but at the end, crashes down to what you call - heart attack!
Some unhealthy dietary habits, such as cholesterol rich diet, smoking, & lack of exercise accelerate the deposition of fat & calcium within the inner lining of coronary arteries leading to hardening and narrowing of arteries, a common disease called atherosclerosis. Plaques deposited are like a firm shell with a soft inner core containing cholesterol. As the blood hits these plaques during each heartbeat, they may crack open and expose the inner cholesterol, which may even lead to blood clotting.
The Heart pumps the oxygenated blood at high pressure into the arteries, to be supplied to the body. This pumping requires high muscular strength which depends on oxygen & nutrients supply via coronary arteries. A blockage in these arteries deprives the heart muscles of adequate supply of oxygen & nutrients leading to muscular damage. This reduced level of blood flow causes chest pain i.e. angina pectoris. In most cases, symptoms for coronary heart disease can be observed at the advanced stages during the on-set of disease but in some cases, patients show no symptoms for decades!
Several risk factors have been reported for causing atherosclerosis, some of which can be controlled by changing dietary habits or by taking medicines:
• Tobacco smoke
• High blood Cholesterol
• Physical inactivity
• Obesity and discrepancy in Body-Mass Index
• Diabetes mellitus
• High blood Pressure
• Hereditary factors
Regular cholesterol testing may help your physician in planning your diet & physical exercises. This not only helps in the early diagnosis of diseases but also helps in living longer & healthier.
High levels of blood cholesterol directly or indirectly relates to other factors like obesity & high blood pressure. So, one of the major preventive measures of cardiovascular diseases is to monitor & regulate the cholesterol levels in the blood. You must be aware of the diet you are consuming; it should have lesser cholesterol & adequate nutrients.
Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), commonly known as coronary artery disease (CAD), atherosclerotic heart disease or ischemic heart disease, is a result of formation of cholesterol plaques on the inner side of the arterial (type of blood vessels) walls that supply oxygen and nutrients to the myocardium (heart muscles). So, in order to supply adequate blood to the body, heart has to do extra work. Now if you are assigned “extra” work on daily basis, what would happen? You will feel burdened & exhausted! That’s exactly what happens to our heart too; it feels burdened, tries to pull up, but at the end, crashes down to what you call - heart attack!
Some unhealthy dietary habits, such as cholesterol rich diet, smoking, & lack of exercise accelerate the deposition of fat & calcium within the inner lining of coronary arteries leading to hardening and narrowing of arteries, a common disease called atherosclerosis. Plaques deposited are like a firm shell with a soft inner core containing cholesterol. As the blood hits these plaques during each heartbeat, they may crack open and expose the inner cholesterol, which may even lead to blood clotting.
The Heart pumps the oxygenated blood at high pressure into the arteries, to be supplied to the body. This pumping requires high muscular strength which depends on oxygen & nutrients supply via coronary arteries. A blockage in these arteries deprives the heart muscles of adequate supply of oxygen & nutrients leading to muscular damage. This reduced level of blood flow causes chest pain i.e. angina pectoris. In most cases, symptoms for coronary heart disease can be observed at the advanced stages during the on-set of disease but in some cases, patients show no symptoms for decades!
Several risk factors have been reported for causing atherosclerosis, some of which can be controlled by changing dietary habits or by taking medicines:
• Tobacco smoke
• High blood Cholesterol
• Physical inactivity
• Obesity and discrepancy in Body-Mass Index
• Diabetes mellitus
• High blood Pressure
• Hereditary factors
Regular cholesterol testing may help your physician in planning your diet & physical exercises. This not only helps in the early diagnosis of diseases but also helps in living longer & healthier.
High levels of blood cholesterol directly or indirectly relates to other factors like obesity & high blood pressure. So, one of the major preventive measures of cardiovascular diseases is to monitor & regulate the cholesterol levels in the blood. You must be aware of the diet you are consuming; it should have lesser cholesterol & adequate nutrients.
CRP Tests
A comparative analysis with other inflammation tests:C-Reaction protein or CRP is a protein found in blood whose concentration increases with an onset of immune response when various bacterial and viral infections kick in. This increase is not only limited to any specific defect caused by a foreign particle or micro-organism & can also increases in response to various diseases caused due to other factors such as age, genetic makeup, mutations, lifestyle, etc. The list of diseases in which CRP has a direct or indirect role is big. The concentration of CRP varies in response to the various stages of these pathological conditions.Apart from CRP, there are other markers of inflammation which are triggered in response to various abnormal developments in the body. These markers are quite useful in profiling inflammatory responses of our body & thus, various tests have been designed for this purpose:• Silent Inflammation Profile – This test measures the ratio of Arachidonic Acid (AA) to Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) in your blood. The Arachidonic acid promotes inflammation while EPA fights it. It’s a rather more precise marker than CRP but unfortunately, testing it is little more complicated.• Fasting insulin levels - These blood tests are given to screen for inflammatory responses to diabetes & heart diseases. Higher insulin levels results in elevated inflammatory responses by the body. This test has narrower diagnostic ability than CRP Test & is limited to heart diseases.• LDL-Cholesterol profiling - Cholesterol associated arteriosclerosis & cardiovascular complications are the most important factors which effect the concentration of CRP in blood. Atherosclerosis associated vascular & cardio-muscular dystrophy leads to a dramatic rise in CRP levels & has profound effects on the concentrations of CRP. Therefore, LDL-Cholesterol profiling acts as a rough indicator of blood CRP levels.• ESR profiling - The Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate is used as a measure of inflammation & it, along with C-reactive proteins, acts as a marker of body’s inflammatory responses. Generally, ESR levels do not change as rapidly with onset & descent of inflammation as levels of CRP. Moreover, ESR is also affected my many factors, other than inflammation, while CRP is not much affected by any other factor, making it a much better marker for inflammation diagnosis. CRP is thus better than ESR for monitoring rapid changes in inflammation pattern as it does not depend on fibrinogen or immunoglobulin levels, & is not affected by RBC count & shape.• Miscellaneous: To predict risk of heart strokes, tests for cytokine activity, cellular adhesion, interleukin-6, soluble CD60 and intracellular adhesion molecule-1 are also good markers but these tests are either too difficult to perform regularly or may prove too costly for your economical health!So, CRP tests when combined with results of other diagnostic measures may provide a valuable insight into your body’s current state of health!
CRP Tests
A comparative analysis with other inflammation tests:C-Reaction protein or CRP is a protein found in blood whose concentration increases with an onset of immune response when various bacterial and viral infections kick in. This increase is not only limited to any specific defect caused by a foreign particle or micro-organism & can also increases in response to various diseases caused due to other factors such as age, genetic makeup, mutations, lifestyle, etc. The list of diseases in which CRP has a direct or indirect role is big. The concentration of CRP varies in response to the various stages of these pathological conditions.Apart from CRP, there are other markers of inflammation which are triggered in response to various abnormal developments in the body. These markers are quite useful in profiling inflammatory responses of our body & thus, various tests have been designed for this purpose:• Silent Inflammation Profile – This test measures the ratio of Arachidonic Acid (AA) to Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) in your blood. The Arachidonic acid promotes inflammation while EPA fights it. It’s a rather more precise marker than CRP but unfortunately, testing it is little more complicated.• Fasting insulin levels - These blood tests are given to screen for inflammatory responses to diabetes & heart diseases. Higher insulin levels results in elevated inflammatory responses by the body. This test has narrower diagnostic ability than CRP Test & is limited to heart diseases.• LDL-Cholesterol profiling - Cholesterol associated arteriosclerosis & cardiovascular complications are the most important factors which effect the concentration of CRP in blood. Atherosclerosis associated vascular & cardio-muscular dystrophy leads to a dramatic rise in CRP levels & has profound effects on the concentrations of CRP. Therefore, LDL-Cholesterol profiling acts as a rough indicator of blood CRP levels.• ESR profiling - The Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate is used as a measure of inflammation & it, along with C-reactive proteins, acts as a marker of body’s inflammatory responses. Generally, ESR levels do not change as rapidly with onset & descent of inflammation as levels of CRP. Moreover, ESR is also affected my many factors, other than inflammation, while CRP is not much affected by any other factor, making it a much better marker for inflammation diagnosis. CRP is thus better than ESR for monitoring rapid changes in inflammation pattern as it does not depend on fibrinogen or immunoglobulin levels, & is not affected by RBC count & shape.• Miscellaneous: To predict risk of heart strokes, tests for cytokine activity, cellular adhesion, interleukin-6, soluble CD60 and intracellular adhesion molecule-1 are also good markers but these tests are either too difficult to perform regularly or may prove too costly for your economical health!So, CRP tests when combined with results of other diagnostic measures may provide a valuable insight into your body’s current state of health!
CRP Tests: An Overview
A layman’s guide to better health:CRP is the ‘C-Reactive Protein’ which is produced by the liver & released in the blood to chase the goose down! It is basically a marker/ signal for the body which tells us that something, deep inside, has gone haywire!. CRP proteins help the fighter cells, like macrophages, to bind to the foreign antigens & also to the damaged cells, enabling them to eliminate the foreign antigens & damaged cells elegantly!Whenever such unwanted microbial/viral invasion occurs, these CRPs immediately jump to action, rapidly increasing their concentration in the blood stream. So, by measuring the CRP concentration, one can actually diagnose a security breach into the body at an early stage. These CRPs also help in phagocytosis (eating up!) of cancerous cells which are treated as “non-self” cells due to presence of some surface markers that are specific to tumors.Not Just some alien micro-invaders, there are many autoimmune diseases and other pathological conditions like arthritis, tissue injury, atherosclerosis & related cardiovascular diseases, Colon & lymph node cancer etc. which lead to a plumping rise in CRP levels. This striking increase in CRPs not only helps in putting up a fight against these disorders via inflammation but also facilitates the early detection of these monstrous disorders, even before their actual symptoms pop up!The other good thing about this rise is that CRP concentrations can easily be detected in a laboratory & nowadays, even individually at home using one of those strip-kits! This means that whenever you think that you are at risk to any of those problems which have multi-syllable names, a CRP test can easily confirm your suspicions. If the levels of the CRP are found to be high, certainly, there’s something wrong & probably, you are suffering from one of those maladies! Therefore, CRP level testing can be used as diagnostic marker/signal to help you & your physician take timely action before it’s too late to act.It has also been found that some patients with increased levels of CRP are the ones who already are at a high risk of diabetes, heart attack & hypertension. CRP testing is therefore recommended by many physicians and clinicians to assess the risk of various concerted pathological conditions in their patients. Since CRP levels drop as inflammation subsides, the test may also be performed at regular intervals to determine the effectiveness of any specific inflammation treatment.Several methods may be used for the analysis, including radioimmunoassay and agglutination employing antibodies specific for CRPs. These methods may take around 2 days for final results. However, there are some CRP testing kits which take less than five minutes to complete and the results are out instantaneously. These tests detect blood levels of C-reactive proteins which appear in the blood during inflammatory responses.CRP is quite sensitive marker for the diagnosis of various inflammatory responses & thus, CRP is an important marker for risk assessment in patients and should be monitored closely using CRP blood tests because some old, & apparently wise, guy said – Prevention is better than Cure & probably, it’s true!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)