The low down on cholesterol
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Next, we are going to have a little talk about cholesterol and how it affects heart health. And with me in studio is Professor Robert Byrne, Director of Cardiology at the Mater Private Hospital and the Head of Cardiovascular Research at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. You're very, very welcome. Thanks for having me. Listen, cholesterol is something we see about all the time. You go to pick up something, you know, butter or anything in the fridge and it's advertised everywhere. But when it comes to heart health, what actually is cholesterol, maybe first of all, and what role does it play?
Well,
Yeah, so cholesterol is a substance that's actually quite widespread in our body and it's an important component of building cells and helping the organs and tissues in our body to work normally. But too much cholesterol and particularly cholesterol of a particular type is an important risk factor for heart attack and stroke.
So there is, Professor, good and bad cholesterol then. It's not all bad. You need some of it in your body.
Yes, that's true. You need some of it in your body. People generally know they say, listen, cholesterol is associated with dietary intake. And that's true. But a lot of the cholesterol levels in someone's blood is also genetic. It's genetic. It's the way that their body metabolizes cholesterol, the way their liver metabolizes cholesterol. So, yes, diet and lifestyle is important, but some people are genetically predisposed to have an unfavourable mix. And that gets back to what you said in terms of good cholesterol and bad cholesterol.
What is cholesterol and why is it important for heart health?
Actually, we know these fractions quite well and we can test them easily in a blood test.
Is it an age-related thing? When should you start thinking about it? Is it your 40s or 50s? Is it something we sort of associate with getting older? Or is it something that could be present for someone at a much younger age?
Yeah, there's definitely an age association. Historically, we've always said, listen, when you get to the age of 40 or so, you definitely need to have a good handle on what your heart disease risk is. And that means... knowing what your cholesterol is, knowing what your fasting blood sugar is and knowing what your blood pressure is. It is something that changes a bit with life. Like if you take a neonate or a small baby, like they'll have very low natural cholesterol levels. So human beings have naturally quite low blood cholesterol levels. But as we get older, particularly in the Western world that we live in, where we consume a lot of cholesterol, then our cholesterol levels increase significantly.
So the short answer is if you're 40, you're listening to this and you don't know what your cholesterol is, you need to know what it is. But we're also increasing, of course, like anything else, it's lifetime risk. And actually, there's a certain people who have very strong family history of heart disease and they probably need to know at a younger age in your 20s and 30s.
Yeah. And often that's how people find out if it is something family related. Do you know the way with some maybe heart conditions or other conditions, the symptoms are quite obvious, you know, so you might really, really feel them and it might be a physical manifestation of the symptoms. Is cholesterol one of those more sort of silent ones or how would it manifest? How would you know or should you know that it's something you need to keep an eye on?
Yeah, it's cholesterol is definitely having high cholesterol is something that doesn't give you symptoms. It's like having high blood pressure. It generally doesn't give you symptoms.
What are the differences between good and bad cholesterol?
And that's why you need to know about it and have a check. Doctors take part in what they call opportunistic screening. So someone comes in with another problem and the doctor will sit you down and say, well, we check your blood pressure while you're here. They say, when have you last had your cholesterol check? Well, maybe we should do a cholesterol check. So you don't know about it. It doesn't cause you any symptoms.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:24
2
What is cholesterol and why is it important for heart health?
1:24–3:14
3
What are the differences between good and bad cholesterol?
3:14–4:14
4
How do genetics influence cholesterol levels?
4:14–6:24
5
At what age should you start monitoring your cholesterol levels?
6:24–8:49