Why do doctors insist on checking cholesterol levels?
According to the American Medical Association, elevated blood cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease, and heart disease is responsible for 50% of all deaths in the industrialized countries such as the United States. Heart disease is now the no. 1 killer of women. High blood cholesterol itself does not cause symptoms; so many people are unaware that their cholesterol level is too high. It is important to find out what your cholesterol levels are because lowering cholesterol levels that are too high reduces the risk for developing heart disease and reduces the chance of a heart attack or dying of heart disease, even if you already have it. Cholesterol lowering is important for everyone – younger, middle age, and older adults; women and men; and people with or without heart disease. Just to mention briefly, another reason Doctors are so concerned about cholesterol: Stroke is the third leading cause of death. Of the total amount of blood pumped by the heart – one quarter of i
