"Don't eat goat satay, there's a lot of cholesterol there.”

We Indonesians might heard this so often. This is based on lots of information indicates cholesterol is the main cause of heart disease or stroke.

# sahabatpramita, cholesterol is not always bad. In reasonable amounts, cholesterol plays essential role for us.

Cholesterol is a fat produced by the body. Cholesterol can also be obtained from animal foods. Cholesterol helps the body produce vitamin D, hormones, and bile acids to digest fats. In appropriate levels, cholesterol is very beneficial for our body.

In the blood, cholesterol is carried by proteins. Combination between cholesterol and proteins are called lipoproteins. The two main types of lipoproteins are low-density lipoproteins (LDL) commonly referred to as bad cholesterol and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) commonly referred to as good cholesterol.

LDL transports cholesterol from the liver organ to the cells in need. But if the amount of cholesterol exceeds the needs, it can settle on the walls of the arteries that cause disease.

Causes Of High Cholesterol

Heart attacks and strokes can be due to excessive deposition of cholesterol in the blood vessels.

High cholesterol foods and lack of exercise can also cause excess cholesterol in the blood

In addition, there are several diseases that can affect Cholesterol levels, such as Diabetes mellitus

Prevention 

Healthy and nutritionally balanced diet is one of the main steps that can be done in preventing or lowering cholesterol levels.

Consuming fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains (for example, whole wheat bread), can help in maintaining cholesterol level normal.