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TwitThisNon-HDL Cholesterol
Another up-and-coming indicator of your overall risk of heart disease is your non-HDL cholesterol count. You see, not all "bad" cholesterol is equally bad. While LDL has long been the focus of cholesterol reduction efforts, researchers have recently identified several other lipoproteins, including VLDL and IDL (intermediate-density lipoproteins) that also affect your cardiovascular health. To take these into account, they've come up with a new measurement and focus of treatment: non-HDL cholesterol. Your non-HDL cholesterol count is simply your total cholesterol minus HDL, or put another way, the sum of your LDL, VLDL, and IDL.In late 2002 researchers published an article in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, confirming that if you have heart disease, your non-HDL level can help predict your risk of a heart attack or angina (chest pain) and determine treatments. "LDL cholesterol, even though it is a 'bad' cholesterol, tells only part of the story," said lead author Vera Bittner, M.D., MSPH, professor of medicine in the division of cardiovascular diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "We found that while LDL cholesterol is important, the non-HDL cholesterol is the more important predictor -- at least in this group of people with heart disease."
Many people won't know their levels of VLDL and IDL, and that's okay. Current recommendations call for obtaining at least a total cholesterol and HDL level to determine CHD risk. If these levels don't raise any red flags, there's no reason to investigate further (unless you have CHD or a strong family history of heart disease). But if the levels are elevated, you'll probably need more detailed tests, possibly including VLDL and IDL counts.
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