What's a good Cholesterol reading?

Total Cholesterol Level Category :

Less than 200 mg/dL - Desirable 200-239 mg/dL - Borderline High 240 mg/dL and above - High

• Cholesterol levels are measured in milligrams (mg) of cholesterol per deciliter (dL) of blood

Total cholesterol below 200 mb/dl is now considered “desireable” but there is more to it than that. Doctors like to see HDL (good) cholesterol above 40 for men and above 50 for women. Some people with low total cholesterol will have low HDL cholesterol; some doctors think this is ok so long as the ratio between LDL (bad) and HDL (good) cholesterol isn’t too high. The way one doctor explained it is: LDL cholesterol is the garbage and HDL cholesterol is the garbage trucks. The less garbage you have the fewer garbage trucks you need. On the flip side some people with high total cholesterol have high HDL cholesterol and aren’t in as much danger of heart dissease as other people with high cholesterol; here doctors again consider the ratio.

There is some evidence that going farther and getting total cholesterol below 150 may be beneficial; heart dissease is rare among people with total cholesterol below 150.