Diabetes and Cholesterol
Diabetes and Cholesterol often go hand in hand. A person with diabetes is most likely to develop problems with cholesterol levels. It is found that about 70 percent of the people with Type 2 Diabetes have increased cholesterol levels, which can result into heart disease.
For this reason, diabetic people should be very careful in keeping their cholesterol levels low. Also, in case of diabetic people, the risk of developing heart disease is 2 to 4 times higher than in case of non-diabetic people. In order to understand the relation between diabetes and cholesterol it is necessary to know them individually.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a condition, which is characterized by an increased amount of blood sugar levels. This is because body doesn't produce insulin, a hormone required to convert sugar and starches into energy. Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes are the two types of diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes is caused when the body doesn't produce insulin. Type 2 Diabetes is caused when the body produce insulin but in small amounts, which is not sufficient.
What is Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance produce by the liver that circulates in the bloodstream. Cholesterol is very important as they help in building up the cell membranes and hormones. There are two kinds of cholesterol LDL (Low Density Lipoproteins) cholesterol and HDL (High Density Lipoproteins) cholesterol. LDL cholesterol is referred to as "bad" cholesterol as it gets deposited into the inner walls of arteries. HDL cholesterol is referred to as "good" cholesterol as it removes cholesterol from the blood.
What is the Relation between Diabetes and Cholesterol?
We all know that diabetes and cholesterol often go hand in hand. Therefore there must be some relation between the two. There are some common factors that are responsible for causing both diabetes and cholesterol.
Increased intake of the foods like meat, eggs, poultry and fish, may either cause or increase the risk of developing diabetes. Increased intake of these foods that are high in cholesterol also increases the risk of developing high cholesterol. Thus, the food high in cholesterol is the common factor between diabetes and cholesterol.
People with diabetes are at a risk of developing strokes, heart diseases and other cardiovascular diseases. People with high cholesterol are also at a risk of developing strokes, heart diseases and other cardiovascular diseases. Thus both diabetes and cholesterol can lead to heart problems.
Most of the people with diabetes have abnormal lipid profile. That means they have decreased HDL (good cholesterol) levels and increased LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglyceride levels. Even in case of people with high cholesterol, HDL level decreases and LDL and triglyceride level increases.
The normal cholesterol levels should be:
- LDL cholesterol level should be below 130 mg/dl
- HDL cholesterol level should be above 45 mg/dl
- Triglycerides level should be below 200 mg/dl
The normal cholesterol levels for the people with diabetes should be:
- LDL cholesterol level should be below 100 mg/dl
- HDL cholesterol level should be above 40 mg/dl
- Triglycerides level should be below 150 mg/dl
Last, but not the least common thing between the diabetes and cholesterol is the Exercise. We all know that a regular exercise helps us in maintaining good health. But do you know what affect does it have on cholesterol and diabetes? It helps in maintaining normal cholesterol levels in people with diabetes, by increasing the levels of good cholesterol and decreasing the levels of bad cholesterol.