Testing cholesterol should be done regularly at least once a year. It is known that high blood cholesterol level can cause the clogging of the arteries leading to serious and sometimes fatal complications, such as heart attacks and strokes. To reduce the potential risk involved with high blood cholesterol levels, and to start treating your condition as early as possible, the first and most important step, since high cholesterol very often shows no symptoms (there are cases were patients have yellow deposits on their skin but that’s rare) , is to test whether you are in fact suffering from high blood cholesterol levels and the ratio of LDL the bad cholesterol and the good HDL cholesterol.

Screening for cholesterol is usually done as part of a routine physical exam showing a detailed picture of HDL, LDL and f triglycerides levels in the blood. The exam is called a lipid profile. There are tests that could be conducted in the privacy of your own home, which are very beneficial and early detection of high blood cholesterol. If you have a genetic history of heart attacks or high blood cholesterol in your family, if you’re overweight, smoke or heavily drinking on a regular basis, or are consuming a relatively high cholesterol saturated fat rich foods as part of your daily routine, then you should be tested more often for high blood cholesterol to prevent the risk involved with artheosclerosis.

Conventional medications and drugs called statin drugs are often prescribed to patients who were diagnosed with high blood cholesterol. Mind you though, that this lowering of cholesterol and reducing of fat come with a price attached. Drugs aimed at lower cholesterol are quite costly, and carry a long line of side effects, some even permanent. Statin drugs do work and very effectively but they have a huge downside often kept unrevealed to the eyes of the consumers.

A sane, safe and more natural solution will be to make a small sacrifice towards carefully planning and changing your lifestyle and dietary habits to lower the LDL in your blood and raise the HDL, an important and highly rewarding step that can show its results very quickly.