What is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance, or lipid, that is made by your liver. Your body needs a certain amount of cholesterol to build cells and make hormones, vitamin D, and bile acids that help to digest the fat in the foods you eat. Your body can make all the cholesterol it needs. Your body also gets cholesterol from the foods you eat. Your cholesterol levels can be affected by how much your body makes and by what you eat.

View the animation where "Aunt Rosie" shares the news she just received from her doctor following a routine checkup — she has high cholesterol.

Cholesterol travels in your bloodstream to all parts of your body. However, it cannot travel through the blood by itself. Cholesterol must join with a protein and become a lipoprotein.

Your body contains three main types of lipoproteins. Since the names of these lipoproteins are hard to say, most people call them LDL, HDL, and VLDL. These stand for:

Name	Short Name
Low-Density Lipoprotein	LDL
High-Density Lipoprotein	HDL
Very Low-Density Lipoprotein	VLDL

Triglycerides are another type of fat in your blood. High levels of triglycerides can also cause heart disease. Like "bad" cholesterol it is important to keep your triglyceride level low.

What is:

• Cholesterol?
  
• Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL)?
  
• High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL)?
  
• Very Low-Density Lipoprotein (VLDL)?
  
• Triglycerides?