Good Bad and Very bad cholesterol:-

Human body needs cholesterol to make bile salts, hormones and vitamin D. It is mainly produced by our liver. Cholesterol will build up on the artery walls when the level of cholesterol in the blood is too high.

There are three types of blood cholesterol :-

1)Low Density Lipid (LDL), the "Bad" cholesterol.

2)High Density Lipid (HDL) the "Good" cholesterol.

3)Very Low Density Lipid (VLDL) may be called Very Bad Cholesterol.

High amounts of the LDL will deposit cholesterol on the artery walls forming plaques. More and more plaques will narrow the arteries lumen and may eventually block blood flow. Therefore LDL is considered the "Bad" cholesterol.

The HDL, on the other hand, takes excess cholesterol away and carries it back to the liver to be excreted. It can also remove some of the cholesterol already attached to the artery walls. Therefore HDL is considered the "Good" cholesterol as high levels of HDL in the blood can decrease the risk of heart disease. Physical activity can also raise HDL level.

Saturated fats are found in some pre-packaged food or other processed foods containing shortening or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Trans fatty acids, on the other hand, are also found in packaged snack foods, deep-fried foods or firm margarine containing hydrogenated oil.

We may think that cholesterol in seafood and meat will increase the cholesterol in blood. Actually, cholesterol found in them has little effect on blood cholesterol.

Saturated fats and Trans fatty acids are the most important factors that raise blood cholesterol, not dietary cholesterol.