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Experts recommend cholesterol testing

Category: Heart Health and Cholesterol

When heart disease is treated early, it tends to have a more favorable prognosis. This is why experts commonly recommend that individuals receive cholesterol testing to have their heart health checked and to give physicians a chance to treat problems in their early stages.

Amanda Zaleski, an exercise physiologist at Hartford Hospital, recently wrote in the Middletown Patch that individuals should receive cholesterol testing that gives them their HDL, LDL triglyceride numbers. Each one of these types of cholesterol is important to heart health, and screening for each one may provide a clearer picture of a person's risk.

"High cholesterol is one of the major risk factors leading to heart disease, heart attack and stroke. It is also extremely responsive to both diet and physical activity changes, and easy to test," she wrote.

Additionally, she recommended that individuals have their blood pressure and insulin levels tested. This may alert individuals to other cardiovascular risk factors.

Heart disease causes about 25 percent of deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is why it is important for individuals to stay on top of their cardiovascular health and be aware of any risk factors they may have.