Over the past decade, medical science has become much more sophisticated in its understanding of how the various components of cholesterol interact to produce heart disease. Making sense of it all isn't simple. Today, cholesterol is too general a term to tell the whole story. It's sort of like judging a quarterback solely by the number of games he wins. Sure, total wins is a good place to start, but you'd like to know who's running in his backfield, how many turnovers the team's defense forces, and so on.
Cholesterol is made up of a number of components.
HDL, on the other hand, helps stop LDL from doing its dirty work. The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that everyone over the age of 19 be tested for total and HDL cholesterol every five years. I know that sounds awfully young to be worrying about heart attacks, but we've learned recently that the processes that can lead up to a heart attack often start in males in their teens. If your total cholesterol is less than 200 and your HDL is at least 35, you're in good shape. Two conditions indicate that you need further testing.