Did you know that your high cholesterol could be hereditary?  Scientists have linked some people’s high cholesterol to a specific genetic defect.  However, do not place the blame on your genes just yet; it is important to know all the facts about this defect and how it can be treated first.

Familial hypercholesterolaemia, or FH, means that you are lacking the low-density lipoprotein receptors that get rid of cholesterol in your bloodstream. Typically healthy people have these receptors, and they are the key element to a healthy body function that regulates cholesterol levels automatically.  Inherited high cholesterol begins to take effect at birth and can lead to the early development of atherosclerosis and vascular diseases.  If you have this defective high cholesterol gene, you are at least 50% likely to pass the risk on to your children.  It is not possible for this defective gene to skip a generation, so if your parents do not have FH that means you are not at risk for having this disease or passing it on to your children.