Sometimes, a person who expects to take a home cholesterol test expresses decided dissatisfaction with the requirements that such a test puts on the future test subject. After all, before taking a home cholesterol test, one must first fast for 12 hours. Yet anyone who remembers a world in which there was no home cholesterol tests seldom complains about fasting for cholesterol test taking.

When someone can enjoy the convenience of a home cholesterol test, then he or she can also schedule that test in a way that facilitates the endurance of a 12 hour fast. That convenience was denied to all those who have had to appear at a clinic, hospital or the door of a doctor’s office in order to take one of the more-dated cholesterol tests. Those older tests usually commenced in the morning.

Now the scheduling of the older cholesterol tests certainly managed to accommodate the needs for a great many patients. No one could question the fact that a majority of the population worked or attended classes during the day and did their sleeping at night. For such individuals, a nighttime 12 hour fast never presented the test subject with an unexpected challenge. 

Think, however, about the trials that must have been experienced by any poor soul who had a night job and then heard that he or she needed to take a cholesterol test. Such an individual would have had to fast while on the job. Then he or she would have been unable to enjoy a good breakfast upon returning home.

That was, of course, before the introduction of the home cholesterol test. The appearance of test kits that can be used in a home setting has reduced the problems that once faced anyone without a traditional daytime job. On the other hand, the arrival of the home cholesterol test has not sent a message that all test kits must be used within the home.

High schools, colleges and universities can use the home cholesterol tests to promoted better health practices among their students. Employers might consider paying for distribution to employees of home cholesterol test kits. That would encourage the employees to limit their fat intake. An employee who was committed to a reduced-fat diet would be at decreased risk for a heart attack.

The distribution of such kits could be of greatest benefit to the employer who must send many employees out “on the road.”  When travels have forced anyone to eat out repeatedly, they have typically led to an increase in the cholesterol level of that same traveler.  By using a home cholesterol test, a traveling worker could better monitor his or her food intake at restaurants.  In that way, such a worker could more easily see the benefits of staying with a high-fiber, low-fat diet.

Food manufacturers have made a point of emphasizing the ability of certain products to help with the lowering of an individual’s cholesterol level. Often such ads will even contain figures that are meant to demonstrate the cholesterol-lowering ability of the advertised food. Yet seldom will such an ad provide the viewer with information about one way to measure cholesterol. Seldom will such an ad provide information on home cholesterol tests.  

The fact that the public receives so little information about cholesterol tests that can be performed in the home runs counter to the trend that took place between 1980 and 1998. During that time, the cholesterol levels among Americans dropped steadily. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested a possible connection between those falling cholesterol levels and the 8 to 17 % decline in the incidence of heart disease. The writer of that article clearly hoped that more people would choose to buy cholesterol tests.

Unfortunately, the writer of that article did not dwell on the need for more precise information about the most desirable result from any of the home cholesterol tests. The writer of that article did not address the fact that the public seemed to have a confused view of what was meant by a “normal” cholesterol level. The average cholesterol level in the U.S. in the late 1990s, 215 mg/dl, was above the level that physicians would like to consider as “normal.”

So how did physicians arrive at the figure that they felt represented a normal level? They looked at the level provided in the literature from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. According to the Institute, the cholesterol level in an adult male should be below 200 mg/dl of blood. For an adult female, the recommended cholesterol level was 210 mg/dl or blood. The cholesterol level in the average American was, therefore, at a point that the Institute had described as “borderline.”

In other words, a reading of 215 from any of the home cholesterol tests should not really be viewed as “normal.” Such a reading would signal a need for the person with that level to take steps to reduce the amount of cholesterol in his or her bloodstream. Such a person would want to eat a high fiber diet. Such a person might choose to introduce bran into his or her morning meal. Following a series of meals that contained cholesterol-lowering foods, that person would then want to repeat the procedure for taking a home cholesterol test.

Hales’ statement highlights the importance of home cholesterol tests. The measurement of a person’s cholesterol level acknowledges the dangers of having a cholesterol level that deviates from the normal. By the same token, many people are asking, “What’s normal?”

Health professionals encounter problems when they seek to answer that question. Hales has explained why in her textbook. She has written, “When it comes to cholesterol, ‘normal’ isn’t good enough.”  Hales then goes on to reveal information that relates to what’s been learned from home cholesterol tests.

Such tests have shown that an average middle-aged man or woman in America has blood cholesterol of about 215 mg/dl of blood. That average is above the cholesterol level recommended by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). That Institute has warned that individuals who fail to lower their cholesterol below 220mg/dl face two times the risk of a hearth attack, compared to someone with cholesterol of only 180mg/dl.

In order to appreciate that warning, the individuals who are using home cholesterol tests should take time to understand why the test results send an important message. The results reveal the amount of cholesterol in a person’s bloodstream. Cholesterol, a fatty substance, has been shown to be a reliable indication of how quickly plaque can form in the veins and arteries.

Plaque, a sticky substance, can build up over time along the side of a blood vessel. That build-up then impedes the flow of blood in the vessel where it has developed. If blood flow to the heart becomes blocked, then the person having that blockage will suffer a heart attack. If blood flow to the vein is halted, then the person with the impeded blood flow will have a stroke.

Those stark facts make it clear why health experts encourage use of home cholesterol tests. Home tests help a person to see more clearly how diet and exercise has helped to lower a high cholesterol level. Home tests provide a person with a feeling of accomplishment, before he or she has been able to seek a confirmation of the results from any home cholesterol tests.

Armed with that feeling of accomplishment, a person will then be motivated to continue with a certain diet or a certain exercise routine. In that way, a person with a high cholesterol level can soon achieve a lower and more acceptable cholesterol level.

The home cholesterol test was instituted by a sister organization to the bad tooth society in America called the “yanky ain’y gonna get a tooth yank society” in the US eons in comparison to the UK—and as far as I know, from information dictated to me over speaker phone in my office at the secret society that I belong to head quarters in Guam. FACT: the cholesterol test kit is going to have the same import to them in a few years as duct tape did during those horrible years shortly after the catalyst of 911—bad teeth like obesity is going to be eradicated by the home cholesterol test kit, according to my friends dictation over the telephone to me in the office of a top secret society’s head quarters in Guam, the same affect on the American public as any other mild to slightly more so pandemic in the far off to present day.

Invented by Carl Lunbged the third during the English invasion of India in the early part of the 17th century (this all according to my good friend Ludwig whom has dictated this to me over the telephone) do to the quote “stupendously horrific stench coming from Indians” the home cholesterol test that Lunbged developed is still the best in the world and is still used today.

Whether you have bad teeth, shortness of breath, or just bad health in general, the home cholesterol test is the best! The home cholesterol test saves lives. It allows people with a myriad of health ailments caused by high cholesterol counts to control their disorder. It lets them know when they should start using substitutes instead of butter and it lets them know when to cut back on fatty foods and meats. If you suffer from this disorder, a cholesterol test kit could very simply save your life. Cholesterol test kits are not expensive and since they can be administered in the home, they are not obtrusive either. You should hurry and get your kit while supplies last, even if you don’t have a problem. It’s nice to know what your level is so you can prevent high levels

A recent Cheerios commercial has helped to draw greater attention to the importance of home cholesterol tests. The ad shows a grandfather talking with his grandson about a test he will be taking that morning. He tells his grandson that he hopes to score 190 on the test. The young boy, who knows nothing about home cholesterol tests, becomes wide-eyed. He assumes that his grandfather wants to earn far more than the standard “perfect score” of 100.

The grandfather has obviously learned that a cholesterol level above 200 raises concerns in the minds of the medical community. By the same token, the grandfather certainly recognizes his body’s need for a certain amount of cholesterol.  In fact, cholesterol performs a number of vital functions within the body. It plays a role in the synthesis of both bile acids and steroid hormones. Cell membranes, the barriers that allow each cell to function as a separate entity, contain cholesterol. Triglycerides, one component of the total cholesterol, are used to move fatty acids though the bloodstream.

Individuals like the grandfather in that Cheerios commercial no doubt appreciate the benefits of present-day cholesterol tests. Such tests did not exist 35 years ago. At that time, the physician relied chiefly on the measurement of blood pressure and body weight in order to determine the cardiovascular health of a patient. One overweight Pennsylvania doctor agreed to enter into a bet with one overweight patient. Being without home cholesterol tests, both thought that their focus should be on their struggle to loose weight.

Unfortunately, the physician never discovered which of the two could loose more weight. His patient apparently had an undetected, high level of cholesterol. That high cholesterol level contributed to an eventual heart attack. Today a simple piece of paper, chromatography paper, can help to prevent such a tragedy.

During a cholesterol test a drop of blood is placed over a section of chromatography paper that contains two different enzymes and a chemical indicator. The enzymes, cholesterol esterase and cholesterol oxidase change any cholesterol in the blood into hydrogen peroxide. That hydrogen peroxide then touches a dye in the paper. The dye then reacts with horseradish peroxidase, the chemical indicator. In the presence of cholesterol, the paper turns purple.

Home cholesterol tests should be administered to someone who has been fasting for 9 to 12 hours. Use of certain drugs, such as anabolic steroids, corticosteroids, thiazide diuretics and beta blockers can lead to a decrease in the cholesterol level that is measured by the cholesterol test. Other drugs such as colchicines, erythromycin, neomycin, and MAO inhibitors raise the level of cholesterol in the bloodstream. Physicians must check with patients concerning their medications before advising those patients to take any of the home cholesterol tests.