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Travel Insurance For High Cholesteral

Travel insurance for people with high cholesterol can be arranged by World First who are international travel insurance specialists. World First offer cheap holiday insurance for people with high cholesterol and annual travel insurance for UK residents with medical conditions who find it difficult to buy travel insurance with cover for high cholesterol and associated medical problems elsewhere. For more information about travel insurance for high cholesterol and a quote for your holiday insurance call World First FREE on 0800 096 46 02.

Cholesterol is a body fat, or lipid. It is an important part of a healthy body, being a building block for steroids such as the sex hormones, and the hormones of the adrenal cortex. It is also the basis of the body’s manufacture of bile salts.

Cholesterol is mainly produced in the liver, and has a further use in forming cell membranes and other needed tissues.

If you need travel insurance to cover pre-existing medical conditions call World First Travel Insurance

World First travel insurance operate their own in-house screening service.
Once you have spoken to us about your health problems you will be told if you can buy travel insurance for your pre-existing medical conditions and whether any special terms will apply to your travel insurance policy.

All calls are treated in the strictest of confidence.

Cholesterol is carried in the blood by special molecules called lipoproteins. The three main forms of lipoproteins are:

Low density lipoprotein (LDL). This is often known as ‘bad cholesterol’ and is thought to promote arterial disease. It carries cholesterol from the liver to the cells and can cause harmful cholesterol build-up if there is too much to be used up by the cells.
High density lipoprotein (HDL). This is often referred to as 'good cholesterol', and may oppose arterial disease. It takes cholesterol away from the cells and back to the liver, where it's either broken down or excreted.
Triglycerides.

The amount of cholesterol present in the blood can range from 3.6 to 7.8 mmol/litre. A level above 6 mmol/litre is regarded as high, and is a risk factor for arterial disease. Government advice recommends a target cholesterol level of under 5, but on average men in England have a level of 5.5, and women a level of 5.6.

Evidence strongly indicates that high cholesterol levels can cause narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis), heart attacks, and strokes. The risk of coronary heart disease also rises as blood cholesterol levels increase. When other risk factors, (such as high blood pressure and cigarette smoking), are present, this risk increases even more.

In atherosclerosis, deposits of fatty substances, cholesterol, cellular waste products, calcium and other substances build up in the inner lining of an artery. This build up is called plaque, and it usually affects arteries of small and medium size. The flow of blood through these arteries is restricted as the inside diameter is reduced. Clotting of the blood, which often happens in the coronary arteries during a heart attack, is most likely to develop when arterial walls are roughened by such plaques.

Symptoms

A high cholesterol level is not a disease in itself, but it is linked to other serious conditions. A high level of cholesterol in your blood, together with a high level of triglycerides, can increase your risk of developing coronary heart disease.

Coronary heart disease is caused by narrowing of the arteries that supply the heart with blood. Fatty material, such as cholesterol, builds up in the arteries over time, forming clumps of material called plaque, and leading to the arteries becoming clogged and narrowed. This narrowing of the arteries is called atherosclerosis.

A high cholesterol level may only be revealed by the symptoms of atherosclerosis, which can include:

angina, caused by narrowed coronary arteries in the heart,
leg pain on exercising, due to narrowing of the arteries that supply the lower limbs,
blood clots and ruptured blood vessels, which can result in a stroke or mini-stroke (transient ischaemic attack (TIA)), and
ruptured plaques, which can lead to a blood clot forming in one of the arteries delivering blood to the heart (coronary thrombosis), and may lead to heart failure if a significant amount of heart muscle is damaged.

Source:
NHS Direct Online. © Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen’s Printer for Scotland.