Cholesterol reading

  I am a 23 year old female who recently had her cholesterol checked...my "bad" cholesterol was 84 and my "good" cholesterol was 30.  Are these abnormally low numbers?  

[CCF CARDIO MD APS]

_
Dear Heather,
Your bad cholesterol level is great (i.e. low and the way we wish everyone's could be.)
Your good cholesterol is rather low, however it may rise with daily aerobic exercise.
Since a low "good" cholesterol is a bit of a "risk", it does not warrant any treatment except maybe
some prevention counseling (this includes 1)no smoking 2)aggressive treatment of any diabetes or hypertension,
3)daily aerobic exercise, 4)limit alcohol intake to "moderate" and so on.)
Actually for anyone young like you the best prevention for heart disease is daily aerobic exercise,
specifically getting your heart rate up to 165 beats per minute for a good half hour each day.
I hope this information is useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for
general purposes only. Only your physician can provided specific diagnoses and therapies.
Feel free to write back with further questions. Good luck!
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please
call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at
www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart Center website contains a directory of the
cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your
cardiac problem.