Cholesterol has been getting a lot of negative press despite the fact that cholesterol is needed in our body. It is produced in our liver and needed for the building of cell membrane. Eating food that contain high level of saturated fats like fatty meat, cheese and milk will likely to increase the level of cholesterol in the body as well.

For the average person, a cholesterol level over 200 mg/DL is considered high, putting them at risk for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. If your cholesterol level reaches 200 or higher, your doctor will usually advise you to get it back down to a healthy range. The first step in this process is by making changes to your diet and exercise routines.

However, if this does not prove successful, your doctor may prescribe you a cholesterol-lowering drug to assist you with getting your levels within a normal range. Here is a look at how some of these cholesterol drugs work.

Statin is the most commonly used drug to lower cholesterol. How it works is by increasing the level of LDL receptors in the liver, this in turn, will collect LDL in the liver instead of allowing LDL to flow in our vascular system and plaque the arteries and vein. Thus the reduction of LDL cholesterol will also proportionally reduced the risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

Atrovastatin is one of the commonly used statin based drug, it is market under the name Lipitor. As Lipitor can be synthetically created, it is easy and cheap to produce in large quantity, making it a preferred choice for doctors.

Statins should not be relied solely to treat high cholesterol problem because it may be effective at reducing the LDL cholesterol, but it cannot reduce triglyceride levels nor can it increase the HDL level. So you cannot use statin alone to treat high cholesterol problem.

An alternative to statins is niacin, also known at vitamin B3. Vitamin B3 can help in the increase of HDL (good) cholesterol and has shown to have the effect of lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol as well. These 2 properties will help in the prevention of heart disease.

Another option to look into is plant sterols, a chemical that is found in many of the fruits and vegetables that you eat. Plant sterols are the plant equivalent of cholesterol, and can block the absorption of cholesterol in the digestive track.

Beyond pills or supplements, however, the best option for treating your cholesterol problem is through diet and exercise. Lower fat diets, particularly those that avoid the use of saturated fats and animal products, and diets that are high in fruits, grains, and vegetables are most effective.

Exercise not just helps in lowering cholesterol and lowering weigh, it also keeps the heart and lung strong and healthy. The last thing to help in lowering cholesterol is probably cutting down or stop smoking and alcohol consumption.