Even if you're healthy and don't have typical heart disease risks, having higher 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) might still mean you're more likely to have early signs of artery buildup — and the higher the...

Even if your heart looks healthy and you have no major risk factors, higher 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) — even when it's considered 'normal' — is linked to more hidden artery buildup. For every 10-point rise in LDL, the odds go up by about 15%.

If you're a middle-aged person with symptoms, having higher 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) means you're more likely to have heart problems over the next four years — but only if scans show you already have plaque in your heart arteries.

In healthy-looking middle-aged Americans with low heart disease risk, higher 'bad' cholesterol is linked to more buildup in heart arteries — and the more cholesterol, the more common these buildups are.

Keeping your 'bad' cholesterol really low—below 55 mg/dL—might give your heart and blood vessels the best protection against clogged arteries and heart problems.

When you have too much 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) in your blood, it sticks to the walls of your arteries and builds up like gunk, making them narrow and stiff — which raises your chance of having a heart attack or stroke.