If there  is too much cholesterol in your bloodstream it is called hypercholesterolemia, or high cholesterol. Hypercholesterolemia increases your risk of heart disease.
* The higher your total cholesterol level, the greater your risk of developing or dying of cardiovascular disease. You can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease by lowering your cholesterol level. For every 1% reduction in cholesterol level, the risk of heart disease is reduced 2%.
Causes: The most common cause of high cholesterol is eating foods that are high in saturated fat or cholesterol. Other possible cause may be inherited disorder in which cholesterol is not metabolized properly by the body. As most of the cholesterol in the blood is made by your body, mainly in the liver, but in some people liver produces excess cholesterol than others and is the cause of hypercholesterolemia. Some diseases like diabetes mellitus, kidney disease, liver disease, or hypothyroidism also raises the cholesterol level.

What are the symptoms?
Hypercholesterolemia is a silent disease. There are no symptoms until complications have already developed, such as the chest pain of a heart attack or calf pain with walking, caused by narrowed or blocked arteries to the legs.
Diagnosis: The doctor will order a blood test to check your cholesterol level. These lab tests usually measure your total cholesterol level as well as the levels of LDL, HDL, and triglyceride in your blood. The higher the LDL cholesterol level, the higher the risk of coronary heart disease. The higher the HDL cholesterol, the better it is as it appears to protect the risk of heart attacks.
How to control high cholesterol level?
The good news we now know is that cholesterol is largely controllable. We can bring menacing levels down through dietary reforms, exercise and other modifications in life style.
A diet high in soluble fiber and low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol can help to lower cholesterol levels. Follow these guidelines for a healthy diet:
-Increase the soluble fiber in your diet by eating fruits and vegetables (especially leafy vegetables and fresh fruits), peas, dried beans, and whole grains.
-Choose poultry, fish, or meatless entrees than choose red meats.
-Remove the skin before cooking chicken or turkey.
-Use lean cuts of meat and trim off all visible fat.
-Limit the amount of nuts you eat, especially nuts high in saturated fat. Examples of nuts that are especially high in saturated fat are cashews, pistachios, and Brazil and macadamia nuts.
-Replace whole milk dairy products with nonfat or low-fat milk, cheese, spreads, and yogurt.
-Eat no more than four egg yolks per week. Use egg substitutes.
-Avoid fatty desserts including ice cream, cream-filled cakes, cheesecakes, etc.
-Choose fresh fruits, nonfat frozen yogurt, Popsicles, etc.
How to avoid hypercholesterolemia?
In addition to changing your diet, you can help lower your cholesterol by the following:
-Get more exercise, especially aerobic exercise.
-Start slowly to avoid injury. Exercise helps raise HDL levels, improve circulation, decrease body fat, and tone muscles.
-Don't smoke.
-Maintain a normal weight.
-Have your cholesterol levels and weight checked by your doctor.