The Lowdown on Cholesterol
Education Teaching Tools

It is estimated that 93 million adults age 20 or older in the United States have total cholesterol levels higher than 200 mg/dL, which is considered borderline high, and 29 million American adults have total cholesterol levels 240 mg/dL or higher, which is considered high. Among children and teens in the United States, around 7 percent are estimated to have high total cholesterol, which can increase their risk of heart disease and stroke as they age.

Explaining the essentials about cholesterol is an important step in ensuring that patients and students get cholesterol screening with routine blood tests as recommended by their healthcare professional.

At Health Edco, we have a wide range of models, displays, and more that facilitate understanding about what blood cholesterol is and why managing it is important. Read on to learn more about a few our educational resources dedicated to explaining cholesterol that can be found in our product section dedicated to heart health education.

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and that’s certainly true with our The Basics of Cholesterol Folding Display. This three-panel display uses colorful imagery and several graphic medical images to explain the essentials about cholesterol and its management.

Looking like a fatty piece of meat, a highly enlarged section of a plaque-encrusted artery is featured on the folding display’s right panel, revealing how cholesterol can build up as plaque on artery walls, limiting the flow of oxygen and blood. The center panel of the display shows a heart with tissue death resulting from a heart attack and a brain damaged by stroke.

Easy to understand text on the display explains what cholesterol is, the difference between LDL “bad” cholesterol and HDL “good” cholesterol, cholesterol testing, different cholesterol levels, and lifestyle habits and medications, if necessary, to improve cholesterol levels.

Whether they are hard, squishy, or flowing, the Health Edco’s artery models are among our most popular heart health education materials. Each of these models provides a powerful visual that makes it easy to understand how cholesterol can clog arteries. Below is information about three of our unique artery model educational tools.

Allowing viewers to get an inside look at the process of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), our Silent Destruction: How Cholesterol Destroys Arteries™ Display shows viewers how a clean artery can evolve over time with high cholesterol to an artery narrowed and damaged as a result of atherosclerosis. The large, 24½" x 3½" artery model features a window that shows a progression from a healthy cholesterol level to high cholesterol levels damaging artery walls, plaque formation, and, ultimately, atherosclerosis, increasing the risk for heart attack and stroke. An accompanying two-sided tent card explains each section of the model and offers tips to maintain healthy cholesterol levels.

A squishy favorite, our Clogged Artery Model is an enlarged section of an artery encrusted with simulated plaque buildup. Made of lifelike BIOLIKE™ material, the model beckons viewers to pick it up, squish it, and contemplate how the inside of the artery is clogged and constricted with layers of plaque, restricting blood flow. Colorful English/Spanish presentation notes come with the model, explaining how atherosclerosis occurs and offering tips to help prevent the development of clogged arteries.

For an active demonstration on the ravages of cholesterol and plaque, look no further than our Deluxe Occluded Artery Model. Viewers can turn the model over, watch, and compare the blood flow in model’s two side-by-side artery models. Blood cells flow freely in the clean artery, which is unobstructed by plaque buildup caused by high cholesterol levels. By contrast, blood flow is difficult and interrupted in the artery encrusted with plaque, revealing damage caused by high cholesterol levels that can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

Providing a comprehensive heart health education program, our Heart Health Education Package is ideal for secondary and adult audiences. The package explains the risks high cholesterol poses to cardiovascular health in an easy-to-understand and engaging way.

Featuring a detailed, step-by-step facilitator’s guide with four activities, worksheets, enrichment activity suggestions, and assessment tools, the package comes with four of our popular heart health education products:

• Preventing Cardiovascular Disease Folding Display

• Occluded Artery Model

• Death of an Artery Easel Display

• 50 Cholesterol Booklets

Each of these great resources helps explain and demonstrate the importance of managing cholesterol levels for cardiovascular health. For example, the Preventing Cardiovascular Disease Folding Display explains how a diet high in saturated fat can lead to high total cholesterol levels and increased risk for cardiovascular disease. The Occluded Artery Model can be turned over to show the impeded blood flow and oxygen supply resulting from plaque buildup in arteries. Similarly, the Death of an Artery Easel Display reveals the progressive buildup of cholesterol and other substances in the form of plaque on artery walls. The 16-page Cholesterol Booklet provides a comprehensive, easy-to-understand overview of what cholesterol is and the importance of managing it. Fifty booklets come with the package so that every participant will have valuable take-home information.

We have many more teaching resources that are perfect to explain the facts about cholesterol in our product section dedicated to heart health education resources. Our product sections dedicated to nutrition, obesity, physical activity, tobacco, and diabetes also feature models and materials that explain how each of these factors can affect cholesterol levels.

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