 Having a total cholesterol under 200 or an LDL under 130 reduces your risk, but as the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Cardiology wrote, more than a decade ago now, it's time to shift from decreasing risk to actually preventing and arresting atherosclerosis. In editorial last year, the editor-in-chief advocated for an LDL under 60, total cholesterol under 150. Whether or not we are willing to alter our diet sufficiently and or to spend the money necessary to obtain the lipid-lowering drugs, the statins, and then take them religiously to achieve this goal, look, it's up to us. For the plaque buildup in our arteries to cease, it appears that the serum total cholesterol needs to be lowered to the 150 area. In other words, the serum total cholesterol must be lowered to that of the average pure vegetarian. Because relatively few persons are willing to abide by the vegetarian lifestyle, lipid-lowering drugs are required in most to reach the target 150 level.