What is the difference between high and low cholesterol level?

My brother in law's cholesterol level is 10.8 and his triglycerides level is 13.7. I would be grateful if you could tell me how serious is that. Thank you.

Yes it's far too high. His total cholesterol needs to be <5mmol/l. You don't give his age or any other details but he needs to make life style changes. Encourage him to reduce saturated fats in his diet and exercise more. He also needs to lose weight if he is overweight. A raised level of blood triglycerides + high LDL will increase his risk of heart disease, particularly if he is diabetic.

It's important to take the full lipid profile into consideration though. This is the TC:HDL ratio. One should aim for a You high level of HDL and a low level of LDL. A TC above 5 is certainly a risk factor in heart disease.

If these measures do not reduce cholesterol then Statins are really indicated. The higher the cholesterol the greater the risk to ones health.

Too much cholesterol will increase the risk of coronary heart disease. There are two main types- low density lipoproteins (LDL), which transport cholesterol from the liver to the cells and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) which return the excess that is not needed back to the liver. HD.L is good cholesterol and exercise raises HDL levels.

Triglycerides are a type of fat, mostly coming from fats in the food we eat. Energy from food that is eaten and not used immediately is converted into triglycerides and transported to fat cells for storage as an energy source.

Ok cholesterol level has to be taken in context. The numbers don't mean anything on their own, because different people will have different ideal levels.

Important factors to know are:

Age
If he smokes
Does he have heart disease/angina/had a heart attack before
Blood pressure
Family history of heart disease
HDL (good) cholesterol level

A person's ideal LDL cholesterol level will depend on these factors.