High cholesterol is NOT the cause of heart disease, rather Inflammation and oxidative stress. Cholesterol is in fact essential for good health, as it carries out essential functions within your cell membranes, and is critical for proper brain function and production of steroid hormones.
The real cause of heart disease is related to damage inflicted on the inside wall of your arteries, the primary culprit of which is sugar, which causes plaque formation and thickening of the artery wall. Two tests that are good indicators of your risk for heart disease are your HDL to total cholesterol ratio, and your triglyceride to HDL ratio.
Three additional risk factors for heart disease are your fasting insulin,  fasting blood sugar levels, and your iron level.

When people have a cholesterol panel done and the total number is over 200, they are often lead to believe that means "poor heart health." Yet half the people with elevated cholesterol have healthy hearts and half the people with heart disease have normal cholesterol......go figure?