Iam a Diabetic.How low should be my Cholesterol

People with diabetes are at high risk for heart disease.Unfortunately, many people are unaware of their risk. Heart disease is one of the most serious diabetes complications, accounting for the majority of diabetes-related deaths.In fact, heart attacks occur at an earlier age in people with diabetes and often result in premature death.Keeping your Cholesterol level with in the specified target is the best way to prevent Heart attack.

A diabetic patient should measure total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides at least once a year.If the levels are high more frequent testing may be needed to see the effect of treatment. LDL cholesterol is more important than total cholesterol for telling whether someone has unhealthy fat levels.
Targets for Lipids are:-

LDL cholesterol should be below 100 mg/dL.

HDL cholesterol should be greater than 50 mg/dL in women and 40 mg/dL in men.

Triglyceride levels should be less than 150 mg/dL.

Action should be taken when LDL cholesterol levels are 100 mg/dL or higher. Generally, lifestyle changes such as losing weight, becoming more active and improving diet will help. If LDL cholesterol is still too high, the person should continue with these steps and start taking a cholesterol-lowering drug.

However, people who already have heart disease or who have high LDL cholesterol levels (200 mg/dL or higher) may have to be started on drugs along with lifestyle changes.

Apolipoproteins

Lipoproteins are complexes of fat and protein, whose main function is to transport lipids. . There are many different apolipoproteins, including:

Apo A1: the major apoprotein of HDL and is a relatively abundant plasma protein

Apo B: the main apolipoprotein of chylomicrons and low density lipoproteins

Apolipoprotein B is a measurement of the total number of atherogenic particles and is therefore thought to be a better marker of risk of Heart Attack and Stroke and a better guide to the adequacy of Cholesterol lowering treatment than any cholesterol index
Apo B should be less than 80mg/dl

The ratio of apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-1 seems superior to the ratio of total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol as an overall index of the risk of heart attack and stroke
The ratio should be less than 0.5