It's water cooler chit chat, 'what's your cholesterol'? According to the experts, knowing just your total cholesterol may not be enough information.

"The total cholesterol is made up of a number of different factors including good cholesterol. So you can have a high total cholesterol but because of a high good cholesterol level,” said Dr. Nick Kondo, a cardiologist.

Dr. Kondo doesn't concentrate on the total cholesterol; he looks at the ratio of the good and bad. The good cholesterol, the HDLs, should be over 45 and the LDLs, the bad cholesterol, should be under 130, if you have no risk factors.

"The bad cholesterol can get deposited in arteries and lead to blockages and the HDL, which is the good cholesterol, actually takes the cholesterol from the blood vessels and returns it to the liver where it reprocessed," Kondo said.

The other type of blood fat is called triglycerides and having elevated levels can lead to heart disease.

"Triglycerides actually are derived more from carbohydrates in the diet opposed to the fats in your diet. So if you don't process carbohydrates as well it leads to high triglycerides," said Kondo.

Dr. Kondo said triglycerides should be under 150. Because carbohydrates can drive up your levels, a low carb diet can help. Omega three fatty acids from fish oil are also recommended.

According to reports, about 500,000 people each year suffer a heart attack. One of the main risk factors is high cholesterol and reducing that risk factor includes exercise and diet.

A major cholesterol culprit is transfatty acids found in fast food and baked goods.

Transfatty acids are a type of fat in your diet that leads to very athrogenic lipids; it's these lipids that can cause a lot of plaque buildup. You really want to keep it to zero if possible," Kondo said.

Another test called C reactive protein indicates that inflammation is in the body.

"Some people believe that if there is plaque in the blood vessel wall, then that will lead to a generalized inflammatory response and the C reactive protein can protect that. But really any inflammation in the body can raise the C reactive protein so it is not specific. So if you have arthritis, or a tooth abscess, it's not going to be a helpful test," said Kondo.