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In Friedewald estimation, the VLDL cholesterol is approximated from the triglyceride level because VLDL particles carry most of the triglycerides in fasting serum. The standard approximation uses VLDL-C ≈ TG/5 when triglycerides are in mg/dL. So the VLDL value in mg/dL is obtained by dividing triglycerides by 5. This is the basis for the LDL calculation: LDL-C ≈ Total cholesterol − HDL-C − (TG/5). The method works best with fasting samples and triglycerides under about 400 mg/dL; beyond that, the estimate becomes unreliable.