Lifestyle and Cholesterol: Interesting results for my wife and I

[ChrisB87]

Hello all,

Recently, my wife and I went for a health check up. On the whole our health is fine, except slightly high cholesterol.

The results

Mine:

Total = 237

HDL = 58

LDL = 159

Trigliceride = 98

Hers:

Total = 257

HDL = 71

LDL = 173

Trigliceride = 65

Now, onto our lifestyles.

• I am overweight (78kg/156cm). Not much muscle. Got a round stomach. I eat potato chips and chocalate virtually everyday. I eat fast food once a week, sometimes more. Apart from that, I eat regular Thai food (fried in a wok). Occasionally soups and grilled food. I don't exercise.

• My wife is (in my opinion) probably underweight (40kg/150cm). She eats junk sparingly. She mostly eats the regular Thai food (as mentioned above). She doesn't exercise.

I was very surprised (as was she) that her results were anywhere near mine.

I put our figures in to a "cholesterol ratio calculator" to see what it all meant.

Here's mine:

Your Total Cholesterol of 237 is BORDERLINE
Your LDL of 159 is BORDERLINE
Your HDL of 58 is NORMAL

Your Triglyceride level of 98 is NORMAL

Your Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio is: 4.09 - (preferably under 5.0, ideally under 3.5) GOOD
Your HDL/LDL ratio is: 0.365 - (preferably over 0.3, ideally over 0.4) GOOD
Your triglycerides/HDL ratio is: 1.724 - (preferably under 4, ideally under 2) IDEAL

Hers:

Your Total Cholesterol of 257 is HIGH RISK
Your LDL of 173 is HIGH RISK
Your HDL of 71 is OPTIMAL

Your Triglyceride level of 65 is NORMAL

Your Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio is: 3.62 - (preferably under 5.0, ideally under 3.5) GOOD
Your HDL/LDL ratio is: 0.410 - (preferably over 0.3, ideally over 0.4) IDEAL
Your triglycerides/HDL ratio is: 0.915 - (preferably under 4, ideally under 2) IDEAL

So after looking at the ratios, it seems hers may not be worse than mine, which is what we originally thought. Anyway, why do you think it is that our results are so similar, yet my lifestyle is significantly worse than hers? I forgot to mention my daily beer, could it be that?

And finally, to those of you who have successfully lowered your cholesterol: what do you eat? (of course, I know we must start execising as well)

Thanks for reading.

Edited January 11, 2015 by ChrisB87

[partington]

One part of the reason is that women have a higher HDL level than men in general, and HDL is "good cholesterol" so that is adjusting her ratios towards an optimal level. This is one reason for the well known observation that women get less heart disease than men, at least before menopause.

Another reason is that different people have vastly different responses to fats in their diets for genetic reasons. A high saturated fat diet, for example, will on average raise LDL (bad cholesterol) levels, but these findings are obtained by studying very large groups of people and statistically analysing the effect of diet on their cholesterol levels.

Individuals within this population may respond with the average increase, a very high increase, or no increase at all, depending on their genetic makeup. When averaged out this gives an average increase with increased saturated fat, but individuals within the group may show very different results than the average for the whole group.

[h90]

Diet: First of all the usual Thai food, can be very unhealthy and surprisingly fat if the rice is fried in cheap oil. And live is not fair.....There are people who are very overweight, drunk and smoke and get 90 years old and there are others who live healthy and die at 50. Genetics and luck.

Exercise: The most important thing is you need to find something you like. If you do some exercise because you must, you won't do it for a long time.

[cdmtdm]

more importantly you need to ask for the breakdown on your LDL readings.... large and small particles.... that is the critical reading of cholesterol tests ,,,, high cholesterol is not bad , we need cholesterol ,without it we will not function ....

[partington]

more importantly you need to ask for the breakdown on your LDL readings.... large and small particles.... that is the critical reading of cholesterol tests ,,,, high cholesterol is not bad , we need cholesterol ,without it we will not function ....

Tests for large and small LDL are not done in routine health screens, and this is simply not possible. While it is true that small LDL is more risky than large LDL, as revealed by clinical research, it is not true that large LDL is not dangerous, and the actual size difference is minimal.

The body makes any cholesterol it needs, so it is simply not possible to be without it, any more than it is possible to be without DNA. If you never ate a single gram of cholesterol in your life, you would still have enough.

[cdmtdm]

http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-why-everyone-should-know-their-ldl-particle-number

This explains my point in simpler terms ...... diet and exercise is the key imo ....

[Sheryl]

Diet is only one part of this. Genetics plays a large role as does exercise. Overall, diet and exercise have much less influence than genetics. The reason they gets so much emphasis is just that it is the factor we can control.

So it is not at all surprising that you have different results and that she has higher LDL than you do despite a diet that may be better,

In diet, consumption of processed carbs (like white rice!) can be as much or more the culprit than consumption of fat.

Your respective numbers are not bad actually - you both get plenty of healthy fats in your diet and have normal triglyceride levels. She should try to curb her consumption of saturated fats and processed carbs a bit. If you could as a couple switch to brown rice that would help. As would having her get some exercise.

[ChrisB87]

Thanks for the good responses!

Yeah, i think exercises is definitely needed and I would love for us to switch to brown rice. It is difficult though. She isn't into brown rice. I actually prefer the taste think it looks more appetizing too. Though, any time I've bought it, we have rarely eaten it as a family.

[partington]

http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-why-everyone-should-know-their-ldl-particle-number

This explains my point in simpler terms ...... diet and exercise is the key imo ....

For those interested, Chris Kresser, while sounding superficially plausible, and wearing a nice white coat on his web site picture, is not a qualified doctor or scientist. He has a diploma in acupuncture.

He has not been to medical school and has no scientific or research experience that can be found in any scientific journal. He would not be allowed to prescribe drugs. He is one of those who claim to be an authority while in fact is not. He is described as a quack on many science-based medicine websites that you can discover for yourself.

If you claim he is somehow privy to information that scientists and clinicians who have investigated these issues all their working lives are unaware of, one has to wonder where he got this information. He will selectively quote scientific papers if he thinks (often wrongly) that they support his argument, while arguing simultaneously that scientific research is on the whole not trustworthy. He has something to sell.

For better information go to reputable science based sites like the Mayo clinic.

Edited January 12, 2015 by partington

[cdmtdm]

http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-why-everyone-should-know-their-ldl-particle-number

This explains my point in simpler terms ...... diet and exercise is the key imo ....

For those interested, Chris Kresser, while sounding superficially plausible, and wearing a nice white coat on his web site picture, is not a qualified doctor or scientist. He has a diploma in acupuncture.

He has not been to medical school and has no scientific or research experience that can be found in any scientific journal. He would not be allowed to prescribe drugs. He is one of those who claim to be an authority while in fact is not. He is described as a quack on many science-based medicine websites that you can discover for yourself.

If you claim he is somehow privy to information that scientists and clinicians who have investigated these issues all their working lives are unaware of, one has to wonder where he got this information. He will selectively quote scientific papers if he thinks (often wrongly) that they support his argument, while arguing simultaneously that scientific research is on the whole not trustworthy. He has something to sell.

For better information go to reputable science based sites like the Mayo clinic.

exactly the science based repsonse i was expecting , you need a Dr in front of your name to have an real cred in this league i guess , what about these guys Dr Idi Amin , Dr Mengele , Dr Ancel Keys .... responsible for the deaths of millions ....we are in a period of change and the "quacks" as you put it will lead the way out of this bullshit period in history , science in time will be exposed as the fraud that it is ... next time you go to the doctors , ask them how many hours training did you get in nutrition during your 5 year degree ? the australian heart foundation has just been exposed as one of these frauds ,,,, the Tick of approval !!! the Tick of death more the point .... Doctors and Scientists sold out to the big Pharma companies decades ago ....

[h90]

http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-why-everyone-should-know-their-ldl-particle-number

This explains my point in simpler terms ...... diet and exercise is the key imo ....

For those interested, Chris Kresser, while sounding superficially plausible, and wearing a nice white coat on his web site picture, is not a qualified doctor or scientist. He has a diploma in acupuncture.

He has not been to medical school and has no scientific or research experience that can be found in any scientific journal. He would not be allowed to prescribe drugs. He is one of those who claim to be an authority while in fact is not. He is described as a quack on many science-based medicine websites that you can discover for yourself.

If you claim he is somehow privy to information that scientists and clinicians who have investigated these issues all their working lives are unaware of, one has to wonder where he got this information. He will selectively quote scientific papers if he thinks (often wrongly) that they support his argument, while arguing simultaneously that scientific research is on the whole not trustworthy. He has something to sell.

For better information go to reputable science based sites like the Mayo clinic.

exactly the science based repsonse i was expecting , you need a Dr in front of your name to have an real cred in this league i guess , what about these guys Dr Idi Amin , Dr Mengele , Dr Ancel Keys .... responsible for the deaths of millions ....we are in a period of change and the "quacks" as you put it will lead the way out of this bullshit period in history , science in time will be exposed as the fraud that it is ... next time you go to the doctors , ask them how many hours training did you get in nutrition during your 5 year degree ? the australian heart foundation has just been exposed as one of these frauds ,,,, the Tick of approval !!! the Tick of death more the point .... Doctors and Scientists sold out to the big Pharma companies decades ago ....

To summarize your posting: All doctors and scientists are evil and bought by the industry. As well they have no clue about nutrition. And the logic consequence of this is that we listen to people who didn't learn anything about medicine, but selling something on their quack webpages?

While I am very critical to many things of the main stream medicine, it is the only reliable thing we have.

[cdmtdm]

reliable ......

have you ever asked yourself why we have no cure for cancer , aids , ebola? even though billions upon billions has been spent on scientific research into these areas .....do you honestly believe that the system is not corrupted by greed ? its not the first time in history that the quacks have been laughed at .......whats sad is peoples minds are too lazy to grasp an alternative , instead everytime they get a runny nose its off to the doctors , for more drugs and around we go .....

[GarryP]

Diet is only one part of this. Genetics plays a large role as does exercise. Overall, diet and exercise have much less influence than genetics. The reason they gets so much emphasis is just that it is the factor we can control.

So it is not at all surprising that you have different results and that she has higher LDL than you do despite a diet that may be better,

In diet, consumption of processed carbs (like white rice!) can be as much or more the culprit than consumption of fat.

Your respective numbers are not bad actually - you both get plenty of healthy fats in your diet and have normal triglyceride levels. She should try to curb her consumption of saturated fats and processed carbs a bit. If you could as a couple switch to brown rice that would help. As would having her get some exercise.

That part about processed carbs is very interesting. I did not know that. In the past 2 months or so I have cut down my rice (all forms), noodles and bread intake by more than 70 or 80 percent. I have been doing this purely to lose weight. I am not fat but I am determined to get down to 75 kg. I was 84and am now about 80-81 depending on the time of day and food and liquid intake (I am 181cm tall). My aim was purely to get off my high blood pressure meds, 5mg Amlodpine every morning. The added cholesterol reduction is a real plus as I only came off cholesterol meds 6 months ago when my LDL was down to about 70.

I just have to force myself to get back on the exercise regimen.

[h90]

reliable ......

have you ever asked yourself why we have no cure for cancer , aids , ebola? even though billions upon billions has been spent on scientific research into these areas .....do you honestly believe that the system is not corrupted by greed ? its not the first time in history that the quacks have been laughed at .......whats sad is peoples minds are too lazy to grasp an alternative , instead everytime they get a runny nose its off to the doctors , for more drugs and around we go .....

And you believe there wouldn't be a small company or maybe India/North Korea/Cuba/Iran who would offer their cures on aids, ebola or cancer? And if it is only because out of greed?

By the way many kind of cancer can be cured.

Of course things are wrong. Like the costs to bring a working medicine on the market. On purpose it is too high to blocks smaller companies. But believing someone without education in this field who tries to sell something himself is not the solution.