HDL

[Lytton]

i have been lowering my Cholestral and have come down from 6.9 to 5.7 however i have also reduced my HDL count! How do i improve my HDL without increasing my cholesterol level?

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Hello and welcome to the forum! It is hard to comment as you have not given any medical history or said which medications, if any, you are on.

Your total cholesterol is somewhat high. The current quoted figures are 5 or below if you have no issues or 4 or below if you have heart issues or increased risk (family history, diabetes, smoke, etc.)

You can lower it up to a point with healthy high fibre diet, exercise, giving up smoking and so on. Sometimes it is not possible to get to a healthy level by these means and something like a statin has to be considered.

[Lytton in reply to MichaelJH]

Thanks I am on no medication and do not have a heart condition or any family history and do not smoke. I am 58 and weigh 14stone. I reduced my cholesterol in 3 months by cutting down on drink, cheese and chocolate. So going the right way but just need to keep my HDL levels up.

[Chappychap]

Heart UK has a useful factsheet on how to raise your HDL/Cholesterol Ratio

heartuk.org.uk/downloads/fa...

No surprises, it's all the usual suspects,

-Mediterranean diet (I've seen particular recommendations for soluble fibre and virgin olive oil specifically for lifting HDL)

-150 minutes of vigorous, aerobic exercise per week (this excludes the warm-up and cool-down time)

-quit smoking

-control your BMI, in particular get your waist measurement under control, definitely below 35" for a man (I've also seen recommendations for your waist to be less than half your height)

-Niacin supplements. The problem with Niacin is that it tends to promote quite serious flushing or blushing in many people. You need to hunt around for the slow release/"no flush" versions if you're affected. Niacin used to be available on prescription in the UK but the flushing issue has seen NICE withdraw their endorsement. A shame as there are solid studies which show double digit percentage increases in HDL levels by taking Niacin. I'm not a fan of supplements generally but I'm taking Niacin.

One other point. I've seen comments that the HDL/Cholesterol ratio is an early indicator for pre-diabetes, in other words low HDL can signal insulin resistance.

[Lytton in reply to Chappychap]

Very helpful thanks

[Hidden in reply to Chappychap]

Just an observation - 150 minutes is quite a lot, I can see why some people feel overwhelmed by the advice. I agree totally that it is beneficial but unless you are retired I fear it is very difficult to achieve? I tend to do more vigorous exercise (running, swimming at a decent pace) but in total it maybe does not add up to 150 mins some weeks, so is this not helping? 150 mins is 5 park runs a week!!

[Ianc2]

Have you had your sugar levels checked as well?

[Lytton in reply to Ianc2]

Had a blood test for cholesterol and liver and liver normal. Would that test not pick up an adverse sugar level?

[Lytton]

Many thanks

[Alison_L]

I had a similar problem - my cholesterol was 5.7 when I had my HA, and is now down to 4.5, but that is mainly LDL.

My nurse and rehab people have told me to eat lots of oily fish (I can't eat any fish!) or walnuts and almonds, all of which are good for HDL. The only problem is nuts are very fatty, which doesn't help when you're supposed to be losing weight!

Good luck xx

[Lytton]

Thanks for that looks like oily fish for me!