obesity and low cholesterol?

Hi, two of my acquaintances are classed as obese but both of them have low cholesterol. I was astounded as I thought their level would be high. I am quite skinny and mine is low too but theirs was 3.6. and 3.8. Is low cholesterol relatively common in obese people then? I'm pleased for these two ladies but I must be listening to too many old wives tales!

[hamble99b]

Hi Sarah, I am overweight but my cholesterol is low.

[YvonneD]

Raised cholesterol levels shows the amount of the fatty substance, cholesterol, flowing in the blood and in no way relates to the other sort of fat that builds up though overeating and under exercising. So fat people can have low cholesterol levels and skinny folks can have elevated ones. (Or at least - in its simplified form - that is right to the best of my knowledge.)

[Hidden in reply to YvonneD]

So why do doctors recommend losing weight to,lower cholesterol?! I thought the condition of our blood in blood reports signified whether we were getting all the right vitamins in our food intake. I thought fat would show in our blood result if very overweight.......

[ursa in reply to Hidden]

I have come to the conclusion that many doctors just implement guidelines without even thinking whether a recommended treatment is relevant to a particular patient.

[YvonneD]

Now, let's hope someone with more knowledge than me can answer that one and educate us both.

[Aliwally]

And to add. How much of our cholesterol levels are genetically determined? However you can reduce levels by certain diets can't you (hasn't made any difference to mine!)

[Hidden]

My gp said it wasn't necessary to have my cholesterol retaken as last time it was ok and it was genetically going to be the same.......

[sandybrown]

The question is when do we go for cholesterol check?

Do we wait for a problem? OR

Depending on age?

it is true some heavy weight people do have lower cholesterol! WHY?

Can we live without any health checks?

I had many checks, now I am wondering was it necessary?

Only time will tell!

At the end of the day my mom gave me the number of ticks and I will go on till that expires with or without any health checks.

All the TV programmes and news paper articles and books are there to make money.

[KatyB]

My husband is 19st, his brother 17st, and my friend is 15st. All have low cholesterol, I'm 9st and my cholesterol is 7.8. Is it because they eat more fat in their diets and this enables the body to eliminate cholesterol?

[sandybrown in reply to KatyB]

Very interesting!, what age group are your husband and his brother?

Did the GP give you any explanation for your high cholesterol with low weight, may be low BMI as well?

A TV programme the other night did say now they are looking at processed food for high cholesterol!

What ever next.

[KatyB in reply to sandybrown]

Bala, on my report last cholesterol test, re 7.8, quoted as saying low risk of heart disease, no action needed! We are all in the mid 60's age group and no, I am not a lover of processed foods, quite the opposite. It's all very puzzling, especially when the Ice Man and Egyptian mummies have been found to have blocked arteries.

[sandybrown in reply to KatyB]

Hello,

Thanks. I will be 68 in December. For the last four years I have been controlling my food intake and going to the gym at least three times week. For me I have to control both HbA1C number (90 day blood glucose check and cholesterol.)

So far no medication, did try statin for three months, gave up due to side effect.

When I go to town during weekend I do look at all the good in the display, I do not but the food nowadays, years ago will be enjoying them!

[Sonyajba in reply to KatyB]

Hi Katy

Believe it or not a low fat diet is unhealthy, therefore consuming the right amount of fat is good for us. Having said this I am of course only referring to saturated fats and animal fats, definitely not processed oils like vegetable oil.

Too many believe that low fat is good and cut down or replace animal fat with processed ones.

If a person eats full fat yogurts, cheese and butter then the healthy they'll be.

So your assumption that your husband and brothers intake of fat is keeping their cholesterol levels low then you are indeed correct, although it has nothing to do with fat elimating cholesterol.

We all need to move away from what we've been led to believe that cholesterol is this evil fatty substance floating around our bodies ready to attack and clog every artery, it simply isn't true.

[KatyB in reply to Sonyajba]

Sorry Sonyajba, but I eat butter, full fat yoghurt, etc but not in the quantities that my husband eats. Cook all our meals from scratch though my husband does eat bacon, & ham sandwiches at the weekend plus anything else he buys when he's out shopping ie chocolate, cakes. I've tried every trick in the book to reduce his food intake but wonder is it worth it when I'm the one that seems to suffer! Do I give up and join him in his bad eating habits? And last week my cousin had a heart attack, cholesterol low, healthy weight and very active.

[Sonyajba in reply to KatyB]

Seems to me you have come to realise as I and many other have, that cholesterol is not evil and to be perfectly honest cholesterol levels aren't worth worrying about.

[Penel]

There have been several studies showing that diets high in processed/refined carbohydrates can raise "bad" Cholesterol.

scientificamerican.com/arti...

The relation between weight levels and cholesterol levels does not seem to be straightforward .

[CaringLady]

The Cholesterol question is complex! cholesterollevels.net/. It is said that obesity increase the risk of having high cholesterol but it does not mean that obese people have inevitably high cholesterol. Also, total cholesterol number only is not enough to appraise a person risk to heart disease. So, I don't think that you should worry about your TC being 7.8. And as others say above, cholesterol is not evil, without it your body cannot function well.

[geoffc]

The more I research this cholesterol subject the more I'm being convinced that every individual has a natural personal level and messing with it is putting us at risk. As long as we keep to a reasonable and sensible (not strict) diet regime and get a reasonable amount of exercise we should have an average lifespan - provided we're not knocked down by a bus or car or have some other sort of unfortunate incident! Obese people can have low cholesterol levels and thin people can have high levels. It just doesn't seem to add up in my mind. As Number 5 says in the movie "Need more input". I'm 68 now and reasonably healthy and every new day I'm so glad to be alive!