Have completed a 4- week course on Hearts Health at Reading University, eLearning. It is very clear from the discussion that both cholesterol and diabetes are linked, therefore my strong belief that we can discuss both in this site.
One can bring on the other and Other health problems.
Food intake control is a must and exercising for 10 minutes or more per day for a total of 130 minutes per week can help us to control cholesterol and blood glucose levels.
One life therefore enjoy a healthy life with food intake control and exercise, life style change.
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sandybrown
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I also totally agree, one wonders if those who are against discussing diabetes alongside cholesterol issues really understand? Our health is not simply one condition, understanding the whole picture from one site is surely preferable to having to go to different sites to research either cholesterol or diabetes. I welcome all contributions, perhaps those who don't can give their reasons?
I've Familial Hypercholesterolaemia but absolutely no family history of diabetes and I am unhappy with the FHA now HEART UK being taken away from we who founded it and turned into some sort of fuzzy general cholesterol, diet and diabetes space.
I've sympathy for people who have some diet and exercise lifestyle problems causing high cholesterol and diabetes, but that isn't us and I ask those who have other conditions to please respect FH sufferers and not hijack our space.
If you have diabetes, you're more likely to get heart disease. Because of that, you need to have your cholesterol and triglyceride levels checked at least once a year.
Cholesterol and Your Heart
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance found in certain foods, such as dairy products, eggs, and meat.
Your body also makes cholesterol to help create hormones and other substances. Having too much cholesterol in your body can lead to a build up called plaque in your arteries, leaving less space for blood to flow. Blocked heart vessels can cause chest pain or a heart attack.
People with diabetes generally have similar total cholesterol levels and similar rates of the 'good' (HDL) cholesterol as the general population. However, people with diabetes, on average, have higher levels of 'bad' (LDL) cholesterol and higher levels of triglycerides than people without diabetes. This is because diabetes can upset the balance between 'good' (HDL) and 'bad' (LDL) cholesterol levels in a number of ways.
•People with diabetes tend to have 'bad' cholesterol particles that stick to arteries and damage their walls more easily.
•High levels of glucose in the blood can result in 'bad' cholesterol staying in the blood stream for longer
•People with diabetes tend to have low HDL and high triglyceride (another blood fat) levels, both of which boost the risk of heart and artery disease.
•This means that people with diabetes are at a higher risk of:
•Heart disease, including heart attack and strake
•Circulation problems which can lead to damage to hands, feet and legs
Having high cholesterol isn't a health issue whilst diabetes is so to me they're not linked at all.
I agree that a higher proportion of diabetics have a higher cholesterol reading but this is no different to some one with degenerated disc problems or any body weakness, their cholesterol will be higher and that's a good thing.
Please let's move away from cholesterol being bad it simply isn't true and if someone's level is higher than another's it's either an underlying health issue that has caused cholesterol to rise to try and help the body heal or they have FH.
I maybe on my own with this opinion but I thought I'd share it
No, I hadn't watched those videos before. I've watched them and they seem to be a mix of things I know are facts and things that sound true but presented in orders and combinations that seem designed to imply certain conclusions. I find the style of the videos rather irritating, speeding up and slowing down, sitting in a medicalish office, and I'm particularly amused that "Frank Cooper, ND MANTA, BHSc (Comp Medicine), Adv Dipl Appl Sc, Dipl Nutrition" on the end titles gets much less screen time than the simple "Melbourne Australia 2011" caption!
So, let's consider this more closely: Frank was diagnosed at 25, whereas I was diagnosed 14 or 15 years younger than that, following cascade testing of my family, so he's not been studying this much longer than I have - maybe 5 years. His primary qualification seems to be nutrition, while mine is in a different allied health profession. After that whoosh of qualifications in the video end title, I looked for his book "Cholesterol and the French Paradox" and found that it's a self-published ebook. His cholesterol levels are higher than mine but lower than some of my relatives. Given all that, it's not much surprise that I already know most of his arguments, but I know there are also alternatives for some of them which he's not presenting.
Maybe I missed it, but I don't think Frank mentioned in the videos whether he has FH or some other sort of hyperlipidaemia - are you sure it's FH? His attitude to family history in video 5 seems quite dismissive, while in video 6, he criticises statins for damaging the liver, which makes me think that his liver maybe wasn't already dysfunctional (while it is in many FH sufferers).
What would be interesting is if Frank's put his body where his mouth is and both taken an alternative approach to his own hyperlipidaemia and monitored the effect with CT scans and so on, but he's not talked about himself much. He put forwards wonderful case studies of the negative effects of things he disagrees with, but not so many positive cases of successes of his preferred approaches - only chelation therapy stands out for that.
In my case, I had xanthomas before treatment and gradually lost those during medication. Whatever else I may need to treat (diet, exercise and other things Frank advocates and I broadly agree with), getting rid of those lumps seems like a benefit.
I have asked a few years ago and I was told that genetic testing wasn't used much back in the 1980s, but the cascade testing results and family history (young heart disease deaths) seem pretty strong indicators, so unless something new comes up, they won't do it.
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Cholesterol 7.5 and can't take medication.
Low cholesterol and low carbohydrates diet
"Food Facts and Fiction - The Great British Diet". Friday 16 August, ITV 1.
