LDL 3.7 HDL 2.3 Others 0.7 Total 6.7!!! Dr says change diet. Diet changed 1 year ago due to dairy intolerance. Query How?

[patch14]

I have recently had my chloresterol test done. Figures are LDL 3.7 HDL 2.3

Others 0.7 Total 6.7!!! Now is this bad, good or indifferent. My Dr says I have to change my diet. As I also learned 1 year ago I was dairy intolerant and have changed my diet accordingly and therefore eat VERY healthily how can I improve it!!!! Do I need to?

[Aliwally]

Hi Patch,

Your HDL is fantastically good (even beating mine and I thought I was good).

Some people on this site have had good results with the Portfolio Diet. However, I think I would say don't beat yourself up about diet and cholesterol, sometimes it's just those wretched genes and levels do vary according to seasons. Your triglcerides are fantastic as well!

[DakCB-UK]

I don't know how old you are, but if you're young, that's high enough to cause concern. Ask your Dr to refer you to a dietician, preferably one at a lipid clinic, because I don't know how you could improve it. Offer to take a 7-day food diary (what you ate, roughly how much, roughly when - you can find outline forms on the web) with you when you go, else some will just ask you to do that and then shlep all the way to the hospital again.

[patch14]

Just to say I won't see 50 again!!! I have kept a food diary for years because the Dr kept telling me to because for years I suffered with IBS which now transpires to be Dairy Intolerance!! I am now very well, I have a healthy dairy- free and yeast- free diet (I am slightly intolerant to yeast so no bread) and have even lost 7 lbs!! I am NOT overweight, I walk daily, my blood pressure is 120/75. What I would like to ask is what is too high? My HDL chloresterol is much higher than average but surely that is good!!! My LDL chloresterol is lower than some "normal" levels so where am I going wrong? I cannot change my diet again as I have been struggling with my stomach for over 25 years and now I feel wonderful!! My LDL chloresterol levels are now lower and my HDL higher than they were when I last had a test 3 years ago! Give me some idea of what I can change.

[Aliwally]

Hi Patch,

No, I won't see 50 again either.

I think that your total cholesterol of 6.7 looks high, mainly because your HDL is so high. This is good (at the moment..I read somewhere that there may be sub fractions of HDL that aren't so good, but I am ignoring that !). Check on the HEART UK website, but I think they say the "ideal" LDL should be 3 or below, lower if you have other medical conditions , so technically yours is on the highish side. However, I'm not sure what else you can do diet wise .

[patch14]

Hey don't start telling me that my HDL may also be a problem!!! Makes me wish that they never found this chloresterol thing. Apparently it's only a fairly recent "find" by the "boffins". Perhaps ignorance was bliss!!

I'm off to see the Dr next week to discuss "diet" and "exercise". I walk daily, have three grandchildren to run around after, a husband still at work and needing me to run around after him too, so I think that I do enough exercise during the day as it is!!!!!!!

[Aliwally]

Yes Patch, I'm totally ignoring the HDL "thing" as well as mine has always been high. My 3 daughters have high HDL as well, so I am convinced there is a genetic element to it, also something you never read about.

Good luck with the Drs next week.

[patch14]

Funny thing. I have just remembered a conversation I had with my sister some 6 months ago about chloresterol and I now recall her saying her HDL was high too. You may have something with the genetic idea. I'll keep you posted about the Dr next week. All the best Patch14