Cholesterol - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - a medical Furphy blindsiding unsuspecting patients

[Exnurse]

I would like to state that there is NO SUCH THING as Bad or Good Cholesterol, we are being brainwashed by manipulators. The reality is: there is HDL (which comes from our diet) and LDL which is made by our liver. Both are essential for our health. Problems arise when HDL is low and can't manage to 'ball up' excess LDL and send it to the gut for removal. The REAL issue with Total Cholesterol readings is when the ratio of HDL:LDL is out of whack. Our diet of processed foods, trans fats, too much Omega 6, not enough Omega 3, too much junk carbs, not enough leafy greens, seafood, whole fresh foods is a major factor in the imbalance of the two types of ESSENTIAL fats in our bodies. Our brains - 3% of body weight requires at least 23% of its volume to be Cholesterol/LDL to function properly!

Statins prevent the liver from making LDL, causing a metabolic deficiency. Some people are lucky to escape relatively unharmed, but I believe many more than we know have their health ruined by medicos' ignorance!

[sandybrown]

Could you please expand on this:

"The REAL issue with Total Cholesterol readings is when the ratio of HDL:LDL is out of whack" Thank you.

[sos007 Ambassador]

I think most people on this forum have already figured that out.

Elevated levels of LDL cholesterol are indicative of an inflammatory diet and lifestyle.

To return cholesterol levels to their natural balance, people simply need to adopt a healthy and nutrient-rich diet such as the Mediterranean Diet and engage in daily exercise.

Once this is accomplished statins and other medications are no longer necessary. However, as somebody who has already achieved these objectives and stopped statins after bypass surgery, I can tell you that most people I speak with, including many on this forum, are not prepared to give up certain poor dietary and lifestyle habits and would prefer the quick fix which are statins and other medications.

We are our own worst enemies and we have been conditioned to believe that doctors know best and should not be questioned. Most believe that doctors are responsible for our health, when in fact each individual is responsible for their own health and doctors are just there for support when required.

The pharmaceutical companies effectively control the global healthcare system and it is up to enlightened individuals to realize this and to place establishment medical advice within this context, especially when it comes to surgical interventions and pharmaceutical treatments.

'Buyer beware.'

[Redelsie in reply to sos007]

I know in the past, when access to knowledge was difficult for your average Jo, then doctors may well have known "best"; these days I think the best is a combination of the doctor with the clinical experience being intelligently challenged by a patient who has done some reading up on the subject. My worry is that the internet gives us access to all sorts of information - some good & reasonably reliable and others a complete crock of **** - and we haven't all been brought up as responsible, critical thinkers, sadly.

You make an important point about coming off the statins once the TC/HDL balance has been restored - one which wasn't really touched on by my GP last week - but it will go into my list of questions for discussion next time we meet - thank you

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to Redelsie]

If you want to get the state of the art cholesterol profile you need to get an NMR Lipoprofile healthwatch.cc/wp-content/u...

You can have an elevated LDL-C which is a calculated value from a standard lipid profile based on total volume, but not have the risk that's implied if the number of LDL particles in your blood stream are low in number.

LDL-P (particle number) is more predictive of cardiovascular disease risk than LDL-C (volume).

You can discuss this with your doctor but don't be surprised if he doesn't know this - medical bureaucracy has not disseminated this information widely.

Good luck.

[Redelsie in reply to sos007]

Encouraging to see "A newer type of test that measures non-high-density lipoprotein (non-HDL) is now sometimes used because it's thought to be a more accurate way of estimating cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk than LDL." on NHS website: nhs.uk/conditions/high-chol...

My GP didn't ask me to fast before the latest test, which would tend to indicate it wasn't the standard one, but I will double-check this with her when I see her next. All interesting stuff

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to Redelsie]

I'm not sure what you are referring to. Non-HDL is not a new test, it is simply total cholesterol, minus the HDL number, leaving the non-hdl levels. It has limited value for risk assessment.

The NMR Lipoprofile is far more sophisticated and used Nuclear Magnetic Resonance imaging - this is clinically far more valuable.

[Lucy11 in reply to sos007]

What happens for those who have familial hypercholesterolemia? Here, LDL levels are not indicative of an inflammatory diet and lifestyle. For those people it’s a genetic disorder on chromosome 19. What can these people do if they don’t want to take a statin? Anyone?

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to Lucy11]

Get the NMR Lipoprofile which measures LDL-P and other blood tests that look for an inflammatory condition such as the Myeloperoxidase, Lp-pla2 and hs-CRP.

The collective information will provide an overall better risk assessment to help you decide on a plan for medications.

[elliebath in reply to Lucy11]

That's me too !

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to Lucy11]

A person can have FH AND an inflammatory diet and lifestyle. If so, at a minimum, address the lifestyle and diet to minimize the impact.