Hi, sorry if this is a repeat question or not supposed to be in here....
I'm 47 years old and quite healthy. Not overweight, and although I'm no athlete I do walk most days and cycle to work occasionally plus my 2 young kids keep me active. I don't look like your usual person who could be at risk of heart disease but my problem is that it is in the genes! My father died of an MI at 53 years old and so that puts me at some kind of risk. I've only recently taken an interest in the risks and eat as healthy as possible - not too much red meat and lots of fruit/veg and shredded wheat or porridge for breakfast. I asked my GP for a cholesterol test but they said I couldn't have one until next year as I had one 4 years ago. The reading then was 4.6. I've paid for my own test with Pharmacy 4 U and the results are as follows:
Cholesterol=5.6
Triglyrecides = 1.4 mmol/L
HDL = 1.7
LDL = 3.3
My GP didn't seem to concerned and said I was still low risk even though my father died young. I asked if I need to lower my Cholesterol and she wasn't too concerned and suggested it was up to me to decide if I want to try statins.
Not much use and I am considering a second opinion from another GP but i don't want to sound like a hypochondriac ! I don't want to use statins unless neccessary but I'm also aware that 5.6 is probably quite high.
Any advice would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post
Written by
Georgeb46
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Your Total Cholesterol divided by your HDL looks fine, if anything I would try to lower those Triglycerides a bit. Reduce your consumption of simple Carb's eg sugar, pasta, bread, pizza even that shredded wheat should go and the porridge should be wholegrain rolled or steel cut oats not the feathery easy to make ready brek type, if you dont believe me check your blood sugar after eating the ready brek type
Thanks...I need to do a bit more reading as I thought something like shredded wheat would have been a good choice. I'll also look in to the alternative porridge - I guess that will be sold at a premium like most other healthy foods!
Your health and your risk of cardiovascular disease, death and stroke are not exclusively related to your LDL-C levels. Total cholesterol, on its own, is actually clinically pretty useless.
From the information you provided your Lipid profile looks decent except for triglycerides. They should be below 0.75 mmol/l. The lower the better.
If you lower triglycerides, LDL-C will also be lowered.
More importantly, you should measure instead for LDL-P. You can do this by privately getting the NMR Lipoprofile test - about $100 USD or so.
Half of all heart attacks and strokes occur to people with optimal LDL-C values. Blood clots trigger these events.
Therefore you need LDL-P as well as:
- fibrinogen
- homocysteine
- CRP
- Lp-pla2.
To ensure you improve your health - you need to ensure you get adequate levels of most B vitamins daily, especially B6, B9 and B12.
Green leafy vegetables are necessary on a daily basis, so you can choose any one of or a combination of any of these:
B12 is found in animal protein so you should have a small portion (3 oz) daily or every other day or have 2 boiled eggs a few days per week.
All animal products should be sourced from grass-fed, pasture raised livestock, without the use of antibiotics or hormones.
Other important vitamins are D3 and K2.
D3 comes from sunlight or supplements. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere you will need 2,000 IUs per day from D3 supplements. K2 can be found in the dark meat of poultry, as well as the aged, hard cheeses from Scandinavian countries - Gouda, Jarlesberg etc...
Don't worry about genetics - you have no control and it is likely your father's lifestyle and dietary habits that played the biggest role in his demise.
Daily exercise is necessary. That means elevating your heart rate above 120 bpm for 20 minutes or longer. Doing housework and playing with kids doesn't count.
Walk at a brisk pace, jog, do resistance training with your body weight or free-weights.
You have to do something daily.
In general, avoid processed foods, stay away from simple carbohydrates, sugar and sugar equivalents including artificial sweeteners.
By eating a whole-foods, plant-based (Mediterranean Diet) on an ongoing basis and exercising daily, your body weight will gravitate to its optimal level. Once this occurs, your blood pressure will normalize and you will feel energized.
By the way, have nuts on a daily basis as well. Focus on healthy fats and minimize saturated fats from animals.
The best dairy is fermented like cheese and Greek yogurt (plain unsweetened).
I'm not a doctor either but my case is similar to yours.
I'm a healthy BMI, eat a healthy "lowish" carb diet and walk for an hour most days. I have family history of fatal heart disease, and very minor heart disease myself ( confirmed by ct scan but no intervention needed ) . My total
cholesterol is also 6, but what counts is the HDL ratio . Mine is 1.7. On balance my doctor is not concerned about my total cholestrol. And it seems my risk factor due to family history is barely 1.2% higher than someone without.
Doctors calculate the risk of having a heart attack within 10 years, based on data from all over the Uk. But for people like you with no existing symtoms, he would probably use the QRisk calculator below:
Lifestyle changes are the first course of action. I made a good improvement to my HDL Ratio ( which is more important than the total ) and my GP was happy with that on the basis of cholestrol alone.
The QRisk calculator is used for people with no other symptoms. They use a different risk assessor for people who already have symptoms (like angina)
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
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