Cholesterol

[fruitsalad]

is 6 a high cholesterol level?

[coccinelle]

Do you get your HDL and LDL done seperately? If your HDL is high it would be fine. My total cholesterol is over 6 but as my HDL (good cholesterol) is high I'm not at a risk.

[Sqad]

No, it is normal.

[society]

Sqad, is it possible to have too low cholesterol? If yes, what are the downside?

[coccinelle]

By the way, when you say 6 is that the total cholesterol, as in 6 mmol/l?

[Sqad]

society....good question.........bit of bulsh1t in my answer but here goes.

yes it is possible to have too low a cholesterol, but this is always secondary to a disease, where you cannot for various reasons absorb fat.This situation produces fatty smelly stools called steatorhoea which again has many causes and may give neurological problems and liver problems.
If you are keen (I'm not) you can Google steatorhoea.
These conditions are uncommon.

[fruitsalad]

coccinelle I really don't understand much about it, I went to see the doctor today after having blood tests for a list of different things and as she went through them with me she said cholesterol 6 just watch your diet, then moved onto the next thing which was my thyroid levels so I never got to ask her anymore about the cholesterol levels

[woofgang]

cholesterol 6 is fine..."just watch your diet" is GP speak for "I have to say something"

[coccinelle]

It'll be your total cholesterol fruitsalad. If she said to keep an eye on your diet steer away from animal fats (that includes dairy) and up on your good cholesterol such as fish, olive oil etc

[ladyalex]

I do not understand why anyone goes on about diet when talking about reducing cholesterol......Diet change has very little impact on cholesterol levels.
IF cholesterol is really too high, then medication is the only way to reduce it....but as you may have gathered, I am not a great fan of the 'we must all reduce our cholesterol levels ' brigade.

[alex49778]

Desirable cholesterol levels:
Total cholesterol – Less than 200 mg/dL
LDL (bad cholesterol) – Less than 100 mg/dL
HDL (good cholesterol) – 40 mg/dL or higher
Triglycerides – Less than 150 mg/dL

AOK Emergency Room

[Sqad]

ladyalex is spot on.

[alex49778]

Desirable cholesterol levels:
Total cholesterol – Less than 200 mg/dL
LDL (bad cholesterol) – Less than 100 mg/dL
HDL (good cholesterol) – 40 mg/dL or higher
Triglycerides – Less than 150 mg/dL

AOK Emergency Room

[Sqad]

Thank you alex for confusing everybody....this is a European site and those levels are for US market.....care to convert them for us Europeans?

[gingejbee]

I'm surprised the Americans use milligrams and decilitres - thought they might be in spoons per bucket!

[Bazile]

Last time I had my Cholesterol checked , it was 2.9 .

Am I too far the other way ?

[Sqad]

gingee....LOL......naughty........;-)

[Smowball]

I went to see the doctor this week after the receptionist read out my blood test results to me over the phone and said I had raised cholesterol. Turns out is it 5.4, and should ideally be below 5.(??). Anyway she said there was nothing to change in my diet and it was probably genetic(just as Sqad said!). And not to worry about it.

[woofgang]

I used to work for a young, very switched on consultant in care of older people. He used to say that there was research that even if someone went from a diet of chips and fried mars bars to zero fat protein and salad, NO ONE could reduce their cholesterol by more than 2 points. People get mixed up between dietary fat and obesity. Sadly, because I am traditionally built, obesity does seem to result in higher LDL levels.
I don't know what research he was quoting or whether it has now been superseded, this was about 12 years ago.

[WELSHYORKIE]

Sqad/Ladyalex - If diet does not have much of an impact on cholesterol levels, why does my GP keep sending me to a nutritionist? Having said that, I follow her advice but yet my statins are not being reduced and my level hardly changes from one check to another

[woofgang]

ermmmm because your GP listens to the reps and doesn't keep up with research??