As I am approaching middle age I thought a full health check would be in order. All fine bar a high cholesterol. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Now I eat a decent diet on the whole but I do enjoy my animal fats. How can you have fish without a cream sauce? wot no butter! etc etc. Not even the odd cream bun "sobs"

So I really really don't want to take statins and have no other major risk factors – no cardiovascular disease in the family, stopped smoking etc.

Anyone any experience of controlling cholesterol levels thru diet? flora pro active instead of butter I guess and an end to double cream. No more home made icecream Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Bacon butties no more "sniffs"

Feel free to mock but any helpful advice or experiences would be kind – as well as low animal fat tasty recipes.

Ta

Do some reading.

I'm sure I've read somewhere (new scientist?). That a nominal "high cholesterol" level is not a problem. The theory went that everybody has a natural cholesterol level and that if you only measure it once then it doesn't tell you much. You need to establish a baseline to see if it's higher than it should be for you not compared to everybody elses.

The cholesterol reducing stuff does work, it's been published in peer reviewed papers rather than just advertisments.

shouldn't be to tough just have butter as a friday treat, bacon butties for sunday morning yada yada yada.

Have a look on videojug there are some great recipes on their, all recorded in laymans terms.

Hi TJ,

how high was your cholesterol, and what were the HDL-c and LDL-c and ratio? Only with this information and the rest of the risk profile including your family history can you adequately assess whether it is important. Bear in mind that less than 1/8th of you cholesterol is ingested (the rest you make in your liver), its not that freq that a dietary change makes much difference unless you obv eat a transport cafe diet at present.

You shouldn't contemplate statins unless your 10 yr risk is >20%

what was the reading ? My doctor said mine was 5.2 but she was happy with it as I was fit and healthy for mid 40's very low alchol intake and non smoker .Told me to carry on as normal

Ta for that – I have done some. 6.3 two years ago which I more or less ignored. 8.4 now which is probably high for me as well as absolutely high.

I'll go back in 3 months for another check having been careful with diet.

Can't find the numbers right now for ratio but it wasn't good as I remember.

I'll have a dig around for them
Edit – got them for a few years ago but not in the recent sample.
hdl 1.34
ldl 4.6
ratio 4.8

???

Everyone gets hung up on cholesterol levels. It's all about cardiovascular risk of which cholesterol is only one part. What is more helpful is your CHD, CVD or QRISK based on age, diabetes, BP, smoking, sex, fhx etc etc
whats your email addy?

edited

jeremy.pascoe@btinternet.com

why?

It's nigh on impossible to significantly reduce your cholesterol through a change of diet, although much to the surprise of my GP I did manage it a bit (it was only very marginally high to start with) but I can't remember exactly what I changed in my diet as it was quite a few years ago, but I do remember eating porridge which I had never done before. I guess I should have it checked again as it's been a long time and I never kept up the eating porridge thing.

I more or less gave up butter in my teens, I usually have Pure (organic) now which was recommended my a nutritionist, most days I have salads which means that I take in three tablespoons of olive oil, and I almost always only drink skimmed milk, which I guess are all things which you should try to do.

Feel free to mock

You really are a daft tw4t mate ……. and why the **** would any want to go around on a tandem 😯

Cheers andy – I do know that and basically I am low risk. No problems in the family, low bp myself

I assume you got the HDL/LDL figures as well as the overall cholesterol level ? your HDL should ideally be >1.0mmol/litre and LDL <3.2mmol/litre, the LDL is what is commonly known as 'bad cholesterol'

If you're prepared to take advice from a snake-oil peddling nutritionist 😉 I'd recommend the following:

Increase your intake of pectin (apples are a very good source)
Increase intake of oat bran (soluble fibre)
Increase consumption of legumes and root veg (insoluble fibre)
Increase consumption of foods high in vits C & E
Increase consumption of foods rich in EPA, DHL & omega 3 fatty acids

Using these principles has been shown (peer reviewed etc etc) to help reduce LDL – I'm sure you can Google/PubMed for more info

Save your animal fat consumption for the things you really enjoy, so maybe replace some meat protein based meals with low fat vegetable protein sources as a trade off for the occasional creamy treat.

And remember, if this is your first cholesterol check you don't really have a good baseline to work from – cholesterol levels are very dynamic and 2-3 tests several weeks apart will give you a far better idea of your status….

…hope all goes well 🙂

Ta for that Hilldodger – seems totally appropriate advice from what I thought. scoffing the oats like a good un now and the rest of the stuff is in my diet.

Snake oil pedalling nutritionists tell you green veg contains oxygen ( McKeith said this one – how you must hate her) and similar trash, not proper peer reviewed stuff 🙂

I don't have the breakdown for the figures from this test but previous test a few years ago with 6.3 level was HDL 1.34, ldl 4.6, ratio 4.8 from what I can see. as total level is now 8.4 then these will only have got worse I assume

"Increase your intake of pectin (apples are a very good source)"

I didn't know that ….. useful.

I don't suppose 'chips' count as a good source of cholesterol-busting root veg ?

get some of them orlistat tablets – shittitout I think they're called

i think for total cholesterol need to include a fraction of your triglycerides(?20%) for which you need to do a fasting cholesterol.

TJ

the ratio of 4.8 is prob the most useful figure to use to assess risk. If your total chol has gone up, your ratio may have gone up a little, but not necessarily. TC often increases with age, but so does the 'protective' HDL-c.

Generally look at the whole risk profile like polarisandy says, using JBS or QRISK (your GP can calculate for you).

The benefit of statins in primary prevention (ie someone who's not had a stroke or heart attack or has diabetes) is generally overstated.

Ta for this chaps.

found an online qrisk calculator. My risk is 4% whearas the average is 5%

does that mean I can go stuff my face with cream buns now?

edit – found a jbs calculator as well – risk 7% on that.

does that mean I can go stuff my face with cream buns now?

if it interferes with your typing, that's a yes :o)

QRISK is much more accurate for UK population, JBS is derived from USA data.

A risk of 4% is negliable….

Enjoy life, take plenty of exercise and you can eat what you like

Is that professional advice? Cream buns here I come 🙂 Whats your real name so I can come back to haunt you if it all goes horribly wrong?

Had a similar thing to TJ recently, triglycerides through the roof – 8% I think – (I don't smoke, don't drink much, thought diet was good etc) and it was suggested I get re-tested soon with a view to going onto the dodgy chloresterol-reducing drugs, which I don't want to do, so I've sort of put off getting re-tested. Everything else came out good, but Dr implied I may last another 5 mins at best or maybe 10 if I was really lucky.

Hadn't heard about this Qrisk thing – I'll look into this before getting re-tested.

I hadn't realised porridge is good – that's excellent news as I love it but thought it may me fat so made myself avoid it. Upped veg intake and fish, but then the fish (I think) kicked off gout….! Painful.

Any other diet suggestions from the nutritionists on here?

A Scottish person with a taste for animal fats?

National stereotype anyone? 🙂

Seriously though – have you tried poaching fish and not using a sauce, just seasoning – you don't have to mask the flavour.

Replacing butter has a number of good options these days – I'll concede that none of them taste as good as butter, but they're certainly not bad, just different. JUst stay away from anything with trans or hydrogenated fats.

Switch to olive oil or a decent nut/seed oil for cooking – you can't beat fried bread done with dripping, but again, the oil is not bad – just different.

TJ – i remember mocking you for being old if you worry about your cholesterol.

i apologise, quite frankly it's a wonder you're not dead yet.

"cream sauce … butter … cream bun … butter … double cream … home made ice cream … bacon butties"

yikes.

Statins are evil – both parents tried them (both 60ish, both healthy, happy, active, young pensioners), both parents turned into crazy, depressed, achy old people in about a month.

have a look for "statins – side effects"…

(i understand they may be beneficial for people who refuse to change their diet or do any exercise)

Try grilled trout with courgettes and basil – its amazing.

(pinch of salt over the trout before you grill it, a pinch of salt = 0.5 grams = 1/10th of your daily intake = no worries)

for a veggie option try a mixed bean minty salsa served with rice – dash of soya sauce/ hendo's over the rice if you want.

I got mine tested a few months ago and it was 4.1 (gloat ;-D) anyway, although I have no experience of this, my physio brought his level down through diet alone – using the flora active stuff etc, so it can be done. His was 6 something and is now down to 5 something.

Eat more veg, fish, cut down on meat, butter etc. Once you have let your taste buds adjust, I bet you will find fish will taste much better on its own without the cream sauce. Its got to be better to try to do it by diet rather than the statins surely?

You can investigate a good dose of flaxseeds with your breakfast. I think the evidence for Chloresterol may take some understanding, there are lots of research papers out there though.

Woa.

I'm not a doctor but Dr. Malcolm Kendrick is. He was a mate of mine at University and one of the brightest people I've met. His view is that Cholesterol has nothing to do with heart disease. He has written this book which I'd heartily (hoho) recommend.

He also shows that lowering your cholesterol levels will increase your risk of dying.

Then I'd suggest eating lots of heavily buttered bacon rolls.

TJ,
I would try my damndest to avoid Statins.

Currently on Statins & it must be said, not getting along very well with them.

When I was 40, better half made me go for a full medical. All results came back as exemplory "for my age" …Don't you just love that expression. (eg. resting heart rate low 40's and so on). But the Cholesterol came back at around 8.5. ( my normal base level)

For the last 4.5 years, I've been bounced around the system & am currently under the specialists at the MRI in Manchester.

Along the line, I've seen four dieticians who all agreed that my vegetarian eating was fine. (I'm 44 & have been a veggie since the age of 3).
I did 3 solid months of no treats whatsoever & eating as near a perfect diet as humanly possible. The end result was a reduction of 0.2 !!!

I went three months… No curries, No chocolate or anything I actually like…. & only got a 0.2 reduction !!!! ( NOT worth it)

Turns out that the high cholesterol thing runs in the family & no amount of porridge will put this to what doctors call an acceptable level.

Not got the figures to hand, but my ratio of good to bad is pretty good.

Since there's a familial aspect to the Cholesterol. The specialists put me on a low dose of statins. ( Atorvastatin), which basically turned me into a complete Zombie for 6 months. – There is no other way to describe it.
Now I'm on another type of Statin (Crestor / Rosuvastatin). Whilst I don't think they're as bad, I still feel somewhat 'slugged'.

It's a bit like someone who constantly runs on caffiene & suddenly gets it taken away.

You may be fine with them. But, if at all possible, I would strongly try to avoid Statins. There just seem to be far too many side effects & I'm personally yet to be convinced that they are indeed the modern miricle they are touted to be.
There seems little actual medical evidence for the Zombie thing I experience, but a quick look around the net & actually talking to people brings up quite a large amount of anichdotal evidence.

Good luck !
Chris

Cheers. I ain't taking statins if I can avoid it. Looks like I have low risk factors anyway so statins are not indicated now.

Goona have a real go with diet including the flora pro active stuff. I tend to eat a real food diet which is fairly well balanced rather than a health food diet. Let see what it is in a few months time.

Very gratifying to get good advice from here. Ta

SnS.

Please read that book I mentioned. There is a lot of evidence that there really is no point in putting yourself through all this.

Its the ratio of LDL and HDL that counts more than just HDL on its own.

I had lectures in Pathology 2 months ago about what correleations caused the most problems and there are huge studies in this.

I was tested and came back with 5.6 – after six months of changing my diet to cut out any fried food and a lot of dairy stuff plus I increased my excercise including some running it went down to 4.4

Donald,
Already ordered it & looking forward to reading an alternative perspective to the more usual 'Statins rule the world' view.

(Thanks for the recommendation)
Chris

Pilchards, (nom, nom, nom)
My Doc told me my chol' was normal.. I eat plenty of Pilchards in tom sauce.. its all that fish oil & omega 3…
Fav recipe…
Pilchards on toast..(nom, nom, nom)

Approaching middle aged?

120yrs old would put you close to a world record..go you!