Hey, My Cholesterol Level is 170!!!!!!!! Time for some Pizza!!!

[Total Refected Power]

Had the ole' physical and just got my lipid profile.

Total cholesterol: 170
LDL: 76
HDL: 35


The total Cholesterol/HDL ratio is under 5 so that is pretty good.

Must be all the oat meal my wife makes me for breakfast.

 

[beat mania]

what do all those #'s mean?...

 

[Total Refected Power]

Those #'s are in units of milligrams/deciliter.

What really helps is the scale:

Total cholesterol: Over 200 higher risk for heart attack.
Over 240 Much higher risk

LDL: "Bad cholesterol" Clogs arteries. Over 100 more risk for heart attack.


HDL: "Good cholesterol" Scrubs your ateries, keeps them clean. Less than 35 more risk for heart attack.


The ratio of total/HDL is a scale to give a heart attack risk profile: Over 5 more risk.

 

[Eli]

Does it cost money to have a cholesterol test done? Now you've got me interested..

 

[Total Refected Power]

If you have health insurance you should be entitled to one annual physical a year. They will do it there.

If not it probably costs 200. I have no real idea. Always covered by insurance.

BTW, I had my cholesterol checked in college (11 years ago) and it was anout 240. Too much junk food then.

 

[Rand7263]

I'd hate to see what my cholesterol level is, being single only leaves two options open for dinner. Pizza or chinese. My arteries should be clogging up any minute now.

 

[Susan]

If there is coronary artery disease in one's family, then having good cholesterol doesn't account for much. Sorry...

Heard that from the doctors and nurses at the hospital when my dad had his triple bypass 5 years ago. His was always great.

Last I checked, mine was 124, TRP. Doesn't mean a hill of beans to me, though.

 

[beat mania]

If you HDL is on the 35 border then it's it dangerous? How hard is it to go to 34?

 

[Eli]

I've heard that just eating something with a lot of cholesterol in it (Eggs..) can make your blood cholesterol level go through the roof for a few hours before it levels off.. heh..

 

[Midnight Rambler]

You could stand to bump up your "good" cholesterol a bit. One way is certain "fatty" cold-water fishes such as tuna, salmon, halibut, etc. Omega 3's big time. You can also get this from a supplement, but they're usually fish oil capsules anyways.

Also, one proven way to lower cholesterol is by drinking "dry" (or semi) red wines. The tannin in them busts up cholesterol. This is why the French and the Italians, despite their very rich diets, do not have a high incidence of cardivascular diseases. There have been numerous studies done on these peoples because of their diets and yet low disease rate, and they finally found the common factor was the wine which is more universally drank with meals.