Medical Question re: cholesterol test

[WhiteKnight]

I'm looking for some general information from any ATOTers out there in the medical community. I recently gave blood and the center provided a free cholesterol test as a "thank you" for donating. However, I had just eaten a sizeable sushi dinner and I'd like to know how that may have affected my results.

I had my cholesterol tested properly (morning, empty stomach) back in 2001 and my recent result is nearly 30 points lower. I'd imagine that high cholesterol meal could case in artifically high cholesterol results, but could a low cholesterol meal provide artifically low results? Thanks.

 

[Czervik]

Your Chol level isnt affected very much by being fasting or not. Less than 5% change at most. Your Triglyceride levels are very much affected by recent meals, and you need to be fasting for this. And NO, eating a low cholesterol meal before testing will not affect the results.

 

[TraumaRN]

Originally posted by: Czervik
Your Chol level isnt affected very much by being fasting or not. Less than 5% change at most. Your Triglyceride levels are very much affected by recent meals, and you need to be fasting for this. And NO, eating a low cholesterol meal before testing will not affect the results.

Basically what he said.

From UpToDate.....

TOTAL AND HDL-CHOLESTEROL ? Serum total and HDL-cholesterol can be measured in fasting or nonfasting individuals; there are only small clinically insignificant differences in these values when measured in the fasting or nonfasting state [1]. The total cholesterol can vary by 4 to 11 percent within an individual due to multiple factors including stress, minor illness, and posture [2]. Values may also vary between different laboratories, with data suggesting that a single measurement of serum cholesterol can vary as much as 14 percent [2,3]. Thus, in an individual with a "true" serum cholesterol concentration of 200 mg/dL (5.2 mmol/L), the range of expected values is 172 to 228 mg/dL (4.5 to 5.9 mmol/L) [3,4]. These observations suggest that more than one measurement of total cholesterol should be obtained when treatment considerations demand a precise determination. Measurement of serum HDL-C and triglycerides may demonstrate even greater variability [5].

Blood lipid levels may exhibit mild seasonal variation with a peak in total cholesterol level in the winter and a trough in the summer. One study found that the amplitude of seasonal variation of total cholesterol concentration was 3.9 mg/dL (0.10 mmol/L) in men and 5.4 mg/dL (0.14 mmol/L) in women [6]. Individual patients may experience larger or smaller variations than these mean values, but it should not normally be necessary to take the season into account when making clinical decisions based on lipid measurements.

There is your answer. What he said but in a more complicated way 😛

 

[dethman]

Originally posted by: Czervik
Your Chol level isnt affected very much by being fasting or not. Less than 5% change at most. Your Triglyceride levels are very much affected by recent meals, and you need to be fasting for this. And NO, eating a low cholesterol meal before testing will not affect the results.

what he said.

 

[Vich]

Originally posted by: dethman

Originally posted by: Czervik
Your Chol level isnt affected very much by being fasting or not. Less than 5% change at most. Your Triglyceride levels are very much affected by recent meals, and you need to be fasting for this. And NO, eating a low cholesterol meal before testing will not affect the results.

what he said.

What he said.

 

[bctbct]

Does hydration effect the numbers?

 

[Cobalt]

Originally posted by: Vich

Originally posted by: dethman

Originally posted by: Czervik
Your Chol level isnt affected very much by being fasting or not. Less than 5% change at most. Your Triglyceride levels are very much affected by recent meals, and you need to be fasting for this. And NO, eating a low cholesterol meal before testing will not affect the results.

what he said.

What he said.

 

[WhiteKnight]

Thanks, guys.