I am liking this post and find it very interesting. My own levels are around 8 (HDL 2.4, trigs 0.5, LDL 4.5) and I know that the ratios are fine. I still wonder at the back of my mind though, whether my LDL should be 'lower' but I think that is because we get it drummed into us that LDL is 'bad, bad, bad' and it's hard to shake off. I am 59years old (female) and healthy in every other respect, slim, fit blah, blah. I am convinced now though that my body is making the exact right amount of cholesterol for ME and although cholesterol levels can probably be changed by exercise/diet etc, it's only by very small amounts and there seems to be very little evidence that lowering by these small amounts benefit you in any notable way YET a whole lot of stress & effort is involved to make these changes. Personally I have now stopped worrying about it, I don't/won't take statins and have resigned myself to the fact that unless something drastic changes I'll just have to live with the 'risk' of higher LDL. Great post & liking the replies. x