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Cholesterol levels

S

sdgray22

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Could some of you experts explain cholesterol levels to me please
my readings are 4.6 total
HDL 1.5
LDL 2.4
well for a start 1.5 and 2.4 do not equal 4.6 what is the rest then?
My Dr says its good the Desmond course girls I went to last week say its not and should be under 4
So should it be under 4? if so which needs reducing and how?
I have also seen mention of ratios etc so can anyone explain that too.
 
I believe total cholesterol consists of LDL, HDL and triglycerides that's why the two numbers don't add up :) To me your numbers look good but I'm not an expert, I'm sure someone else will be able to give you advice.
 
Targets for cholesterol (non-diabetics)

Total: below 5.
HDL (good): above 1.2
LDL (bad): below 3
Triglycerides (bad): below 1.7 and the lower the better

Total:HDL ratio: below 5:1; preferably about 3.5:1

"They" want diabetics to aim below 4 for Total, and in some instances below 3. Personally, I aim for non-diabetic levels, and my GP is happy with that. We need a certain amount of cholesterol for Vitamin D synthesis and to keep our brains working properly. There is some indication that women are better with a slightly higher total cholesterol than men, but I can't quote a link for that.

Your HDL and LDL are fine. Ask what your triglycerides and your Total:HDL ratio were - my GP thinks those are the most important.

There are many more things in your Total Cholesterol than just the above; that's why it never adds up. It's a complicated subject, much more complicated than a simple Total figure.

I am not medically qualified - go back and talk to your GP :D

Viv 8)
 
Target numbers for diabetics are the following:

HDL: 1mmol/l or above for men; 1.2mmol/l or above for women

LDL: below 2mmol/l

Triglycerides: equal to or below 1.7mmol/l

Total cholesterol: below 4mmol/l
 
noblehead said:
Target numbers for diabetics are the following:

HDL: 1mmol/l or above for men; 1.2mmol/l or above for women

LDL: below 2mmol/l

Triglycerides: equal to or below 1.7mmol/l

Total cholesterol: below 4mmol/l
Click to expand...

Nigel,

Do yo know why the HDL criteria is lower than the NICE one?

I'm not complaining - my HDL is nearly good enough for your criteria, but not good enough for the NICE one.

Stephen
 
noblehead said:
Target numbers for diabetics are the following:

HDL: 1mmol/l or above for men; 1.2mmol/l or above for women

LDL: below 2mmol/l

Triglycerides: equal to or below 1.7mmol/l

Total cholesterol: below 4mmol/l
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this again, Nigel. This time I'm going to save it whare I can find it! :oops:

Viv 8)
 
Thankyou for these answers, I need to look into it more but it seems I could do with going a bit lower if poss
 
I'm wondering about my cholesterol levels too. I recently picked up a printout of my levels that were taken in December and it gave the following figures

Total: 3.0
HDL: 1.11 (a note says below range)
it doesn't say anything about Trigs or LDL

Total cholesterol: HDL ratio 2.7

These figures seem a bit low to me, any comments? Before I started taking statins my total cholesterol was 5.2.
 
To get total cholesterol, you add HDL+LDL+trigs/2.2
The 2.2 is fromemory but I think right.
So for Sdgray, we have
1.5 + 2.4 +trigs/2.2 = 4.6
Means trigs/2.2=4.6-3.9
So trigs=0.7*2.2
So trigs are 1.54, OK!
 
))Denise(( said:
I'm wondering about my cholesterol levels too. I recently picked up a printout of my levels that were taken in December and it gave the following figures

Total: 3.0
HDL: 1.11 (a note says below range)
it doesn't say anything about Trigs or LDL

Total cholesterol: HDL ratio 2.7

These figures seem a bit low to me, any comments? Before I started taking statins my total cholesterol was 5.2.
Click to expand...

HDL a tad low as it says, but total good as under target, ratio good as below target (by a lot, well done)
Can't work out trigs and LDL, as would need one if those to work out the other, but both should be ok as total is low sp neither of them can be that high
 
Just checked, and the 2.2 is right for the units we use, although if trigs are above 4.5 the formula becomes unreliable because of the true structure of where trigs come from ( I.e, this formula ignores vldl)
 
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