Colesterol - rate of change from diet and exercise

[LittleGreyCat]

I am due for a blood test soon and I was wondering about the rate of change in cholesterol levels due to diet and exercise.

For context, your blood glucose goes up and down like a roller coaster so for long term results you measure HbA1c.

So how much is your cholesterol affected by what you ate in the last week and how much exercise you took?
Would a fasting level be expected to be different from a test an hour after breakfast?

I tried Google and the results were interesting and confusing.

http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/cholesterolNEW.html was interesting but added to the confusion.
It seems to say that in some cases you need long term (significant parts of a year) of high intensity regular exercise to significantly change HDL levels.
However it also hints that one intense exercise session can alter your HDL levels.

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4674751_cholesterol-levels-change.html seems IMHO to be a load of tosh and well out of date, especially
"Animal products such as eggs, meat and whole-fat dairy products such as milk, cheese and ice cream are all loaded with bad cholesterol and should be limited."
which should get the LCHF section up in arms

Other discussions about low/no carbing associated with intense exercise to train the body to run by burning fats to avoid the bonk/wall at about 20 miles of running made me wonder if the lipo proteins which are used to transport fats round the body are in any way involved in this fat burning regime and the ketogenic diet.

All very confusing.

Cheers

LGC

 

[LittleGreyCat]

The same question came up again in a broader context.

My BG has much improved over the last few months but my cholesterol is quite high, although the ratios look reasonable.
I was wondering again how rapidly your cholesterol levels change - how quickly you manufacture new cholesterol and how quickly your body absorbs it.

Nobody seems to specifically answer the question, although Wikipedia may give some hints.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholesterol says
"For a man of about 68 kg (150 lb), typical total body-cholesterol synthesis is approximately 1 g (1,000 mg) per day, and total body content is approximately 35 g, primarily located within the membranes of all the cells of the body. Typical daily dietary intake of additional cholesterol, in the United States, is 200–300 mg."

So if you didn't have any (ignoring the fact you would be dead) it would take you about 30 days to generate and absorb through diet to get to your 35g.

However there is nowhere which tells you how fast cholesterol is destroyed.

I suppose if you assume that a steady state is the norm, then cholesterol must be used up or excreted as bile (and not re-absorbed as about 50% is) at roughly the same rate i.e. 1,000 mg per day.

However most of the bodily cholesterol is not in the blood but is in the cell membranes or cells, so this doesn't really help with working out the rate of change of cholesterol in the blood stream.

Presumably as most is in the cells then this will act as a buffer against rapid change.

Does anyone know how slowly/quickly your blood cholesterol can change?

Cheers

LGC

 

[AnnieC]

I am due for a blood test soon and I was wondering about the rate of change in cholesterol levels due to diet and exercise.

For context, your blood glucose goes up and down like a roller coaster so for long term results you measure HbA1c.

So how much is your cholesterol affected by what you ate in the last week and how much exercise you took?
Would a fasting level be expected to be different from a test an hour after breakfast?

I tried Google and the results were interesting and confusing.

http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/cholesterolNEW.html was interesting but added to the confusion.
It seems to say that in some cases you need long term (significant parts of a year) of high intensity regular exercise to significantly change HDL levels.
However it also hints that one intense exercise session can alter your HDL levels.

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4674751_cholesterol-levels-change.html seems IMHO to be a load of tosh

 

[Bluetit1802]

I asked my GP about this the other day because I was wanting another cholesterol test to see how I'm doing. Last test was in June. She told me it takes 3 months for any significant changes to show in blood tests, similar to HbA1c tests. As far as I am aware, lipid tests should be fasting in as far as the triglycerides are concerned as they can go up and down according to food eaten beforehand, but cholesterol doesn't.

 

[modesty007]

Happen to like a wise ans sensible guy like Chris Kresser http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-cholesterol-and-saturated-fat-are-not-the-enemy