Has anyone’s cholesterol gone up doing LC diet?

[fiona35]

So my cholesterol has always hovered between 4 & 4.5 and although GP has mentioned statins, I’ve always declined as thought I was on enough meds!
I’ve just had my recent blood tests and HBA1C has increased from 50 to 53 and my cholesterol has increased from the 4.5 up to 6.9 and GP wants to put me on statins. I’ve wrangle a 6 mth stay to try and get it back down but the only recent change in my diet has been eating LC and including more dairy and fatty cuts of meat in my diet.
Just wondered if anyone else had this problem with LC diets?
Thanks

 

[JoKalsbeek]

So my cholesterol has always hovered between 4 & 4.5 and although GP has mentioned statins, I’ve always declined as thought I was on enough meds!
I’ve just had my recent blood tests and HBA1C has increased from 50 to 53 and my cholesterol has increased from the 4.5 up to 6.9 and GP wants to put me on statins. I’ve wrangle a 6 mth stay to try and get it back down but the only recent change in my diet has been eating LC and including more dairy and fatty cuts of meat in my diet.
Just wondered if anyone else had this problem with LC diets?
Thanks

Have you been losing weight on the LC diet? One of the things cholesterol does, is transport fats through the blood from storage to be burnt off, as I've understood it. So it should be a temporary rise until your weight stabilises, as it helps you get rid of excess weight. Not entirely sure if I'm putting this correctly, but for what it's worth, mine went up for a bit when I first started losing weight, and went back to normal after a while.

Keep in mind, most of the cholesterol hovering around our bodies we make ourselves, it's just a small percentage that's ingested.

 

[fiona35]

Have you been losing weight on the LC diet? One of the things cholesterol does, is transport fats through the blood from storage to be burnt off, as I've understood it. So it should be a temporary rise until your weight stabilises, as it helps you get rid of excess weight. Not entirely sure if I'm putting this correctly, but for what it's worth, mine went up for a bit when I first started losing weight, and went back to normal after a while.

Keep in mind, most of the cholesterol hovering around our bodies we make ourselves, it's just a small percentage that's ingested.

Thanks JoKalsbeck.
The weight loss has been very slow on the LC diet.
I’m pretty fed up at the mo as I’ve lost more weight doing Slimming World but Blood sugars not always great but LC the sugars are better but the weight loss not so!!
Dammed if you do and Dammed if you don’t!

 

[KennyA]

So my cholesterol has always hovered between 4 & 4.5 and although GP has mentioned statins, I’ve always declined as thought I was on enough meds!
I’ve just had my recent blood tests and HBA1C has increased from 50 to 53 and my cholesterol has increased from the 4.5 up to 6.9 and GP wants to put me on statins. I’ve wrangle a 6 mth stay to try and get it back down but the only recent change in my diet has been eating LC and including more dairy and fatty cuts of meat in my diet.
Just wondered if anyone else had this problem with LC diets?
Thanks

Mine did a little as I lost weight. It's always (I mean for thirty years or so) been at 6.7-6.9 ish. and that figure has gone from being described as "good", to being "too high". Had my yearly check up this month and all bloods are "good". I always make sure I fast before blood tests.

I've been offered statins and have never taken them as I do not believe my cholesterol is a problem. 80% is made by the body, and a statin interferes with that process - statins only stop the body producing cholesterol, and do not act on ingested cholesterol. There is clear evidence that low cholesterol is a problem.

I'd suggest having a look at some recent research attached below, and the 2019 paper from the American College of Cardiology in particular.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109720356874?via%3Dihub=&utm_source=arrow.proteinpower.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=the-arrow-188

Journal of the American College of Cardiology:
•Several foods relatively rich in SFAs, such as whole-fat dairy, dark chocolate, and unprocessed meat, are not associated with increased CVD or diabetes risk.
•There is no robust evidence that current population-wide arbitrary upper limits on saturated fat consumption in the United States will prevent CVD or reduce mortality.

Total cholesterol and all-cause mortality by sex and age: a prospective cohort study among 12.8 million adults - Scientific Reports

It is unclear whether associations between total cholesterol (TC) levels and all-cause mortality and the optimal TC ranges for lowest mortality vary by sex and age. 12,815,006 Korean adults underwent routine health examinations during 2001–2004, and were followed until 2013. During follow-up...

www.nature.com

No simple conclusion from this huge Korean study but - U-curve associations between TC levels and mortality were found in both men and women. The TC range associated with the lowest mortality was 210–249 mg/dL (5.4- 6.4mmol/l). When age was further considered, U-curve associations were observed regardless of sex or age, and the optimal TC range for survival was 210–249 mg/dL (5.4- 6.4mmol/l) for each age-sex group, except for men at 18–34 years (180–219 mg/dL or 4.6-5.6 mmol/l ) and for women at 18–34 years (160–199 mg/dL or 4.1-5.1 mmol/l) and at 35–44 years (180–219 mg/dL or 4.6-5.6 mmol/l)

Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis: analysis of recovered data from Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-73)

Objective To examine the traditional diet-heart hypothesis through recovery and analysis of previously unpublished data from the Minnesota Coronary Experiment (MCE) and to put findings in the context of existing diet-heart randomized controlled trials through a systematic review and...

www.bmj.com

Conclusion: Available evidence from randomized controlled trials shows that replacement of saturated fat in the diet with linoleic acid effectively lowers serum cholesterol but does not support the hypothesis that this translates to a lower risk of death from coronary heart disease or all causes. Findings from the Minnesota Coronary Experiment add to growing evidence that incomplete publication has contributed to overestimation of the benefits of replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid.

Is the use of cholesterol in mortality risk algorithms in clinical guidelines valid? Ten years prospective data from the Norwegian HUNT 2 study - PMC

Many clinical guidelines for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention contain risk estimation charts/calculators. These have shown a tendency to overestimate risk, which indicates that there might be theoretical flaws in the algorithms. Total ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Conclusion: ".....If our findings are generalizable, clinical and public health recommendations regarding the ‘dangers’ of cholesterol should be revised. This is especially true for women, for whom moderately elevated cholesterol (by current standards) may prove to be not only harmless but even beneficial."

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Thanks JoKalsbeck.
The weight loss has been very slow on the LC diet.
I’m pretty fed up at the mo as I’ve lost more weight doing Slimming World but Blood sugars not always great but LC the sugars are better but the weight loss not so!!
Dammed if you do and Dammed if you don’t!

Yeah, it's slow going sometimes... Always a kick in the head, when it seems to go at lightspeed for others, and you're just plodding along. Believe me, there's a lot of plodders out there. (I am currently one, too!)

 

[ianf0ster]

Most, but not all people doing Low Carb reduce Blood glucose, weight and Blood pressure (if high), Most overweight people reduce LDL cholesterol on Low Carb, but for many it also increases HDL, so that overall Total Cholesterol is little changed.

I am/was a slim T2D and although my BG and weight dropped, my LDL cholesterol increased quite a lot while my HDL almost doubled and my triglycerides almost halved. This put me close to the borderline on the Low Carb 'Hyper-responders' studied by Dave Feldman et al. The Lipid energy Model postulates that this reaction to low carb means that my LDL is primarily composed of the 'light fluffy' LDL which is not a cardiovascular risk.
It also suggests that I could lower my LDL (should I wish to - and I don't) by eating more carbs. I'm unclear as to whether this is approx 100gms per day, or an additional 100 gms per day.

 

[Angela64]

So my cholesterol has always hovered between 4 & 4.5 and although GP has mentioned statins, I’ve always declined as thought I was on enough meds!
I’ve just had my recent blood tests and HBA1C has increased from 50 to 53 and my cholesterol has increased from the 4.5 up to 6.9 and GP wants to put me on statins. I’ve wrangle a 6 mth stay to try and get it back down but the only recent change in my diet has been eating LC and including more dairy and fatty cuts of meat in my diet.
Just wondered if anyone else had this problem with LC diets?
Thanks

Mine went up too, I will not have statins, end of. You may find that your good cholesterol level go’s up, this is the only reason my nurse is not persuing me to go on statins. She knows I won’t anyway.

 

[Sadsac@21]

I’ve just had my blood results back from my first annual review. Feeling chuffed with myself hba1c down from 114 to 49, however my cholesterol is now up to 4.8. Is this normal? Following a low carb diet, lost a stone in weight and working out every day for at least 39 minutes. My HDL cholesterol has gone up slightly and my LDL cholesterol is down slightly.
I have to see the nurse in two weeks to go over blood results but I know now that they are going to push statins on me. I have refused everything so far.

 

[KennyA]

I'd have a look at the references in my post further up the thread. These show (amongst other things) that mortality increases at the lower cholesterol levels which are still being currently recommended.

For example, from the Korean study: The TC [total cholesterol] range associated with the lowest mortality was 210–249 mg/dL (5.4- 6.4mmol/l).

 

[MrsA2]

Total cholesterol is meaningless. Look at the hdl and ldl. High hdl is thought to be good.

 

[Resurgam]

When I have a face to face meeting with my GP - something which doesn't happed all that often, I am usually asked about taking a statin.
I recount my experience of asking them and Metformin, and I ask for the numbers - what is the reduction in mortality in those taking statins. I would have thought that it would be something sent out to back up the push to take statins. So far I have never got an answer, which rather answers the question I do not ask as well....

 

[Outlier]

Total cholesterol is meaningless. Look at the hdl and ldl. High hdl is thought to be good.

Having had the HDL, LDL and Triglycerides breakdown in each of my previous tests, I note with the latest one I have only been given a figure for "total cholesterol".

Cynical, Moi?

 

[Taighnamona]

Yeah, it's slow going sometimes... Always a kick in the head, when it seems to go at lightspeed for others, and you're just plodding along. Believe me, there's a lot of plodders out there. (I am currently one, too!)

M

So my cholesterol has always hovered between 4 & 4.5 and although GP has mentioned statins, I’ve always declined as thought I was on enough meds!
I’ve just had my recent blood tests and HBA1C has increased from 50 to 53 and my cholesterol has increased from the 4.5 up to 6.9 and GP wants to put me on statins. I’ve wrangle a 6 mth stay to try and get it back down but the only recent change in my diet has been eating LC and including more dairy and fatty cuts of meat in my diet.
Just wondered if anyone else had this problem with LC diets?
ThanksB

 

[Taighnamona]

My bloods came back today and very happy with the A1c down from 41 to 39. (Since April)
On low carb diet with low dose basal insulin.

But cholesterol has almost doubled.
Gone from 3.6 to 6.5

HDL 1.67 prev 1.4
LDL 4.3 prev 1.8
Trig 1.1 prev 1.0

I am losing weight so not sure if it’s circulating fat or something I need to look into.