• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Safe cholesterol level?

Knapweed said:
I have to agree with misterdj, I personally believe there are too many myths surrounding cholesterol as it is a very necessary item in our body's daily functioning.
Have a good read on the subject and make up your own mind.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Some say that while keeping it under 5 should be OK whilst other say 4. My aunt usually goes with the first number soI think you should be OK with 4.7. Whatever it might be, try using some cholesterol diet to reduce it and drink plenty of water and exercise as much as you can! You can also find more information here: http://loweringcholesterolguide.com/
 
Hi there,

All I can say is that your level is great! As both a T2 and a medical person, I am happy with any level that comes in under 5.2! The danger factor with cholestrol is Triglycerides. Keep those under 1.7 and you are A1 OK. If Blood pressure is good and HbA1c is good then stop worrying and eat the Cheese. The body makes most of your cholestrol and its vital for cell nutrition and function. Be blessed!


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
saw my dn yesterday & said my choleserol was 8.1
& wants it down to 4. been put on simvastatin one every night but when is best time to take just after tea or nearly bed time.
thanks in advance for any advice
 
destiny0321 said:
saw my dn yesterday & said my choleserol was 8.1
& wants it down to 4. been put on simvastatin one every night but when is best time to take just after tea or nearly bed time.
thanks in advance for any advice
Click to expand...


The patient leaflet that comes with the drug should tell you when to take it, the following from the BHF suggests just before bed is the best time:

http://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/trea ... atins.aspx
 
Ian,

It depends on what outcome you are looking for; it would seem that the ideal male level for all cause mortality and heart disease is about 5.6 mmol/l - have a look at these graphs from Kendrick's blog.

http://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2012/09/25 ... ern-reply/

Don't forget thought that your cholesterol levels are mainly unaffected by what you eat; it's your liver that controls the cholesterol levels in your blood. Triglycerides however will come down markedly if you stop eating starchy carbs.

What is particularly interesting about that link is that if you are a woman then your all cause mortality will increase the lower your cholesterol levels are! Still think that it's a good idea for women to pop statins?

Best

Dillinger
 
I don't think that anyone wants to 'pop' pills. I also doubt very much that the NHS or other National Health care schemes wants to prescribe drugs without good reason.
The Swedish study was of women who were without any existing CVD , this isn't the case for many people with diabetes, particularly those of us who are older. I also note that though we know the cholesterol level at the start of the period, nowhere can I find any mention of how many of the subjects with high cholesterol levels took statins/treatment during the intervening period. This seems to be a very large potential confounder; I would have thought that people with very high levels would be likely to have been prescribed medication given the cholesterol programme described by the authors ( I may have missed it edit: they do actually mention it as a potential confounder, they had no knowledge of the medications taken by the participants but state that they don't think that it would have been a significant number during this period ie 1995 onwards ? )

The very recent Canadian diabetes guidelines have lowered the age at which they say that all diabetics should be on statins to 40. I'm not sure I agree with this, I think all risk factors need to be taken into account . It's interesting though to read the evidence .
Their primary evidence was from the reduction in cardio vascular events in two major studies of people with diabetes. These studies both included women. Both studies were from the UK . The MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study was the first to provide info from larger populations of women and people with diabetes. The second (CARDS) focused specifically on the role of a statin in patients age 40 to 75 with type 2 diabetes, without cardiovascular disease and with average or below average cholesterol levels. (half took atorvastatin, half took a placebo)
The first link is to the description of the reasons for their decision and summary of the evidence in the Canadian guidelines
http://guidelines.diabetes.ca/Browse/Chapter22
The second is to a more general link which also describes the CARDS evidence for the use of statins for women with diabetes.
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/dis ... sease.aspx

As all these big trials have some input from the pharmaceutical industries and I know people may like to be aware of the funding sources of the trials.
CARDS was funded by Diabetes UK, the UK Department of Health, Pfizer UK and Pfizer Inc.
The Heart Protection Study 'funding of 21 million GBP (US $32 million) was provided by the UK's Medical Research Council (MRC), the British Heart Foundation (BHF), and the pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co. Inc. and Roche Vitamins Ltd. The study was, however, designed, conducted and analysed entirely independently of all funding sources by the Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU) of Oxford University quoted from http://www.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/~hps/pr.shtml
 
My last chol reading was 5.2 and my Dr was well pleased with it.

I am hoping I can shave another few digits off my latest Hba1c of 41 with a bit more weight loss.
 
Vern said:
As both a T2 and a medical person, I am happy with any level that comes in under 5.2! The danger factor with cholestrol is Triglycerides.
Click to expand...

These are liver synthesised fats. The only thing they really have in common with cholesterol is that the liver puts both into VLDL. High levels of such fats would tend to imply a lack of dietary fats, which are delivered by chylomicrons. (Quite a bit of the cholesterol in chylomicrons is also liver synthesised in origin rather than dietary.) Possibly also too much dietary carbohydrate, since the liver converts excess sugars into fats.

Also calling (any) sterols "fats" is not really accurate, whilst both are "lipids", they are very different chemically. The term "lipid" applying to a rather mixed bag of organic compounds. Fats specifically being 3 fatty acids attached to propan-1,2,3-triol (glycerine). A mono or di-glyceride is not a "fat". Nor is a cholesterol ester of a fatty acid or nor an ester of a fatty acid & fatty alcohol (a "wax"). In chemical terms "fatty" implies a long (unbranched) chain mono carboxylic (or alcohol). Cholesterol being a "sterol" or "steroid alcohol", which have the distinct feature of 4 linked cycloalkane rings.
 
This explains best. All the fuss about cholesterol is just an excuse to sell drugs.
Dr. Ron Rosedale, MD, who is recognized as a leader in the science of anti aging says that cholesterol is a vital component of every cell membrane for every living being. This tells us that cholesterol is not bad, but it's actually very useful. Without cholesterol you would no longer exist. The fact that the liver can use cholesterol again shows the importance of cholesterol. It's no secret that lowering cholesterol too much increases our risk to die. Without cholesterol your body would not be able to produce hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, cortisone, and many other vital hormones. Yet another example of how cholesterol is important, is the task of the HDL cholesterol, to pick up cholesterol from the tissues and arteries and transport it back to the liver. If the cholesterol was harmful to the organism your body would try to get rid of it immediately and not return it to the liver. As far as normal cholesterol levels go, here are the recommneded values
For EU:
Normal cholesterol level is anything under 5 mmol/l.
Normal HDL cholesterol level is anything above 1,1 mmol/l.
Normal LDL cholesterol level is anything below 3 mmol/l.
For US:
Normal cholesterol level is anything under 200 mg/dl.
Normal HDL cholesterol level is anything above 40 mg/dl.
Normal LDL cholesterol level is anything below 100 mg/dl.

Recommended target blood fat levels are:
total cholesterol: less than 5 mmol/l (200 mg/dl) for men, same goes for women. For patients with cardiovascular disease or diabetes: less than 4 mmol/l (154 mg/dl)
LDL cholesterol: for men less than 3 mmol/l (116 mg/dl); same goes for women. For patients with cardiovascular disease or diabetes: less than 2 mmol/l (77 mg/dl).
Triglycerides: for men less than 1.7 mmol/l (150 mg/dl); same for women. Patients with cardiovascular disease or diabetes: less than 1.7 mmol/l (150 mg/dl).
HDL cholesterol: men - more than 1.1 mmol/l (97 mg/dl); for women more than 1.3 mmol/l (115 mg/dl). Patients with cardiovascular disease or diabetes: more than 1.1 or 1.3 mmol/l (97 or 115 mg/dl).
Hope this helps.
 
Hi

Just got my results for Cholesterol yesterday 9.2 Dr cannot understand how it can be that high when i am taking Pravastatin, i had to ask him to update his systems as i have not taken Cholesterol medication for the last 2 years due to having severe muscle pains

Stillo
 
Andy12345 said:
this is all very frustrating when you want to do what is best, so much conflicting stuff here
Click to expand...

Hi Andy !

All as I can say is that if you feel good,your weighing scales say you are good,your blood pressure is good,your BG's are good and your lab results are good then there's a 99% chance that you ARE good ! :thumbup:

Best

Paul
 
hi mate, i restarted statin because of CKD i read it increases chance of heart attack by x10 and all CKD people should take them, i get no side effects from them so i eat them, but reading this i just dont know what to do


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
It's funny they chop and change their mind about everything we all take, just don't let it worry you. Keep smiling ☺
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…