Prediabetes What About Cholestrol.

[Wilber123]

Morning all.
I’m newly diagnosed prediabetic with a very strong family history of Diabetes.
Knowing a small amount about this condition I’m wondering about Cholestrol.
Will the low carb 50g carbs ish diet high fat
Alter my Cholestrol. I’m already on statins and last blood test was 4.4 two weeks ago. Don’t want to over do the fat
Many thanks.

 

[Guzzler]

LCHF may skew your values temporarily. It is interesting that just 15% of the total of your bodys cholesterol is dictated by diet. This means that diet does not affect levels to a great extent as cholesterol is made in the liver and even if you were to cut every scrap of cholesterol from your diet (pretty impossible as even plants contain some sterols) the liver would make up the shortfall. Cholesterol, therefore is so important that the human body does not leave it to chance by making it diet dependant.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Your total cholesterol is fairly meaningless on its own. You need to look at the breakdown (HDL/LDL/Triglycerides). The total is just a total of all these, some of which are good and some not so good. So when you say your cholesterol is 4.4 you need to know what it is made up of , and the ratios between them, before deciding on what to do about it, and indeed, whether to take statins.

Some people on low carb/high fat see a good improvement in their breakdown despite all the extra fat. I certainly did. Carbs are known to decrease the HDL, which is the good cholesterol, so cutting those down should increase the HDL (which in turn will raise the total!) People also find their triglycerides improve (these are the baddies) and some people find their LDL increases slightly. It varies from person to person, test to test.

Cholesterol is a bit like blood glucose - it changes all the time as it is made made by the liver according to how much is needed at the time. It is always a good idea to fast before a cholesterol test that includes triglycerides otherwise the levels may be elevated. (not everyone gets a triglyceride test, some people have to ask for one, but if statins are an issue, then you need one)

There are literally hundreds of threads about cholesterol if you use the search box.

 

[Mbaker]

Hi @Wilber123. The LCHF lifestyle will most likely have an impact on cholesterol, it can be confusing, as for decades we have had it drummed into us that fat is bad. Cholestorol is made of LDL, HDL and Triglycerides. The statins and low fat diets work on lowering LDL whereas LCHF works on HDL, Triglycerides and for around two thirds improves LDL.

The LDL number is not broken down to see if these are large or small particles which can be the important aspect. Large is what is desired. Considering cholesterol is in every cell in our body, I am in the camp that we should tread carefully, as this is vital for cognition, reproduction and many more functions.

The LCHF protagonists believe in general that the Triglyceride to HDL ratio is more important to heart health than LDL scores (perhaps baring familial hypercholesterolaemia affected persons (these persons have a family history of extremely high LDL)). For absolute definitive answers as to heart health risk a CAC test can be taken which is the gold standard, as it sees the disease rather than best guess (which the other protocols do).

If you are a reader than you can get full answers to this conundrum in the brilliant work of Nina Teicholz's "The Big Fat Surprise" - this has driven a coach and horses through in my view the abysmal death promoting hypothesis which has driven "our" beliefs and food choices; women in particular react more negatively to lowering cholesterol than men. Ivor Cummins (The Fat Emporer) is also worth reviewing on YouTube - a brilliant engineer who has looked at this issue from a advanced problem solving angle, I think this is some of the best work out there. Zoe Harcombe has a compelling view also. Lastly Dave Fieldman (http://cholesterolcode.com/) has made a mockery of cholesterol numbers by demonstrating how a set of tests can be manipulated in 3 days to for example gain a favourable insurance premium.

The other aspect to note is that if you loose weight then cholesterol numbers will be all over the place as the fat shows in the blood as well.

 

[catinahat]

This is worth a read http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/01/19/why-women-should-stop-their-cholesterol-lowering-medication/

 

[Wilber123]

Wow thanks guys.
Will do a search and read.
Thanks.

 

[Resurgam]

The bile from your gall bladder contains cholesterol, so eating a diet with fat in it can help to prevent gall stones forming, and over time reduces cholesterol - but if you are losing weight then more is made as the cholesterol in the blood is involved in moving fat around the body.
You might have familial hyper-cholesterol problems and so react more to eating fats - but it could just be a family tendency to eat more carbs than you can cope with, with a bit of luck.

 

[bulkbiker]

Morning all.
I’m newly diagnosed prediabetic with a very strong family history of Diabetes.
Knowing a small amount about this condition I’m wondering about Cholestrol.
Will the low carb 50g carbs ish diet high fat
Alter my Cholestrol. I’m already on statins and last blood test was 4.4 two weeks ago. Don’t want to over do the fat
Many thanks.

First thing you need to decide might be is raised cholesterol necessarily a bad thing. Once have made that decision then your course of action will follow. In my train of thought statins will never be in my body.