Anyone know about cholesterol levels?

[Ronni]

I'm confused about this, and I hope someone can help! My SIL got her cholesterol checked a while ago. She's not exactly a vegan, and she's certainly not the healthiest person in the world. She avoids as much fat as possible though. Anyway, her bad cholesterol is 40 and her good cholesterol is 80. Supposedly.

Anyway, out of curiosity, I got mine checked yesterday. I couldn't afford the same test she did (turns out, most insurances won't cover cholesterol tests unless your levels are high! How dumb is that???). So I didn't get my individual good and bad figures like she did, but the girl called today and said my cholesterol level is 134. I've been a vegan for 2 years now (lacto-ovo vegetarian for 7 years before going vegan) and I'm 26.

I know my level is in the good range, but don't you think it should be lower? Especially considering my SIL (who still eats some animal products) has a bad cholesterol of 40???

Thanks for any help you guys can give!

[feline01]

As far as I know, you cholesterol level is excellent. Anything above 200 is considered high though it used to be considered borderline high. I think the medical profession now recommends to be under 175 for total cholesterol. It helps alot to have the breakdown of LDL (bad cholesterol), HDL (good cholesterol), tri-glycerides and the ratio. You can't really compare your cholesterol results with your sister-in-law's since you don't have that information. HDL should be less than 40, LDL should be less than 100 and tri-glycerides should be less than 150 for optimal cholesterol.

Hope that helps.

Sue

[Erin Pavlina]

I know a lot about cholesterol since my mom had a heart attack at age 50... I was 18 at the time... and we all had our levels checked. Mine, at the time was 300. Today it is still 253 which bothers me, but my ratios have changed dramatically.

HDL should be higher than 35. 35 is average. Most vegans I know have HDLs that are in the 70+ range.

There are some people who have really low levels of cholesterol and that's not necessarily healthy either. Some say that's a predictor of cancer, but I don't know if that's true.

i also read somewhere that there are no recorded cases of heart attack in people whose total chol was below 150. So that's my goal!

[feline01]

I read about that too Erin, cholesterol levels below 150= no heart attack risk. I wish, I too have hereditary high cholesterol. My husband's dropped from 270+ to 160 once he went vegan. It might even be lower now, he's been munching on those almonds. I think he should be the medical poster boy for a vegan diet!!

Sue

[alexis]

I don't get it. I've been planning on going for a health check before my 18th birthday but thing is, I can never understand how to read the results of cholesterol tests. Does anyone have any idea???

[Casey]

Alexis – there are two different systems for measuring cholesterol levels – Americans use mg/dL and other countries that use Standard International units (like Canada, for example) express results in mmol/L. To convert one to the other you can use:
mmol/L multiplied by 38.7 = mg/dL
mg/dL divided by 38.7 = mmol/L

Here’s what I got from my doctor about understanding cholesterol levels:
Total cholesterol – normal is less than 200 mg/dL
HDL (“good”) – normal is 35 – 150 mg/dL
LDL (“bad”) – normal is 0 – 130 mg/dL

Here’s an article on cholesterol and triglyceride tests:
http://my.webmd.com/hw/cholesterol_management/hw207814.asp?lastselectedguid={5FE84E90-BC77-4056-A91C-9531713CA348}

Cholesterol levels aren’t just determined by what you eat – genetics (your body manufactures its own cholesterol) and physical activity play a role too – so maybe Ronni’s SIL is just genetically fortunate. Anyway Ronni, your total cholesterol level is perfectly healthy - knowing the HDL/LDL breakdown would be helpful, but something to keep in mind about HDL (“good” cholesterol) levels is that HDL’s function is to remove excess cholesterol from the bloodstream, so when there’s less to remove (since vegans don’t consume any dietary cholesterol) there’s less need for HDL. In other words, if you do find out your HDL and it’s not as high as you think it should be, it’s not necessarily a cause for alarm.

I’ve read that some researchers have associated low cholesterol levels with cancer, depression, stroke, etc – but I don’t know of any studies that have proven cause and effect. In fact, further investigation has found that cancer and liver disease cause low cholesterol, not the other way around. So I don’t think that having very low cholesterol is necessarily unhealthy, but if your cholesterol is 134 I don’t think you need to try to get it any lower either.

[PikkuMyy]

I can't find my test results but I remember that my HDL levels were low but the Dr. said that was normal since I'm vegan. And my LDL wasn't anywhere near high.

I think my total was something like 120.

Don't worry!

My insurance Co wouldn't pay for the tests either. Of course if I didn't get the tests and had a high cholesterol and later had a heart attack because of the cholesterol, they'd pay for the surgery and hospital stay.. Go figure!

Emily

[Jenica]

Yeah, our insurance system here seems to have it all backwards, especially given the likelihood of becoming very ill on the Standard American Diet.

However, if they'd just offer lower insurance premiums for vegans I'd be a-ok with them not covering preventative measures. :p

[Kelly]

I went to a health fair at the grocery store. They had a portable machine to measure cholesterol that said my cholesterol was too low for the machine to measure. It only recorded levels of 112 or higher.

I hope mine is not too low.

Kelly

[alexis]

I know I could check my cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels and whether I am in danger of having kidney failure all for twenty bucks at a health fair. But thing is, they take vials and vials of blood to check...*Shudder* I can't face the needles...

[tia]

There was some incorrect postings about cholesterol that I would love to address. HDL should be OVER 40 and is directly related to exercise and the eating of monosaturated fats like in olive oil, nuts, etc. It is not "normal" for HDL to be low b.c you are a vegan.

Too low of cholesterol is just as unhealthy as too high of cholesterol.

The ratio of your numbers is important, too. Some physicians see this as more important than individual lipid panel numbers.

I think it is important to have a doctor who really knows about veganism and cholesterol.

Cheers!

[annie7]

You can't really "compare" yourself to your SIL, because you have a different genetic blueprint. Genetics play a huge part in how bloodwork comes out, right along side diet, exercise, environment...etc. You can eat extremely healthy, exercise every day, and still have a high level due to family history. From what I understand, your levels are excellent. Also, there IS such thing as having levels too low. I don't know how low is too low, but your SIL may want to check that!

[frenchie]

I believe cholesterol has something to do with lifestyle.....but more to do with genetics. My stepfather has a cholesterol level of (drumroll) *637*....your eyes are not decieving you!!!! His LDL I believe is *1250*!!!!! The man is still walking...and very much alive. His body actually *produces* cholesterol. He's on a very strict diet now, but would never consider veganism. He enjoys eating meat and dairy, and would rather live the rest of his life enjoying the things he loves.......I don't blame him. He has cut back dramatically on the crap he used to eat, and enjoys vegetarian/vegan cuisine when I cook for him. He has come along way!! He has even researched alternative medicine so he wouldn't have to take Lipitor. His cholesterol has actually dropped with alternative medicine.....when he was taking the Lipitor, he had debilitating chest pain daily, and thought any minute he was gonna drop dead. As a result of all of this, my extremely overweight mom has started losing weight...by choice. The disappointing part though.....she's on that damned Atkins Diet...but has modified it to include more veggies...*sigh* *At least* she's being pro-active...even if I don't agree with how she's doing it.

[Ronni]

Hey, thanks everyone for all the replies (and, sorry I didn't get to it sooner!). I think I understand now. :)

Frenchie, wow, I never knew cholesterol could be so high!!! My husband's sister and her husband had theirs checked about a year or so ago; hers was in the 290's and his was in the upper 300's, and I thought those were high!!!

I too have heard that high cholesterol runs in families, and that's one reason I got mine checked. My mom's family has extremely high cholesterol, including her sister, who's been a vegetarian for over 30 years (but she eats eggs and LOTS of dairy). They're all on cholesteral lowering drugs. My uncle says it's no use to change your diet, because diet has nothing to do with it - it's all genetics. I beg to differ, since my cholesterol is so low. It's unfortunate that I never had this checked BEFORE I became a vegan, I would have loved to see the difference, as I'm sure there was one.

[Christa]

Originally posted by Ronni
My uncle says it's no use to change your diet, because diet has nothing to do with it - it's all genetics.

My dh & I were just having that conversation last night when we were watching TV. There is this commercial for one of the cholesterol drugs which basically has people doing everything right - eating well, exercising, etc. - & then goes on to show them having astronomically high cholesterol anyway. It says something like, 'when diet and exercise don't work...' then you take our medicine.

I am sure that there are some people for whom diet & exercise do not work, but I think that those commercials are a sneaky way of planting the idea in people's minds that there is no use in changing your lifestyle b/c you'll just need meds anyway.:mad: