[Closed] High Cholesterol

Check parents too. Mine was genetics.

Go WFPB (whole foods, plant-based) - cholesterol is only found in animal products, so that will help lower your levels.

Yep mines genetic based also, hypo familial cholestemia or similar.. On horse pill atorvastatins until end of days.

Has anyone had good experiences with adding particular foods to their diet to lower their cholesterol?

I thought the idea was to remove foods which were high in (bad) cholesterol.

Yes - Brazil nuts.

The only thing that actually changed mine from a dietary point of view.

Mine was about 8 on the Richter scale. Pure genetics and now a lifetime of statins.

I thought the idea was to remove foods which were high in (bad) cholesterol.

Can only do that if you are already consuming foods high in bad cholesterol. Mines probably high due to genetics so not caused by a poor diet.

Food with plant sterols has been shown to lower cholesterol. Stuff like Benecol bars/yogurt.

Yeah. Knocked off 2ish overall by massively reducing all meat, more oats, more pulses, plant stanol spreads, minimal dairy, more soy . Also pretty much knocked beer on the head and limit booze to a bit of red wine.

You would have been given a little diet book on reducing cholesterol. Do all of that.

I wasn't overweight either but am a stone lighter now.

From my reading and personal experience genetic bad luck is a massive role in high cholesterol. Fat/cholesterol in the diet, not so much, as your liver produces the cholesterol you need anyway, and your body does need it for repair and various functions.

There's plenty of talk from actual cardiologists and other biological scientists, not just internet quacks,that cholesterol in itself is not the problem. It's what it does to repair damage in arteries etc that's the problem, and that damage is actually caused by high blood sugar and insulin issues. So reducing the sugar in your diet will do much more to reduce cholesterol blood levels than reducing fat in your diet by reducing the damage in the first place so that your body doesn't need to produce so much for repair.

Removing sugar in all its forms from your diet will be much better for you than removing fat, especially as certain fats are essential in our diet, sugar isn't what so ever.

The average crappy diet with both high fat and high sugar is literally a recipe for disaster.

Wasn't given a book as it was a blood test for something else. Cholesterol was a bit of a surprise. More plant foods sounds a good option. I did drink more alcohol last year and cut right down now. I don't have a stone to lose so can't do much there.

I think the diet affects cholesterol much is about 10-15%.

You're stuck with it more or less.

My Drs say not to worry.

I have high familial cholesterol. Statins now for life.

I had high cholesterol: total of 6.2 with LDL (bad cholesterol) of 4.34. I've been eating a WFPB diet for the past 4 years in an effort to lower it. However...

Two heart attacks and a stent later I've been diagnosed with 'Polygenic Hypercholesterolaemia' i.e. genetics/dealt a sh*tty hand of cards at birth.

I'm on statins from here on out and it lowered my total cholesterol to 2.2 and LDL to 1.2, which is a miraculous drop!

mine is high and probably genetic, havent had it checked in a while but i suspect a year of lockdown self medication hasn't helped.

Mine was nearly 8 and I expected to be prescribed statins, but the diet change results have meant the Drs want me to continue with diet only. Maybe a bit more might come off? Don't know. The drop was over 6months so I will get another test at 12months or so.

Whole video, but from about 50:40 in for cholesterol

Can only do that if you are already consuming foods high in bad cholesterol. Mines probably high due to genetics so not caused by a poor diet.

Assuming that's the case then why bother? The stats you get fed by the GP are not for you.
My mum got told she had X% chance of dying from it in the next 10 years if she didn't drop her cholesterol ... the GP couldn't tell her what her chance of not dying was if she hadn't but given her age and not having private (Royal family) medical it's nearly 100% anyway...

Secondly .. I had triglycerides so high they couldn't seperate the LDL/HDL. I had a healthy diet but instead ate a very unhealthy diet for a month by which time I was in the right zone. Sadly eating rabbit food for a month didn't do much for my B12 ... (or will to continue living either - I had no will/energy for exercise that I rely on for both my physical and mental well being).

I decided to sod it and I'm still here and at least able to do the things I enjoy. I have no idea what my cholesterol is... nor do I care as I feel healthy and if I drop dead tomorrow at least I'll do so happy.

Well, it seems I can join the list too!

Total 8.5 (!), LDL 6.26, HDL 7.35.

I'm 42, bit overweight, otherwise healthy other than sleep deprived (young kids). Blood pressure fine, resting heart rate low, exercise several times a week.

I think I'm already doing most of the diet stuff and barely drink anything. The only extra stuff I can think of is, eat some nuts, change to skimmed milk for porridge (or avoid milk?), cut out choc bars.

Is it worth trying that??
or just go straight to the statins??

The nurse seemed to think it was probably genetic and was pushing me towards starting statins straight away given high cholesterol for my age.

Blood cholesterol comes from consumption of sugars, this may be a genetic trait.
Eat less sugar add nuts to diet.
This may be total b****** i'm talking from experience not hearsay.

If it was me personally, I'd be trying everything other than statins before I'd even consider that route. It can be a slippery slope, and there are studies that show statins actually increase your risk of type 2 diabetes and provide very little primary protection for heart attacks and strokes. You say your diet is "good", but it depends what "good" you are including. There are lot of hidden sugars in so-called "healthy" foods nowadays (e.g. rice, brown bread) and as said somewhere above there is now becoming more of a recognition that CVD and cholesterol is more of a reaction to chronic inflammation caused by excess sugar consumption and/or insulin resistance than fat in your diet. My first reaction if my cholesterol was high (it's 6 total, LDL 3.5 which is not high IMO), would be to try a very low carb diet for a while and re-test.

There's some really interesting info on LCHF diet on the Public Health Collaboration YouTube channel, including this one:

I'm not a bit fan of statins unless they are really necessary. The evidence for long term health vs primary prevention is not great. I see so many patients nowadays on a ruck of medications, and it usually starts with statins.

This seems to be the opposite of what the nurse said and what's on the nhs website ( https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/high-cholesterol/how-to-lower-your-cholesterol/) - high cholesterol is mostly caused by saturated fats.

What's the reason for the difference?? I'm confused? This isn't just cherry picking research is it?

It appears to be solely genetics for me. My diet is identical to my wife's, except she has a lot more beer.
I'm on statins, whereas she was told after her annual 'MOT' that her cholesterol is unusually low.
If anyone wants to theorise about beer reducing cholesterol levels, you're welcome.

I had a sequence of testing for extremely high cholesterol, to the point where the specialists were considering a form of dialysis! Statins also mess up my liver values.
I stopped drinking and strong reduction on meat for 3 months, ended up with worse liver function and moderate cholesterol improvement. High values rated as genetic (Dad dead from HA at 41) but not sitting in a specific risk group. Went to work in Cz for 3 months where every veggie meal came with either a layer of cheese or bacon (!), work high stress but feeling good with the results. Next measurement was still very high but not super high and with a 2.5:1 ratio (from 6:1) so my doctor said there wasn't much she could do.
That was 15 years ago and I'm with stevextc, I enjoy a beer and sometimes a sausage sandwich after my 3hr Sunday ride. When I go, I go but I will have had some fun instead of constant worry.

Genetics is a huge part of hi cholesterol

Statins may be over prescribed but they are life savers without a doubt. Many less people have strokes now than 20 years ago. Statins are the key reason for this

I reduced my high cholesterol with a daily diet of red meat, red wine, beer, coffee and atorvastatin. I feel fine.

I think I'm going to go the statins route. My cholesterol seems way too high given my lifestyle, and I spoke to my mum and found out her brother and parents all had heart attacks quite young.

Side effects seem possible but unlikely and there's different varieties to try. A lot of the push back seems a little dubious to me, in a similar way to all the misinformed "vaccine hesitant" stuff.

I'm not really bothered what you do, it's your choice. I was just offering my opinion of what I would do personally if I had high cholesterol, based on some of the alternative approaches. Please don't call me "misinformed", I find it quite insulting. There's a lot of peer-reviewed research and highly regarded medical professionals who argue against the diet-heart hypothesis, it's just whether you choose to go down that route or prefer to take the meds. Like I said, I don't really care either way.

Like I said, I don’t really care either way.

You obviously do care otherwise you wouldn't have posted!

I care about being labelled "misinformed" which is why I posted.

Sorry, i wasn't referring to you in particular mulv1976

Thanks, and hope you get it sorted.

Yes – Brazil nuts.

The only thing that actually changed mine from a dietary point of view.

Out of curiosity, roughly how many nuts are we talking about here? Couple a day or a kilo?

My highest total cholesterol was10.7 with a poor ratio,lowest 4.5 with good ratio.I did it on a low carb diet,and lost weight too.A low carb diet is effectively a high fat diet,try it and see.Mind you,I still take horse doses of statins.

The cholesterol hypothesis is only an hypothesis.

https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/opinion/the-cholesterol-and-calorie-hypotheses-are-both-dead-it-is-time-to-focus-on-the-real-culprit-insulin-resistance

Out of curiosity, roughly how many nuts are we talking about here? Couple a day or a kilo?

Apparently 4 nuts is the sweet spot...