Test Results...

[kpb]

howdy to everyone, and hoping your thanksgiving/thursday was wonderful!

just have a quick question regarding triglycerides and HDL/LDL levels....

I received some lab results from a recent life insurance application process, and all is above par for health--almost surprisingly! But my triglycerides and cholesterol levels are kinda funky....For a relatively low BMI (which is an arbitrary figure, really) I have super high tris and lower HDL and higer LDL levels...with that said, however, I have a good ratio of LDL to HDL, so it kind of evens out....but I'm curious how this could be explained by the NT diet....high saturates, whole fat dairy, etc.....We've been slacking on the fermented veggies and I've been doing the coffee/chocolate thing (christmas goodies baking ), so I'm wondering if about a month's worth of that has greatly affected my levels....

any ideas?
any comparisons?

any help would be fantastic!

tia, and cheers to everyone

Kyara

[WildIris]

Can you post your actual test results with reference ranges, please?

Also, what vitamins and supplements do you take?

And what foods are you eating, say, in a typical week? How much alcohol do you drink? How much sugar and simple carbs?

[kpb]

hey, wildiris!
thanks for helping out--or at least attempting to

here are the numbers:

Cholesterol: 206, range 140-199 (mg/DL)
HDL Cholesterol: 61, range 35-100 (mg/DL)
LDL: 112, range 0-129 (mg/DL)
Cholesterol/HDL RATIO: 3.4, range below 5.0
LDL/HDL RATIO: 1.84, range 0.6-4.3
Triglycerides: 164, range 0-150 (mg/DL)

no vits (off the prenatals) but do take herbals here and there, for cold or if I'm feeling funky....turmeric is a biggie for me....

foods....really here and there, but try to balance them out in order to get the veggies, fruits, grains, legumes, and protein....but overall more protein than carbs....don't really drink any more--a stint with combining booze has kept me away for about 6 months....TONS of sugars, unfortunately, as it is my go-to happy-face-maker....I do go through phases, though, and I can go without it for months, and then solo on them for months...it's ugly. vicious. yuck.

but other simpe carbs, not so much....I don't dig snack foods, unless I make popcorn twice a year....mainly just loving sugary sweets.....

so let me know what you think........
thanks again :

[pampered_mom]

Well...here's my issue with your LDL numbers - they don't indicate what kind of LDL makes up the 112. There are two kinds of LDL cholesterol - the kind that is elevated by saturated fats which forms large fluffy particles and does not contribute to artheriosclerosis and the kind that began as VLDL and sourced in carbohydrates and then forms the small compact LDL and contributes to artheriosclerosis.

As to your triglicerides...high refined carbohydrate intake (in your case the sugars) can raise those levels as well. Being more diligent on cutting out the sugars (hard, I know) will likely have an impact on your levels.

I'd suggest checking out Gary Taube's book, "Good Calories, Bad Calories". He has a really good discussion on the cholesterol aspect w/refined carbohydrates. Fascinating really. A shorter discussion is found in his NYT article. Obviously you're not eating a low-fat diet, but I do think the sugar consumption is likely the main issue for you.

What this means is that even saturated fats -- a k a, the bad fats -- are not nearly as deleterious as you would think. True, they will elevate your bad cholesterol, but they will also elevate your good cholesterol.

By the late 60's, researchers had shown that high triglyceride levels were at least as common in heart-disease patients as high L.D.L. cholesterol, and that eating a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet would, for many people, raise their triglyceride levels, lower their H.D.L. levels and accentuate what Gerry Reaven, an endocrinologist at Stanford University, called Syndrome X.

Though researchers are hesitant to agree with this, it does suggest that heart-disease risk could actually be reduced when fat is added back into the diet and starches and refined carbohydrates are removed.