These are my dads numbers...
Hes 48 years old

Total Cholesterol: 244
Triglycerides: 95.6
HDL Cholesterol: 56
LDL Cholesterol: 169.3
Total Cholesterol/HDL Ratio: 4.4


Doctor wants him to go on meds for cholesterol... Mainly his high LDL. What do you guys think... is it warranted?

Side Notes:

1) His numbers were much worse 2 years ago and he refused to go on meds. Said he'll make lifestyle changes...Hes made a number of changes in diet and they've improved his numbers a decent amount (Trig's went down, HDL went up a bit, and LDL went down a bit).

2) Hes a smoker and doesnt get much exercise. Hes definitely not over weight. The major thing to change in my opinion is the smoking and exercise.

3) He did a stress test a few months ago. Results were normal


Thanks

No, absolutely not. You can read the articles I've collected in the link in my signature to find out why.

A low carb diet and quitting the smokes will do far more for him than any statin.

Thank you Nancy... I've echoed the same to him.
In your opinion, is there ever a time someone should use statins? I'm trying to see if his particular situation is particularly bad or not.

Your father's lipid profile isn't horrible. His triglyceride/HDL ratio is 1.7, which is quite good. A good TG/HDL ratio is typically indicative of LDLs that are of a safe type (Pattern Type A.)

Total cholesterol is a terrible marker for cardiovascular health - the connection between total chol. and CV health is so weak. And, a level of 244 is pretty darned normal. The contrived "recommended levels" for total chol. comes from years of lowering the recommendation, which hasn't done anything to improve heart disease rates, but it's done a fantastic job of suddenly making perfectly healthy people into "heart patients" who supposedly "need" to be on dangerous drugs.

A low carb/high fat diet can help ensure lower triglycerides, higher HDLs and LDLs of the safe pattern (type A.) It also helps lower systemic inflammation, which is implicated in the arterial damage involved in cardiovascular disease.

Personally, I would never take statins. But that's just me, some random person on the internet. I am willing to make other changes in my lifestyle to keep my heart healthy. If a person is not willing to make those changes, statins may be an option, I honestly don't know as I've never really looked at them for who they could help, I've mostly seen the poison part of them. I would do long, hard research before starting anything like that. I keep seeing that anti lipitor cartoon on youtube, and I think so many doctors are like that. They even think they're doing the right thing, not realizing their basic research is flawed.