I got my friend on Atkin's and she's been very happy and has lost a lot of weight. She went to the doctor and her cholesterol is:

total - 256
bad - 153
good - 95
tryglicerides - 45

Her doctor wants her to take medication. What do you think? My total cholesterol is about 230 and my HDLs are 80 and I think I'm OK. I've never heard of HDLs that high.

Well not knowing any family history, medical history, or how much weight the individual has lost, how long the individual has been on the program, what the baseline starting numbers were, it would be very difficult to give you any type of answer.


FYI--my HDLs are 93

Progress not perfection.

Lisa

LDL is not "bad" cholesterol. It depends on the size of the particles. You want large fluffy LDL particles and not small, dense ones. She should get a VAP test to measure the size of the particles.

Triglycerides are what matter, as they correlate to heart disease. They are only raised by carbs, so the lower the carbs, the lower the risks.

Yes, her triglycerides are so low that the LDL is actually lighter in density. It is a healthier LDL or should we say that low triglycerides causes the LDL to become "good" cholesterol. I would wager that if she were tested for heart disease the tests would come back negative.I will try and post a link to make that a tad more understandable.Me personally, I think that her HDL is especially wonderful. I think taking statins would be a mistake.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/...rb-litesort-of/

this was written in 2007
We have assessed the impact of statin use on women starting from the assumption that if a woman is put on a drug for the rest of her life, the reasons for doing so must be based on the highest quality, most credible data possible.

There must be solid evidence of advantage over harm and careful analysis of any serious adverse outcomes that may arise immediately or with years or decades of use or when used in conjunction with other drugs commonly prescribed for women.

In other words, a Canadian woman should be able to take a pill, safe in the knowledge that its benefits and safety were tested on women like her.

She should embark on long-term commitment to a drug therapy with the understanding that she is highly likely to derive a clear advantage in terms of health and longevity and also feel confident that information about any risks will be explained to her in meaningful and accessible language.

Instead we have found a pattern of overestimation of benefit and underestimation of harm. Below are recommendations that address strategies to remedy the situation.

Since that was written the evidence that Statins do more harm than good has increased and the evidence on which the saturated fat theory was based has been shown to be biased and frankly wrong.

Barry Groves on Heart Disease

Women and Statins I would not want anyone I loved to be taking statins.

Does she have to get the VAP test before she starts taking Lipitor? Would a doctor take any result on that test as evidence that she should not do Lipitor?

In the UK VAP are not generally done prior to prescribing statins.

Statins for the prevention of cardiovascular events

I have very little confidence most UK doctors understand the importance of particle size in cholesterol measurements.

You can have low triglycerides and bad LDL pattern. Dr. Davis had a patient like that he posted about. However, if you're eating low carb it's unlikely the LDL will be bad.

What does VAP stand for?

vertical auto profile test.

I thought the test i took to break down my cholesterol was called something else.

There's another good cholesterol test called NMR. Other than that they're usually just the standard, cheap, calculated cholesterol tests.

My LDL is 136 but my VLDL is in the teens and CRP is practically nonexistent. High Fat is where it's at!