What does a cholesterol level of 5.5 mean?

Question

I've just had a blood test done and my GP has told me that my cholesterol is 5.5 and that I appear to have elevated levels of triglycerides. I'd like some information on what this means, if anyone can help.
Thanks.
David.

Answer 1

Davie,

You must be British. Hope you don't mind a word from a colonial.

Britain apparently has a way of measuring cholesterol that is different from ours. We use mg/dl, you apparently use mmol/L. Either way one measures it, your cholesterol is a little high. It is high normal, certainly, but all that means is that it is on the high end of what some government bunch has decided is as good as people generally are going to do. We can and must get our cholesterol levels down further than that, because even with the levels the government recommends, heart disease still progresses. The cause of the disease has not been addressed by following these guidelines, and it almost always does not take medication to do better.

The prescription is simple. Not easy, but simple. Eat less, eat right, and exercise a lot more.

Now, your numbers mean that at the moment your liver is producing more cholesterol than you need. You don't need much for your hormone production, fat digestion, cell membrane support, and other important functions cholesterol provides. Your liver will do this if you

Eat too much fat
Eat too much sugar
Eat too much

Your triglycerides are related to this. Triglycerides are the form of fat usually stored by the body in our adipose tissue (fat cells), and, believe it or not, excess sugar--or any simple carbohydrate--will stimulate teh liver to convert it into triglycerides, which are as hard or even harder on our arteries than is cholesterol.

You probably already have heart disease. Back during the 1960s and early '70s, doctors working on army soldiers wounded in battle noticed that most of them had quite discernable fatty streaks in their arteries. These men were 19 and 20 years old, and already had detectable heart disease. Since then we have found that in the West, with our high-fat diet and low activity levels, we can find heart disease starting in children as young as eight. Even a couple of times in children of five years old.

The western diet, which is becoming a global diet, as is obesity, is atherogenic, it causes heart disease. that needs to change if heart disease is to change.

Here in the States a few years back four popular diets were studied simultaneously: Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and I think the last one was South Beach. All were equally successful in the short term for losing weight.

We do not need a short term answer, though. That would be like trying to run a marathon with a series of 100-meter sprints. We need a lifestyle change. Most of us in the West do.

The one diet that stood out more than the others was the Ornish diet, the vegetarian, low-fat, high-complex carbohydrate diet.

Interestingly, in the short term, it actually raised triglyceride levels, but within thee months it had started lowering triglycerides until, by the end of a year its triglycerides were the lowest of the four diets by 25%. Its cholesterol levels had fallen more than the others, too.

It's major drawback was its patient compliance. It and the Atkins diet had the highest dropout rate: 50%. But for those who stayed the course, they reaped the greatest benefits.

I started the Ornish Diet even before that study started. My doctor wanted me to lower my cholesterol, so I decided to follow Dean Ornish's advice since he had empirical studies on his side: he'd actually had patients reverse their heart disease by following his plan. No, really--reverse it.

Well, my cholesterol numbers started to drop. By one year my doctor was so pleased that he refused to test my cholesterol levels for another three years. A bit more than that went by, and this year he tested mine again, and they had dropped even further, and my triglycerides are down to about a third of what is considered the safe maximum. In our terms, safe max is 160, mine tested at 60. The tests reported that I am at a "low risk" for heart disease.

There's another doctor who independently has corroborated Dr. Dean Ornish's findings, a Dr Caldwell Esselstyn, who advocates the very same diet.

A similar diet, though it includes plant sterols and almonds, is the Portfolio Diet (from the University of Toronto, so maybe one from the Commonwealt is safer for you than one from us?), and it, too, has been shown to lower cholesterol numbers quite significantly.

So first, change your diet to a low-fat vegetarian one. Don't recoil from that just yet. Think first--where has your present diet got you? It has to change, right? To what? Something different.

Then try something different. I did, and I'm much healthier for it. Get Dean Ornish's book, 'Everyday cooking with Dr. Dean Ornish,' because his earlier books were too gourmet-style for most of us.

Cut out cheese and oils. On the Net look for no-oil pastry recipes, low-fat vegetarian recipes (especially ones that have been tested and attested to. I have made several that weren't worth the time), and get into this with both feet.

At first you'll miss some of the food you used to eat. For a bit I regretted donuts and steak, but slowly--actually, not so slowly--I lost the appetite for them. By three months I was used to my present diet and quite happy with it, and I've been on it for years. A no-fat scone can be as good as an artery-clogger from Cinnabon. You'll get used to it, then you'll enjoy it.

And exercise. This is so important if you want to drop your triglycerides and raise your HDL cholesterol (which you do). Buy some good running shoes, probably costing around 55 pounds. Here they are about $100. You'll need good shoes to prevent sports-type injuries which are surprisingly easy to sustain. Start with a brisk walk. Do that for a few weeks. Then make it faster, with equal jogging and running. After a couple of weeks of that, start slow jogging the whole distance. Slowly (always slowly) increase either distance or speed, never both at the same time, and never more than 10% over last week's distance or speed.

Eventually get up to running for at least 30 minutes (they still have minutes in Britain?) a day. Then you can go farther or longer if you want. You will raise your HDL numbers a lot, and drop your LDL and triglycerides (the villains in this piece) quite a satisfying bit.

Oh, and eat less, too. What would you like your weight to be? Take that weight in pounds (sorry about that: 2.2 pounds per kilogram, 14 pounds per stone) and multiply it by ten, and that's the number of calories you should be eating. It'll be less than you'd like, probably, but your point can no longer be comfort but health. You will be uncomfortable for a bit until you get used to it, but you will get used to it.

After you eat and exercise, there is one more thing you can do to help. You have to be careful with this because it can cause liver irritation if you do too much of it, but it will help if you do it right:

take 35-50 mg of Nicotinic Acid. Nicotinic Acid is a form of Vitamin B3, Niacin, that will lower LDL and raise HDL cholesterol. This amount won't do it much, but it will do it perceptibly, and it is worth it. In large doses it causes an itchy flush of the skin and can harm your liver, so keep your doses down to where you can just feel the flush start but it is no more than barely noticable. Your liver will be happy and your cholesterol levels will drop even further.

that will make your doctor very happy, and your heart will thank you, too.

Answer 2

Whaattt??? Your sugar is NOT normal, it's a LITTLE high. Fasting sugars should be below 100. You can't diagnose diabetes on fasting sugars alone when they're that high, though. I'd suggest either getting a meter and testing after meals, or asking your doc for more tests (A1c or Glucose Tolerance Test). Your cholesterol isn't bad. Your LDL is a little high (bad cholesterol) and should be below 100.. or 120, I can't recall the exact number. Your triglycerides are a little high, but not overly so. Your HDL is fantastic. (Over 50 is great) High blood sugar levels and high cholesterol usually indicate an increased amount of insulin in the blood, which could mean insulin resistance -- you could be on the way to T2. You didn't mention your height, so I don't know whether 170 is overweight for you or not. Start eating whole, natural foods (lower-carb puts less stress on the pancreas, and can decrease cholesterol). Get a little exercise (if you don't already). It's possible you could need meds at some point, but it's also very possible that you won't. It's really hard to tell without the A1c or GTT. Good luck to you. Edit: I should have read the rest of the Doc's post -- he's right about the Trigs and Cholesterol Ratio, except I think 1:4 is pretty bad.. I've always heard 1:3 or better -- take a google at it. 104 is still a little high for fasting sugars though.

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Answer 3

1

Answer 4

Cholesterol Levels 5.5

Answer 5

Natural Cholesterol Guide?

Answer 6

"The amount of cholesterol present in the blood can range from 3.6 to 7.8 mmol/litre. A level above 6 mmol/litre is regarded as high, and is a risk factor for arterial disease. Government advice recommends a target cholesterol level of under 5, but on average men in England have a level of 5.5, and women a level of 5.6"

you have an average cholesterol level but ideally it could be lower!!

Answer 7

Cholesterol 5.5

Answer 8

The most natural and healthy diet for humans is an omnivorous diet, and not a plant based diet, or a meat-based diet per se. The Paleo Diet can be very widely varied and omnivorous for the most part, but the most important thing is that it’s unprocessed, and avoids the worst foods that agriculture brought mankind… refined inflammatory vegetable oils, refined grains (some are worse than others), and sugar! Learn here https://tr.im/XlXVC

As you can see, the benefits of adopting a Paleo way of eating can be incredible! I’ve been eating 95% Paleo for the last 5-6 years and I’ve never felt better. I have dozens of friends that have adopted a more Paleo way of eating too, and have seen all sorts of health problems disappear, including eliminating acne and other skin problems, digestion problems, improving brain clarity, and of course, losing a lot of body fat!

Answer 9

I saw you got your answer. See this page and home page for a diet that can bring your levels down. This page explains a better way to measure cholesterol according to Dr Barry Sears, author of the Zone.

http://www.phifoundation.org/angina.html

Answer 10

Its high....normal should be under 2. elevated triglycerides means you have lots of not unhealth food too. Unless its inherited, my advice is control your diet and do more regular exercise (exercise can bring up your good cholesterol too, HDL) and o for blood test 3 months later and compare the results w the previous one.
Medication for cholesterol are for long term (for life)..try to ocontrol ur diet first...thats the best

Answer 11

5.5 is only marginally higher than the 5.0 that's often quoted as the ideal maximum. I'm not medically qualified but I wouldn't think you have much to worry about.
Doc may put you on a "Statin" to lower it but there is talk about simply being able to buy them over the counter at your local chemist.