I take a bunch of meds that kill my appetite. I'm basically in starvation mode (according to the dietician I saw about the cholesterol problem- it's 324; LDL is 218...). She told me it's because my liver is producing more cholesterol than I really need as a response to not eating. I eat probably one meal every 3-5 days, and have crackers or other mini-snacks a couple of times per day. It's weird. Anybody relate?

I have heard that rapid weight loss can result in higher cholesterol in the short term. It is a biproduct of the liver metabolizing your fat/muscle stores for energy, since the body is being denied proper nutrition.

I agree withy toddy,

You're living primarily on your stored bodyfat and thus your liver is metabolizing it like an extremelky high saturated fat diet. It should be a temporary thing.

I have to add, that kind of eating is not good for you (or your waistline) over the long term!

The research I've read also suggest that long-term food restriction or long-term very low-calorie/low-fat diets can lead to an increase in endogenous cholesterol production.

For example, people with anorexia are often found to have hypercholesterolemia, a condition reversible with adequate fat intake. Not all cases are this dramatic, but some time ago, I read a case study of a severely underweight woman whose total plasma cholesterol was over 700 mg/dl, most of which favoured all forms of "bad" cholesterol.

Improper nourishment will always wreck havoc on organ and cell functioning, as the body's important feedback loops become impaired, leading to a host of health complications.

Is it possible that the short fast requested for the Chol test could be doing the same thing to me? Or does the fast have to be for DAYS for this liver profile to occur? I ask because, at 35, and an athlete, my TC is 250 (I know, not terribly bad), and my ratio is 6.3. Everytime I get bloodwork done, I am asked to fast for "about 8 hours", which would require me getting up at 2am to eat for a 10am blood test. I just eat dinner the night before, then don't eat until after the bloodtest- a 12 hour fast, actually it has been 12-16 hours over the various times.

Since my numbers are only slightly elevated, I wonder if my fasting for the test could be causing my liver to produce cholesterol, skewing my test results?

A friend of mine's doctor always tells him to NOT fast before a chol test, because he "doesn't trust the results"...???