I recently received my blood result. My cholesterol count came back at 140, HDL 32 (low) LDL 65 (fine), Triglycerides 215 (high). Can anyone give me their opion on what i could do to raise my HDL and lower my triglycerides?

Thank You

Most people can lower their triglycerides simply by cutting back on carbohydrates, primarily sugars, starchy vegetables, snacks, pastries, candies, etc. Supplements which can also help, when used in conjunction with these dietary changes, include fish oil, niacin, and pantethine.

Factors which favorably influence HDL include exercise, moderate alcohol intake, and a low carbohydrate diet. A low carb diet, which favors more fats and protein, is most beneficial for increasing HDL and lowering triglycerides. Supplements which positively correlate with higher HDL levels include niacin, lecithin, garlic, and an optimal intake of vitamins C and E.

Statistically speaking, with a total cholesterol of only 140, you are still considered low risk, although I agree that you should do whatever is possible to bring your HDL up higher and try to cut your triglycerides by about half.

Originally posted by WB:
I recently received my blood result. My cholesterol count came back at 140, HDL 32 (low) LDL 65 (fine), Triglycerides 215 (high). Can anyone give me their opion on what i could do to raise my HDL and lower my triglycerides?

Thank You
Time for me to jump back on my rant against the LDL calculation formula bandwagon. The thought that by raising trigs you can improve your LDL is just crazy and I am yet to be educated on how this phenomenon works.

We know high trigs are not good and we know high LDL is not good, but you can lower LDL by doing what you don't want to do and that is raising your trigs. If you lower your trigs, you will raise your LDL's. Crazy.

But this is not what you asked. You asked how to raise your HDL. Refer to this site, it appears to be about as comprehensive as one could be:
http://www.loweringcholesterol.net/show/raise-hdl-cholesterol



[This message has been edited by pcovers (edited 10-08-2003).]

wb I was able to raise my HDL with exercise but it is still not where it should be. Just a warning my HDL was low(34) and my trigs were elevated(173) when my blockage was discovered. I really had no other obvious risk factors other than family history and slightly overweight. I am female and was only 41 years old when this hit me. All my levels are now within an acceptable range except my HDL(47) is still low for a woman.

pcovers,

I also do not agree with the theoretical notion that by raising your triglycerides, the LDL would come down, and risk would decrease. Although I have said this repeatedly before, I am not convinced that LDL is necessarily all that bad to begin with. LDL is basically a mixture of varying particle sizes, such as small and dense(most damaging), and large and fluffy(mostly benign). A calculated LDL does not provide this important information. The LDL would have to be measured in order to determine the composition. As far as triglycerides are concerned, if I'm not mistaken, I believe that triglycerides contribute to the overall LDL fraction in the form of VLDL cholesterol. So, with this in mind, it would appear that LDL would actually become more damaging since its composition would shift more towards that of small dense particle size. Niacin renders LDL less harmful because it increases HDL, lowers triglycerides, and promotes a more favorable shift towards larger, less harmful LDL particle size.

WB,
I strongly recommend fish oil supplementation for anyone with low HDLs.
My miserable HDL's were boosted from 29 (and an TC:HDL ratio near 10) to 35 on Lipitor. Since this was far from ideal, I added cod-liver oil and lecithin daily and in short order got the HDLs up to 58.

Triglycerides are easily lowered by decreasing your carbohydrate consumption, especially fast hit carbs like sugars.

[This message has been edited by zip2play (edited 10-09-2003).]

Thank you, TO everyone for there advices.

I used to have a colestirol level of 300+. I made the mistake of letting that happen. With in 3 month I lower it to 140. I will take your guys advice on the fish. My trig according to my result is only 10 point above normal range. Hopefully with in a month I should have some good news. Once again Thank You...

That theory of raising trig to lower LDL makes no sense, so I went back through my lab work(I request copies of it all) this makes me wonder, everytime my trigs were low (like below 90) my LDL was sky high likee over 150, even tho my HDL is always up in the 60+ bracket. This last lab work, my LDL was the lowest ever 130 and my trigl went up to 138 (never been above 90)my HDL stayed the same. go figure I don't get it. But I have also read that very high trig is even a more important factor in Heart Disease.

NancyH,
That ass backwards way of counting 1/5 of triglycerides as VLDL and working back to get LDL gives me agita too. Even those who espouse it say that the trustworthiness of the results deteriorates badly as the triglycerides go up rendering the results worthless near 300mg/dl.
I've read that there's some movement towards DIRECT measurement of LDL instead of by "calculation." I'll be sure to ask my doctor if I can have it next time I see him.

Originally posted by WB:


My trig according to my result is only 10 point above normal range.

Not to be negative at all but don't feel too comfortable with trigs being only 10 points above normal range. That is the point where I was at when my blockage was discovered and I had a low HDL to go with it. I truly thought I had nothing to worry about and was told by doctors that I was fine.

Zip2play - you've mentioned fish oil and lechitin, could you be more specific on amounts, etc?

Gorgon,
Once a day I take 1 tsp cod liver oil yielding 950 mg. Total Omega-3's (DHA+EPA) and 1 Tbsp. granular lecithin.

If you prefer the fish oil in capsules, try to take enough to get near 1000 mg. Omega-3's (usually 3 big caps a day.)