High Cholesterol in blood test results

[NotACaveboyNotYetACaveman]

Hi, 28yo male here. 6'0, 150lbs.

I've done the Whole30, but am currently just eating a mostly-paleo diet. I eat eggs and bacon for breakfast about 5 days a week (usually fish or chicken the other days), only eat grains about once a week when I go for sushi. Mostly just meat and vegetables. The occasional sweet treat of frozen yogurt.

Anyways, I went for a blood test the other day and I got my results online, they are flagging my cholesterol as being high. Here's my result:

Fasting: YES

Cholesterol: 4.90 mmol/L ("norm" listed as 2.00-4.59 mmol/L)

LDL Cholesterol: 3.07 mmol/L ("norm" listed as 1.50-2.99 mmol/L)

I'm seeing my doctor next week. Should I be worried? My gf always says I eat too many eggs and I should be wary of my cholesterol, so I guess she's right? I've always been a fairly skinny and healthy dude, so this is coming as a bit of a shock to me. Any insight would be appreciated.

[Tom Denham]

Bottom line, you almost certainly have nothing to worry about. You do need to talk with your doctor, investigate your issues further, and develop a plan of action.

Cholesterol in your food has a very small relationship with your blood cholesterol levels. Medical professionals know this, but my own doctor warned me to reduce the number of eggs I ate anyway. When I challenged her, she acknowledged that she was speaking from superstition and not science, but then grinned and suggested I eat fewer eggs anyway. This reflects how the advice we sometimes get really is ridiculous.

I got suspicious about the whole cholesterol thing and have spent time reading up on the issue. My favorite source is a doctor in the UK: http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/ His blog has a lot of interesting posts on cholesterol.

I have a genetic predisposition towards high cholesterol (familial hypercholesterolemia), so I do take medication to keep my levels down. However, many doctors are listening to the drug companies too closely and try to drive cholesterol levels to very low levels by medicating people who really don't need it. Cholesterol is an essential thing in our bodies. Our liver manufactures cholesterol. Our brain is made of cholesterol. You really don't want it to be very low. In addition, the relationship between heart disease and cholesterol levels is highly questionable. Good scientists find the enthusiasm for driving cholesterol down by many doctors questionable.

One thing I would note from my personal experience. A doctor I worked with for more than 10 years refused to cooperate with my idea of coming off cholesterol lowering medication after I had been living a Whole30 lifestyle for more than a year. In fact, he insisted on my increasing my cholesterol medication to drive my levels even lower than the low levels they were already at. I took the meds for 30 days, got another blood test that made him happy because my cholesterol went down, and then I stopped all meds. Three months later, I found a new doctor and went in for more blood tests. My new doctor said I needed to be off meds for 3 months to get good results. Unfortunately, my cholesterol was very high without meds. She was the first to diagnose my familial hypercholesterolemia and explained my genetic predisposition towards high cholesterol. However, she recommended different meds than I had been on and got me down to modest levels. Not as low as I had been, but low enough she thinks I do not face health risks. I was frustrated that my original doctor refused to take my interests seriously and talk with me about my concerns. I have been pleased with how much my new doctor has appreciated where I am coming from and understands the issues that I have raised. I felt like I went from a robot to a person when I switched doctors.

[NotACaveboyNotYetACaveman]

I appreciate the reply, thank you! I'll definitely have a chat about this with my doctor very soon.