My Cholesterol is 217 hdl at 59 ldl at 124 and triglycerides at 169 is this good for a 51 year old female?

Answer 1

The total amount of cholesterol in your blood (VLDL, LDL, and HDL) is 217 milligrams per deciliter which is borderline high (optimal is between 180 and 210).

Your LDL cholesterol (which is sometimes called "bad" cholesterol is 144.6 which is also borderline high. Optimal levels are around 100 mg/dl with high being considered 160.

Your HDL (or "good" cholesterol) is 44 mg/dl which is considered about normal for a man, but below normal for a woman (optimal for a woman is 50-60).

Your triglycerides (a fancy word for fat molecules) are at 142 mg/dl which is considered normal. Borderline high is between 150 and 200 and high is above 200.

Your total cholesterol:HDL ratio is very important, and should be at least below 5:1. Yours is skirting the edge at 4.9:1. It seems that you have high cholesterol due mostly to increased LDL, but you could also benefit from increasing your HDL levels to improve your ratio.

According to conventional wisdom, the best way to improve these kinds of levels is to exercise and lower your intake of saturated fat. I would go further to say that it would be best to also increase your intake of vegetables and fiber, take part in weight bearing exercise, and try to replace your saturated fat and omega-6 (mainly found in soybean oil) consumption with more monounsaturated fat (found in olive and canola oils), restrict trans fat entirely, and take an Omega-3 fatty acid supplement such as fish or flaxseed oil. Make sure that you restrict your intake of sugar and white flour, as these can raise your triglyceride levels and lower your HDL levels.

Answer 2

No, your levels actually look very good. Let's just say that if your total cholesterol is high due to HDL ("good" cholesterol) then you have nothing to be worried about.

Answer 3

According to the American Heart Association your HDL (good cholesterol) should range from 50-60; your LDL (bad cholesterol) should be less than 130, and your triglyceride should be less than 150.

Answer 4

I am a little confused about your question. Is 168 your total cholesterol? Most laboratories measure triglycerides, total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol, then they use a formula to calculate the LDL cholesterol. Other labs produce higher quality results by measuring total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol all separately. The best test to have in order to have the clearest picture of your risk is the Lipoprotein Particle Profile. There are at least five types of "LDL" cholesterol and two types of HDL cholesterol, therefore it is possible to have a total cholesterol number that is higher than the sum of the HDL and LDL cholesterol. I will assume that is the case here.

With respect to the numbers in your question: First, I am not a medical doctor, therefore I cannot give anyone medical advice without possibly being sued or being criminally charged with practicing medicine without a license. However, I am certain that I know much more biochemistry and a heck of a lot more about nutrition than the average MD.

The numbers you provided are not accurate if you did not fast for at least 12 hours or abstain from any alcohol for at least 24 hours before your blood was drawn. Both food and alcohol will raise the triglyceride number and, thus, mess up the LDL number. An HDL of 40 plus an LDL of 99 give a supposed total cholesterol (C) of 139, which is quite low. The American Heart Association and some other groups say that ones total C should be less than 200 (even though total C hardly tells the whole story) and the LDL 100 or below.

What concerns me a little is the difference between what I assume in the first paragraph is your "Total C" and the sum of the HDL and LDL C. Of course that number is 168-99-40=29 and, if the assumption I mentioned is correct, that means that there is 29 mg/dL of some other cholesterol(s) in your blood. All LDL C contains a large protein that is wrapped around the LDL particle, helping to keep it together. The most common protein by far is Apolipoprotein B (apo B), however some people have none or more or less of apo A. LDL C containing apo B is much more damaging than LDL C/apo A. The worst type of C of all is Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] and there is a blood test that can measure Lp(a). To conclude this section, what appears to be "extra" C could be good if it is due mostly to apo A and/or to mostly actual LDL and not vLDL C, or it could be bad if it is partly due to Lp(a) and the second worst type of C, vLDL C, or Very Low-Density Lipoprotein C. There is no way to tell from the numbers which case is yours.

This is my opinion based on the numbers provided: The triglycerides are a little high. Doctors will tell you the number should be below 150, so the triglycerides level isn't a major concern in my mind. Your total C/HDL C ratio is 4.2. For men, that means that the person has below average risk of Heart disease or atherosclerosis, while for a woman, that ratio suggests that she is a little below average risk.

Suggestions: If I were you, and if you can afford it in case your insurance won't pay for it (most will), I would have the Lipoprotein Particle Profile test done. Second, try to cut down a little on fatty foods; you don't have to do much to your diet, but it should reduce your triglycerides number. Third, and I recommend this to everyone, is to take 500 to 1000 mg of vitamin C and 100 to 200 mg of alpha lipoic acid twice a day, and 200 µg (not mg) of folic acid once every day. Take the higher levels if you smoke or eat a lot of grilled meat or exercise more than three hours a week. I haven't seen proof yet that it works, but the first two supplements certainly scavenge radicals and they are easily oxidized, therefore they must protect C from oxidation to some degree, and only oxidized C causes damage to the arteries. Forth, although your C/HDL ratio is pretty good, try to raise your HDL by 1) reducing the amount of seed oils you consume, such as canola, safflower, sunflower... any oil that comes from squeezing the crap out of a seed except flax seed and grape seed oils. Most seed oils contain way too much omega-6 oils and no or hardly any omega-3 oils, so use peanut or grape seed oil to cook with, and olive oil for everything else, just don't cook with it. 2) I hate fish, but if you don't, then try to eat fish at least twice a week. 3) Tree nut (does not include peanuts) oils are probably the best. Eat one good handful of mixed tree nuts every day. 4) Grass-fed beef costs about 1$ more per pound, but it tastes much better, and more importantly, it has a heck of a lot more omega-3 oils in it, so eat that instead. (100 years ago, the average American had an omega-6:omega-3 ratio of 2:1. Today, the average is 16:1!!! Fifth, never use margarine or fake butter; use real, unsalted butter instead because cottonseed oil is probably the worst oil there is and corn oil isn't much better. Finally, go over the numbers in your question with your doctor!

Answer 5

add HDL, LDL and (TRI/5). so that is 278.6