Can anyone advise on my cholesterol results?

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I had a recent O55's health check at m GP, and my cholesterol results came back high.

Bad cholesterol 6.6 (and was told it should be under 5)
Good cholesterol 3.52 (told it should be under 3)

How bad is this? They told me to go back in a year to see if it has improved.

I am 169 Cms tall, 65Kgs, BMI 22.7 (I have quite a big boned frame)

Excercise 3 times a week plus lots of walking.

Eat a pretty healthy diet - no deep fried foods, granola, berries, wholemeal everything, salads with a drizzle of olive oil, loads of veg, cake no more than once a week.

I have added pumpkin seeds and walnuts to my breakfast / snacks, and am trying to cut down on cheese - not that I was eating vast quantities.

I am finding it hard to put the results into perspective - should I be worrying, or not? (not much chance for discussion with the practice nurse who phoned with the results).

Thank you!

@Janedownourlane

I was determined not to go on statins, I was told (may not be true) that GPs get paid for every patient they can get onto satins. Mine was at 9. Very high. Doctor told me that I should take 3 months to get it down by changing to a mediterranean diet. Three months later it was down to 6.5. She said she was happy with the improvement, no follow up needed.

GPs do get commissions on prescribing meds but it's not just statins.

Some people are just predisposed to higher cholesterol, they can eat a saintly diet and still not bring their cholesterol down. I wouldn't take the cardiovascular risk personally, I would just take the statins recommended by the GP. There's several different types, if one statin didn't agree with you, there's alternatives. Why are people so anti statins??

@cptartapp

If your good cholesterol is high then of course it will push up the overall cholesterol 6.4. That number on its own is meaningless. Again, the ratio of good to bed is what matters.

This is what has completely confused me: the practice nurse told me that at my good cholesterol was too high!

www.heartuk.org.uk/genetic-conditions/high-hdl-cholesterol
May be useful

That makes me think I should stop my efforts to raise ‘good’ cholesterol, which was deemed high ! (Eating walnuts etc).

But I really don’t eat a high fat diet of any kind!

Maybe as the article suggests look at your family history, is there a history of heart disease or longevity?

You should consider reading Th great Cholesterol Con by Malcolm Kendrick , a cardiologist from Glasgow to help inform your choice to go on to statins.
You may be lowering your heart attack/stroke risk but are unlikely to have a longer life as other diseases are likely to come into play.