Can anyone explain these cholesterol results?

[icantwaitforsummer]

Hi, I was hoping someone knowledgeable or medically trained could help me understand these results a bit more.

I'm 41, 5ft 7 healthy weight/BMI, non smoker, don't drink. I think I eat healthy too but clearly not enough.

I had really high cholesterol a year ago, over 9! Shocking I know. Doctor pushed statins but I said I wanted to try using just diet initially. Upped my nuts and seeds, avocado, broccoli and veg, Greek yoghurt and eating salads every day.

Went back for a follow up 10 months later and got these results.

I was disappointed, doctor said I had done well and it looked good. But now I have been booked into the lipids clinic for follow up as it's still too high.

So is it good or bad? Which number am I trying to get down? The 6.3 one?

Here are what my results say

Not a medic, but a long-term cholesterol-battler and now on statins.

The general thinking is that HDL is “good” and anything else is “bad”. Dropping from 9 to 6 through diet alone is really good. Technically the NHS want your total to be under 5 and your non-HDL to be under 4; you are very close to this. The issue is heart health - do your qrisk3 score (google) to see what your current risk is; I think 10% is the trigger point for statins. Given everything else I would imagine your qrisk3 is well under 10%.

That said, some of us just have higher cholesterol than others. Statins reduce cholesterol but they also stabilise any gunk that’s already built up, and there is a recently-publicised link between high cholesterol and dementia.

You have a strong predisposition for high cholesterol.

I would seriously consider medication.