Having your blood taken at the lab is usually the easy part. Understanding what your cholesterol results mean and what to do about them is much harder. A simple explanation of your results and what you can do about them. By Dr Howard Rybko

1. Having your blood taken at the
lab is usually the easy part.
Understanding what your results
mean and what to do about
them is much harder.
Doctor's seldom have the time
to go thru the details of a
cholesterol test with their
patients.
They often focus on a single
value for total cholesterol to
simplify the results. This leaves
patients feeling that they don’t
really have a grasp of what the
numbers mean.

2. Your cholesterol test results provide
four numbers that can have an
influence on your heart health.
Total Cholesterol
HDL the good cholesterol
LDL the bad cholesterol
And Triglycerides.
DecarbDiet.com howard@decarbdiet.com (2014) Dr Howard Rybko

3. By themselves these numbers do not
your predict heart risk.
Your cholesterol results need to be
interpreted in the context of your
overall health, which includes factors
like: your age, body mass index (BMI),
smoking and exercise levels.
Family history and the presence of
other diseases such as diabetes, high
blood pressure are also important.
There are one easy to calculate ratio
that can predict your risk of heart
disease, which I show you towards
the end of this video.
DecarbDiet.com howard@decarbdiet.com (2014) Dr Howard Rybko

4. Total Cholesterol
In general, values of below 8 mmol
per litre or 300 mg per decilitre are
acceptable and can usually managed
by diet and exercise. This is not what
most doctors believe and many will
start you on a lifetime treatment with
a statin drug in a heartbeat. The
current guidelines suggest that values
of below 5.2 mmol per litre are
desirable and values over 6.2 mmol/l
If you wish to learn more about
cholesterol and the billion dollar
statin industry, a good place to start is
the book by Dr Stephen Sinatra called
the Great Cholesterol Myth.
DecarbDiet.com howard@decarbdiet.com (2014) Dr Howard Rybko

5. LDL Cholesterol
Usually called the Bad Cholesterol
(which may not be true)
Lower LDL numbers are better.
However the size of the LDL
particles is important and can only
be measured by sophisticated
tests.
Particle size is not reflected in a
standard cholesterol test.
DecarbDiet.com howard@decarbdiet.com (2014) Dr Howard Rybko

6. HDL Cholesterol
Higher values are thought to be
protective.
Many studies have shown reduced
levels of heart disease in patients with
higher HDL levels.
Increasing your HDL levels is a good
idea and there are ways to increase
HDL levels without taking medication.
These include exercise, weight loss,
taking more omega3, vitamin D
supplementation, and stopping
smoking and eating less sugar.
DecarbDiet.com howard@decarbdiet.com (2014) Dr Howard Rybko

7. Triglycerides
Are used to transport excess
carbohydrates around the body.
In my experience high
triglyceride levels are often
related to the excessive
consumption of grains and
sugars.
High triglyceride levels are
predictive of increased heart
disease risk
DecarbDiet.com howard@decarbdiet.com (2014) Dr Howard Rybko

8. Lastly and most importantly
How do you use your cholesterol results to tell
what sort of shape your heart really is in?
The evidence is quite clear that total
cholesterol is a poor predictor of heart
disease.
Although various ratios of the 4 cholesterol
numbers are used by doctors to predict risk of
heart disease in their patients, by far the most
reliable is the triglyceride to HDL ratio.
It is easy to calculate.
Simply divide your triglyceride result by your
HDL value.
This will give you a number between 1 and 10.
The lower your result, the lower your risk of
developing heart disease.
A result of 2 or less is considered ideal
A result of 4 or over is high and over 6 is too
high.
DecarbDiet.com howard@decarbdiet.com (2014) Dr Howard Rybko

9. A study published in 2008 reports
that a raised Triglyceride to HDL
ratio was the single most powerful
predictor of extensive coronary
heart disease among all the
variables examined.
The good news is that If your ratio
is high, you can reduce it by
lowering your intake of sugars and
grains, which will lower your
triglyceride levels.
You can also increase your HDL
levels using the methods discuss
earlier.
Take control of your health
without resorting to a life sentence
on statin drugs
DecarbDiet.com howard@decarbdiet.com (2014) Dr Howard Rybko

10. DecarbDiet.com howard@decarbdiet.com (2014) Dr Howard Rybko