Something I read in Peg's thread about cholesterol really freaked me out. Montana's link ( www.totalhealthdynamics.com/cholesterol.htm ) said "Cholestrol levels over 200 correlate postively with increased risk of heart disease, and cholesterol levels lower than 180 correlate positively with almost every serious disease known except heart disease".

I had my pre-Atkins checkup last January, and I realize now I had a false sense of security.
Serum cholesterol = 156
HDL = 49
LDL = 94
Triglycerides = 63
Glucose = 65

After researching low cholesterol levels, i've read the following on the internet:
(1) A person w/ cholesterol <180 has twice the risk of hemorragic stroke compared w/ someone at 230
(2) Optimum cholesterol is 200. Less than 180 is a problem, and less than 150 is a major dilemma.
(3) Low cholesterol is linked to depression and mood problems (it influences serotonin levels)
(4) Low cholesterol means your hormones are not at an optimum level
(5) Low cholesterol puts you at risk for chronic illness, like cancer.

Why has my dr not warned me about this?? I always thought the lower the better.

Beware.

My dr. wants to check my levels again after being on Atkins 6 months, which will be soon. I'm definitely bringing this up, as well as hoping my cholesterol levels increase, but ratios remaining the same or better.

According to what I've read:
Coronary risk ratio (Total/HDL) avg. risk range is 3.4 - 4.3. Mine is 3.2.

HDL/LDL should be below 3. Mine is 1.92.

HDL/Total should be greater than .25 and preferably in the .3s. Mine is .314.

Triglycerides/HDL should be less than 2.0. Mine is 1.28.

At this point I don't know if my numbers were OK or not. I don't know how they could be, given my horrible diet pre-Atkins. I thought nothing of pop-tarts for breakfast and drinking regular Coke like it was water.

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Emily
Current: Size 10
Goal: Size 8

Can you ask your doctor about it & let us know what he/she says? When do you go back?

I am really worried about this too. My cholesterol total is 100!

LDL 57 - good
HDL 37 - too low

I really need to start eating more fat.

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Started Atkins on 9/20/03
235-->190; 150 goal

I'm not scheduled to go back until June. I may make an earlier appt, though. I'm just sort of embarrassed to go to my follow up because I've only lost 10 pounds in 4 months. I just have to keep telling myself that if you only have about 20 to 25 pounds to lose, that's not so bad.

Glad you chimed in Paladin. Mercola.com has a lot to say about cholesterol. You can do a search for low cholesterol on his website. This guy has very low cholesterol like you and he seems to be OK with it. He's taking something to raise it! I've never heard of that before.

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Emily
Current: Size 10
Goal: Size 8

Thanks, I will check it out.

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Started Atkins on 9/20/03
235-->190; 150 goal

AAACK! I haven't had mine checked in a couple of years, but when I first went lowcarb, mine went from 175 to 139 in about 5 months. I always heard the lower, the better, too. I will definitely be researching this. Thanks, Emily for bringing this to our attention. I will keep checking back to see what the new consensus is....

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I too have begun to be concerned about low cholesterol - mine being 102 as of Nov. 1992 - with the association to cancer and other things. I was really scared, until I came across some more recent studies that have shown that that "association" is actually in reverse - that cancer or liver disease, or whatever, CAUSES the low cholesterol count.

From what information I can gather, the body manufactures all the cholesterol it needs, and needs no dietary input at all. If your artery walls are in good shape and you get most of your vitamin D from fish, you probably don't need a whole lot of circulating cholesterol.

I virtually avoided all satuarated fat in my diet, and have continued to do so since 1992, along with drinking copious amounts of beer, and I'm not dead yet.
hope that's some comfort - dandz

I believe the number (180) is actually high as a lower bound. I've seen 100 and as a "normal range" lower bound and I've also seen 160 as an "ideal" lower bound. But, as pointed out above, from the research I've seen it's cancer causing the cholesterol rates to lower rather than lower cholesterol. - Another example of what you can do with statistics.

Sven's md visit comparison:
--------------------- Old ------------New -----------Ideal Range
BP --------------- 130/90 -------- 102/62
Weight ---------- 300 ------------- 236
Chol (total) -------186 ----------- 114 --------------- 100-199
Triglycerides ---- 229 ------------ 65 ----------------- 0-149
LDL (bad) -------- 114 ------------ 72 ------------------ 0-99
HDL (good) ------ 25 ------------- 29 ----------------- 40-59
Chol/HDL --------- 7.32 ---------- 3.9 ---------------- 0.0-5.0

Ranges come from doctor's chart...

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Sven
305/218/200
Start Date: 1/1/06

Welcome to low-carb eating.
The food's not bad here.

After reading the info on the link, Emily Anne, I find it interesting that this is vindicating what Dr. Atkins said years ago, about insulin affecting cholesterol levels. I loved this info, so simply written, with good analogies, but he writes as if it's a new idea, and Dr. Atkins said it a long, long time ago.

I probably wouldn't worry too much about too low cholesterol. It probably shows that your body is functioning quite well. I think I'd worry if I had high or normal cholesterol and it suddenly got quite low, but if it's consistently low, then that's probably just the way you are. Just like some people naturally have low blood pressure. That's just the way they are.

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Nita