bluebanded goby
Contributor
Strictly speaking I suppose this may not be a _dive_ medicine question, but since there are so many friendly and knowledgeable docs here, I figured what the heck.
I just got results back from a cholesterol test last week. I had blood drawn in the morning after fasting for 14 hours so that they could also do a fasting blood sugar test.
In 1995 I had a total cholesterol of 187 and HDL of 44. In 1997 that ws 179 total and HDL 42. Last fall it was 173 total and HDL 40. Last week it was 192 total and HDL 47.
Now, over that time I've made various dietary and lifestyle changes. Over the past few years I've pretty much limited myself to chicken and fish and have cut down on various saturated fats. During the past year or so I've been taking a low dose (25 mg) of niacin in morning and evening for mild tinnitus, and I understand that niacin also lowers cholesterol. In the past six months I started bicycling a half hour every morning and have dropped about 20 pounds.
I'm a little baffled given these changes why my cholesterol has gone up in the past year. One possibility is that I had been taking omega-3 oil caps daily for several years, but stopped them about a month ago after I read a report linking their use to a heightened risk of prostate cancer. I've since been trying to replace them with natural dietary sources of omega-3, mostly by having salmon for lunch 2 to 3 times a week. The other possibility that occurred to me is that, the afternoon the day before the blood test, I ate a rare Haagen-Daz ice cream bar, which I'm sure was a neutron bomb of saturated fat and some cholesterol.
My question therefore is this. Could eating a Haagen-Daz bar shortly before a blood test elevate total cholesterol significantly? Or should I be thinking about the omega-3 caps or other changes as the cause for the rise in cholesterol this year?
I know that some of you will say that even with a total cholesterol of 192 I don't have to worry. It doesn't sound all that far from 200, however, when one does officially start trying to control it. Heart disease linked to high cholesterol runs strongly in my family, which is why I pay this much attention to it. Thanks for any comments! (If it's meaningful at all, I'm 47 y.o., 6'1", now 170 lb.)
I just got results back from a cholesterol test last week. I had blood drawn in the morning after fasting for 14 hours so that they could also do a fasting blood sugar test.
In 1995 I had a total cholesterol of 187 and HDL of 44. In 1997 that ws 179 total and HDL 42. Last fall it was 173 total and HDL 40. Last week it was 192 total and HDL 47.
Now, over that time I've made various dietary and lifestyle changes. Over the past few years I've pretty much limited myself to chicken and fish and have cut down on various saturated fats. During the past year or so I've been taking a low dose (25 mg) of niacin in morning and evening for mild tinnitus, and I understand that niacin also lowers cholesterol. In the past six months I started bicycling a half hour every morning and have dropped about 20 pounds.
I'm a little baffled given these changes why my cholesterol has gone up in the past year. One possibility is that I had been taking omega-3 oil caps daily for several years, but stopped them about a month ago after I read a report linking their use to a heightened risk of prostate cancer. I've since been trying to replace them with natural dietary sources of omega-3, mostly by having salmon for lunch 2 to 3 times a week. The other possibility that occurred to me is that, the afternoon the day before the blood test, I ate a rare Haagen-Daz ice cream bar, which I'm sure was a neutron bomb of saturated fat and some cholesterol.
My question therefore is this. Could eating a Haagen-Daz bar shortly before a blood test elevate total cholesterol significantly? Or should I be thinking about the omega-3 caps or other changes as the cause for the rise in cholesterol this year?
I know that some of you will say that even with a total cholesterol of 192 I don't have to worry. It doesn't sound all that far from 200, however, when one does officially start trying to control it. Heart disease linked to high cholesterol runs strongly in my family, which is why I pay this much attention to it. Thanks for any comments! (If it's meaningful at all, I'm 47 y.o., 6'1", now 170 lb.)