Cholesterol Ratio

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone. I am one of the lurkers on this board and first I want to

thank everyone for posting such incredible information. But I do not

find much written about the the ratio of HDL to total cholesterol, and I

wondered why not. A long time ago I was told by a medical doctor that my

total cholesterol could be as high as 600 before I had to be concerned,

because at the time my ratio was just under 3. I have always believed

that it's balance in life that's most important and cholesterol was no

different from things like pH balance, or ratios of say sodium to

potassium, or other mineral ratios.

Today I was reading the To Your Health column by Dr. Donohue in the

Las Vegas Review Journal. Usually I'm not too fond of Dr. D, but today

he addressed this issue and I will reprint the question and answer

below. I read with interest on this group how good HDL levels are

increasing with valuable supplementation and diet changes, causing total

levels to be over what the docs are now dictating as healthy (to sell

more drugs I'm sure). I also never worried about totals over 200 or more

as my ratio is 2.2 and my HDL level is 98. Follows is the article.

Sheila

Dear Dr. Donohue: My cholesterol rose from 216 a year ago to 238. My

good cholesterol increased from 93 to 117, exceeding the increase in my

total cholesterol. If a total cholesterol higher thaqn 200 puts a person

at risk, but the increase is good cholesterol, does the total count matter?

Answer: Cholesterol is cholesterol. What makes it good or bad has to do

with the protein it's linked to. The linking protein acts like a truck

transporting cholesterol through the blood. HDL (high-density

lipoprotein) cholesterol, the so-called good cholesterol, is on a

protein truck that takes it to the liver for disposal. LDL (low-density

cholesterol) - bad cholesterol - is on a protein truck that dumps it on

artery walls, and it can eventually occlude those arteris.

A reading of 200 mg/dL or lower (5.17 mmol/L) is the goal for total

cholesterol. However, if most of total cholesterol is good cholesterol,

then the upper total-cholesterol reading can be liberalized.

You can solve the problem by obtaining the ratio of total cholesterol to

good cholesterol. That means you divide the total cholesterol by the HDL

cholesterol number. A ratio of 5 for a man (4.4 for a woman) puts a

person at an average risk of heart attack and stroke. A ratio of 3.4 for

a man (3.3 for a woman) cuts the risk in half. A ratio of 9.6 for a man

(7 for a woman) doubles the risk. These ratios can be obtained using

either the Canadian or the U.S. units for measuring cholesterol.

Your latest cholesterol readings give you a ratio of 2.03. That's

excellent. You don't have to be concerned by the rise in your

cholesterol number. It's all good cholesterol.