Cholesterol - at what point does it start to matter?

[Guest guest]

Greetings,

I have a friend, who just turned 58.

She's had high cholesterol for several years, as well as high TG.

And it's not just total cholesterol but the HDL/LDL ratio is pretty bad too.

She is on statins as well as on some medication for the TG.

If she doesn't take the statins, her total cholesterol shoots above 600 !

Lipitor gave her the jitters, so they put her on one of the other ones - but if

she

couldn't take Lipitor, this other one can't be that great for her either.

I told her about the dangers of statin drugs and the entire " fat causes

cholesterol

causes heart diease " controversy.

The question I would like to answer for her is - at what point should you worry

about the

cholesterol numbers?

I know that the medical community has been changing the definition of high

cholesterol

almost every couple of years and now they are putting people on statins even

with number

just above 200.

I told her that as we age (especially women), cholesterol is supposed to go high

to

protect the body from degenerative diseases, but what is the number after which

you

should worry about high cholesterol - 400, 500 or is 600 ok?

-Pratick

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