A tale of 3 cholesterol tests
Maybe this should be titled "Exercise - it's good for you." Though that sounds obvious, it's nice to have data to back up that assertion.
I've had high cholesterol probably all of my life. Every test I've ever had has been high. I recall getting a couple when I was in my early 20's. The first one was bad. The second was worse. I hear stress increases the incidence of heart attack so I decided to stop getting it checked ;)
Earlier this year, I embarked on some health care improvements. There are two general things I've done. First, I went to the doctor for a combination of a thorough general physical and to address a list of issues that had cropped up. Second, I have developed and partially implemented an exercise program.
At that first appointment with the doctor, I mentioned my cholesterol. He might have ordered a test anyway. The result of three of the four categories (total, triglycerides, and HDL) were all in the 'bad' range. The LDL was okay. We'll call that my baseline test as it wasn't influenced by any intentional behavioral change. We discussed various treatment options. We agreed on fish oil, garlic, and red wine, followed up by a recheck.
Between the two tests, I had not yet started my 'new' exercise program. I decided to delay that because I wanted to test the effects of various treatments on my cholesterol. For the first round, I started taking a 'normal' quantity of fish oil as much as twice a day, along with one garlic tablet once a day. While I do occasionally drink wine, I rarely did at home. I decided I'd stock some red wine and, as often as I think of it anyway, have a glass (more accurately - exactly one oversize glass) each night. I was not 100% successful with any of the above but was able to do them at least frequently. The results of the next test, influenced by those changes, were:
Total: 5% lower (better)
Triglycerides: 12 1/2% higher (worse)
HDL: Same
LDL: 13% lower (worse - no longer in the good range)
A quick review of the effects of fish oil indicates that while it tends to lower cholesterol (it did), it also tends to raise triglycerides. The garlic is supposed to offset that, but apparently it didn't so much in my case. The doctor recommended increasing fish oil consumption. We discussed the issue of exercise. Naturally, he thought that was a good idea but it seems like he really likes fish oil.
For my next round of tests, I decided to ignore the doctor's advice (ack!). I was ready to implement my exercise routine. That, too, has been done inconsistently (it's hard to do anything consistently with my schedule). I started keeping track of actual workouts completed sometime within the last couple weeks prior to my appointment for my most recent check. While I discontinued the fish oil and garlic, I continued (though not as regularly) the red wine and added the exercise. I recorded 4 workouts within the 11 days prior to my check. I also happened to eat particularly fatty foods in the couple of days immediately prior to the test (not intentionally, it just worked out that way). The results compared to baseline were:
Total: 5% lower (good)
Triglycerides: 19 1/2% lower (good) - that's ~29% lower than the previous check!
HDL: 8% higher (good)
LDL: 2% lower (bad - but still in the good range; 12% improvement from the previous check)
These results lead me to several conclusions with respect to their impact on me (your mileage may vary). First, fish oil intake may have lowered total cholesterol but significantly raised triglycerides (12%) and had an adverse effect on LDL (13%). Second, exercise had the same good effect on total cholesterol without the adverse effect on LDL (2% worse v.s. 12% worse). More noticeably, it had the opposite (and very significant good) effect on triglycerides from the fish oil - almost 20% better v.s. over 12% worse.
The moral of the story: get more exercise. "Exercise - it's good for you."
V-
I've had high cholesterol probably all of my life. Every test I've ever had has been high. I recall getting a couple when I was in my early 20's. The first one was bad. The second was worse. I hear stress increases the incidence of heart attack so I decided to stop getting it checked ;)
Earlier this year, I embarked on some health care improvements. There are two general things I've done. First, I went to the doctor for a combination of a thorough general physical and to address a list of issues that had cropped up. Second, I have developed and partially implemented an exercise program.
At that first appointment with the doctor, I mentioned my cholesterol. He might have ordered a test anyway. The result of three of the four categories (total, triglycerides, and HDL) were all in the 'bad' range. The LDL was okay. We'll call that my baseline test as it wasn't influenced by any intentional behavioral change. We discussed various treatment options. We agreed on fish oil, garlic, and red wine, followed up by a recheck.
Between the two tests, I had not yet started my 'new' exercise program. I decided to delay that because I wanted to test the effects of various treatments on my cholesterol. For the first round, I started taking a 'normal' quantity of fish oil as much as twice a day, along with one garlic tablet once a day. While I do occasionally drink wine, I rarely did at home. I decided I'd stock some red wine and, as often as I think of it anyway, have a glass (more accurately - exactly one oversize glass) each night. I was not 100% successful with any of the above but was able to do them at least frequently. The results of the next test, influenced by those changes, were:
Total: 5% lower (better)
Triglycerides: 12 1/2% higher (worse)
HDL: Same
LDL: 13% lower (worse - no longer in the good range)
A quick review of the effects of fish oil indicates that while it tends to lower cholesterol (it did), it also tends to raise triglycerides. The garlic is supposed to offset that, but apparently it didn't so much in my case. The doctor recommended increasing fish oil consumption. We discussed the issue of exercise. Naturally, he thought that was a good idea but it seems like he really likes fish oil.
For my next round of tests, I decided to ignore the doctor's advice (ack!). I was ready to implement my exercise routine. That, too, has been done inconsistently (it's hard to do anything consistently with my schedule). I started keeping track of actual workouts completed sometime within the last couple weeks prior to my appointment for my most recent check. While I discontinued the fish oil and garlic, I continued (though not as regularly) the red wine and added the exercise. I recorded 4 workouts within the 11 days prior to my check. I also happened to eat particularly fatty foods in the couple of days immediately prior to the test (not intentionally, it just worked out that way). The results compared to baseline were:
Total: 5% lower (good)
Triglycerides: 19 1/2% lower (good) - that's ~29% lower than the previous check!
HDL: 8% higher (good)
LDL: 2% lower (bad - but still in the good range; 12% improvement from the previous check)
These results lead me to several conclusions with respect to their impact on me (your mileage may vary). First, fish oil intake may have lowered total cholesterol but significantly raised triglycerides (12%) and had an adverse effect on LDL (13%). Second, exercise had the same good effect on total cholesterol without the adverse effect on LDL (2% worse v.s. 12% worse). More noticeably, it had the opposite (and very significant good) effect on triglycerides from the fish oil - almost 20% better v.s. over 12% worse.
The moral of the story: get more exercise. "Exercise - it's good for you."
V-