September is National Cholesterol Education Month. It, therefore, makes sense to review cholesterol effects and treatment.
My father had high cholesterol and cholesterol plaques around his eyes. It was surely a contributor to his 1979 fatal heart attack at age 61. They did not check levels of cholesterol at that time. Part of that was because there was no available drug treatment for it.
We did know at that time that high cholesterol was hereditary. The first time I checked my cholesterol was at age 37 in 1984. It was very high at 275. At the time the acceptable upper limit was 220.
I knew that diet could help lower cholesterol. For several months I tried changing what I ate. It made no difference. Then I decided to lose 10 pounds over a two month period. The cholesterol dropped to 215. It stayed there for years.
In 1986 the first statin cholesterol lowering drug was approved by the FDA. By the 1990s the 220 number was lowered to 200. Therefore, I had to reduce my level again. By now we had medications for it. I have been in the acceptable range for almost 30 years on that medication.
High cholesterol is common. Approximately 30 percent of Americans have high levels. The real issue is that only one-third of that group has their levels in the acceptable range. So it is common and people do not often do what is needed to treat it.
The worst thing an individual can do is not even check their levels. They live in a perpetual state of denial. Nothing can happen to them. Until it does.
No one can change their genetics. However, there are a number of other factors that can be controlled. One of those is weight. Another is diet. Individuals with high cholesterol should not be eating as many eggs and red meat as the rest of the populations. Oatmeal is a good breakfast food. Regular exercise helps. So does stopping cigarettes.
Some people are confused by the terms “good” cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol. What that basically means is that “bad” cholesterol is harmful and “good” cholesterol is not. For example if your total cholesterol is 250, it could be due to a “bad” cholesterol of 225 and a “good” of 25. That is not acceptable. However, it can also be due to a “bad” cholesterol of 150 and a “good” cholesterol of 100. That is much better. That is another reason to know the numbers.
People with high cholesterol are twice as likely to have a heart attack as those whose cholesterol is normal.
There are some people who think that thin people and those who exercise regularly do not need to pay attention to their cholesterol numbers. Those things do not trump genetics. If you have the wrong genetic makeup, other factors are much less important.
There are some take home messages here. Everyone reading this should know their cholesterol numbers. They should be getting treatment for it if the numbers are high. They should be doing other healthy things in addition to treating it. Those include exercise. They include proper diet. They include discontinuing cigarettes.
I just wish my dad had been able to take advantage of the advances we have made in treatment over the last 40 years.