Supplements for high Cholesterol anyone?

Why wouldn’t you want statins, they work, millions take them but you only hear of the few that have problems. Surely they would be better than that level of cholesterol.

If I were you I would take statins. Supplements and diet only have a limited affect.

I have tried lots of supplements as I can’t tolerate statins.
Sadly nothing has worked.

I refuse to go on Statins. My Dh has been on them for years and his mobility has gradually decreased. His legs are stiff and he can’t walk well.
A few years ago he was playing golf 3 times a week and also playing tennis. Of course the gp and Dh refute my concerns it’s the statins.,

I take cholesterol tabs from Holland and Barrett and benecol yoghurts and spread. Probably doesn’t do much but I’m sticking with it and being careful (to a certain extent) with my diet.

If you take them and have side effects there are others you can try. OH had to change his and now has no unpleasant side effects, I have taken them for two years without any problems at all. If I had had a cholesterol reading as high as yours I wouldn't hesitate to take them.

Ok, thanks every one, will discuss with G.P.

I am surprised that your GP has not had a chat with you already.

Had to pay privately for a health check up. Don’t offer them under the NHS in Wales, They advised to speak to my G.P.

Poppyred, I would definitely be talking to my GP but also trying to increase the amount of exercise you do, it doesn’t have to be highly energetic but you do need to keep muscles working as this draws cholesterol out of your blood stream. Eating a diet rich in plants and fibre, reducing saturated fats and using extra virgin olive oil all help.

I m with you Poppyred I don’t want to take satins unless absolutely pushed in a corner
My mums chlorestral never went under 7.5 and she lived to 90

Exercise and diet, keeping your weight steady in normal range is better than supplements, and as others have said take the statins Poppyred .
The cholesterol numbers will quickly fall.

Mine has been over 9 for about 15 years. When I first had it taken I stuck to the cholesterol diet for 3 months. It came down from 9.6 to 9.4. That Dr didn’t argue the point but several since then have.
I won’t take them.

TillyTrotter

Exercise and diet, keeping your weight steady in normal range is better than supplements, and as others have said take the statins Poppyred .
The cholesterol numbers will quickly fall.

I’m not overweight, eat very healthily with moderate exercise, so a bit baffled as why it it’s so high.

I was also recently advised by my GP that my cholesterol was too high at 6.8. I decided that I would try to lower it myself for 3 months then take another test. I am cutting down on saturated fat, mostly by avoiding biscuits, chocolate and cheese. I have a dark chocolate binge occasionally and mostly use reduced fat cheddar. I bought benecol spread and drinks but they ended up in the bin, far too sweet and full of additives so I still use butter but not too much. I’ve also bought high strength plant stanols in capsule form from Boots and take 2 every day. I’m trying to avoid ultra processed food and have a handy app on my phone called Yuka. It scans barcodes and gives a nutritional breakdown - Benecol products scored very low and were labelled bad whereas real Greek Yogurt (0%fat) scored high and was labelled excellent. If after all my efforts my cholesterol remains the same then I will take the statins.

Maggierose

I was also recently advised by my GP that my cholesterol was too high at 6.8. I decided that I would try to lower it myself for 3 months then take another test. I am cutting down on saturated fat, mostly by avoiding biscuits, chocolate and cheese. I have a dark chocolate binge occasionally and mostly use reduced fat cheddar. I bought benecol spread and drinks but they ended up in the bin, far too sweet and full of additives so I still use butter but not too much. I’ve also bought high strength plant stanols in capsule form from Boots and take 2 every day. I’m trying to avoid ultra processed food and have a handy app on my phone called Yuka. It scans barcodes and gives a nutritional breakdown - Benecol products scored very low and were labelled bad whereas real Greek Yogurt (0%fat) scored high and was labelled excellent. If after all my efforts my cholesterol remains the same then I will take the statins.

I could have written this post, last year my cholesterol was 5.3 and the doctor wanted me to take statins, in fact no discussion he just included them in my prescription.
I refused and cut down on fat, no red meat, no ultra processed food, - did try benecol but it’s so processed stopped eating it. I also take 2 plant stanols from Healthspan. After 6 months my cholesterol was 4.8 great I thought but GP still said I had to take statins. He said my risk of heart attack or stroke was 11% but breaking that down 10% was due to my age, which I can’t do anything about. So I have continued to refuse them.
Thanks for the tip on the Yuka app I will have a look.

My cholesterol is 6.8, I’m doing the same as Maggie Rose and making dietary changes. I have stopped eating red meat, very few snacks, lots of veg. I used to make food with coconut milk and realise this is very full of fat. Plus I tend to cook for 4 as my boys are still at home (moving out soon) and will cook big pots of food that might have cream or cheese etc in them. I walk the dog everyday and go to exercises twice a week. I think I just don’t realise what I was eating that was bad as it was not obviously processed food. A spoke to my dads HF nurse who said give it a bit longer than 3 months to see a difference.

Maggierose

I was also recently advised by my GP that my cholesterol was too high at 6.8. I decided that I would try to lower it myself for 3 months then take another test. I am cutting down on saturated fat, mostly by avoiding biscuits, chocolate and cheese. I have a dark chocolate binge occasionally and mostly use reduced fat cheddar. I bought benecol spread and drinks but they ended up in the bin, far too sweet and full of additives so I still use butter but not too much. I’ve also bought high strength plant stanols in capsule form from Boots and take 2 every day. I’m trying to avoid ultra processed food and have a handy app on my phone called Yuka. It scans barcodes and gives a nutritional breakdown - Benecol products scored very low and were labelled bad whereas real Greek Yogurt (0%fat) scored high and was labelled excellent. If after all my efforts my cholesterol remains the same then I will take the statins.

I tried this for 5 months with minimal change, so I take a statin, as do my brother and sister, my Dad did as well.

Boring old porridge in your diet can have a good effect on cholesterol, so having that for breakfast would help a little. Muesli too, but find one which is low in sugar.

Can you not control your high cholesterol yourself? Usually it’s caused by diet: eating fatty foods, not exercising enough and smoking and drinking - this can be found on the NHS website. So rather than take drugs and put a sticking plaster over the root cause, correct the problem and fine tune your diet and exercise?

Try diet, exercise and losing weight first. If that doesn't work, try supplements. The most researched supplements in the world for high cholesterol are called statins!

Robin202

Can you not control your high cholesterol yourself? Usually it’s caused by diet: eating fatty foods, not exercising enough and smoking and drinking - this can be found on the NHS website. So rather than take drugs and put a sticking plaster over the root cause, correct the problem and fine tune your diet and exercise?

You may not have read previous posts, some of us have tried that, to no avail. There is such a thing as familial hypercholesterolaemia, caused by faulty genes, causes high cholesterol and can be inherited, it affects 1 in 250 people.

Jaxjacky

Robin202

Can you not control your high cholesterol yourself? Usually it’s caused by diet: eating fatty foods, not exercising enough and smoking and drinking - this can be found on the NHS website. So rather than take drugs and put a sticking plaster over the root cause, correct the problem and fine tune your diet and exercise?

You may not have read previous posts, some of us have tried that, to no avail. There is such a thing as familial hypercholesterolaemia, caused by faulty genes, causes high cholesterol and can be inherited, it affects 1 in 250 people.

Not only that, but high cholesterol doesn't just happen overnight. It's the result of many years of imbalances, which can admittedly be mitigated by long-term healthy eating etc. No supplement is going to cure or even reverse liver damage in the short term, if at all.

A cholesterol of 9 is almost certainly due to genetic reasons. You will need to take a statin to lower it.

mumofmadboys

A cholesterol of 9 is almost certainly due to genetic reasons. You will need to take a statin to lower it.

Thank you, mumofmadboys. The only maybe “unhealthy” ?? habit I have is double cream in my coffee, 2 cups a day. Following a keto diet, was advised that it was less likely to raise sugar levels than skimmed milk.