Supplements for high Cholesterol anyone?

It is not so much the cholesterol but the carbohydrates and sugars which cause the problems. Cholesterol is a fat which passes easily along the blood vessels until it gets hooked up on the spikey sugar which is doing the actual damage. Cutting down on fats in the diet keep the test results low. Cutting down on carbs and sugars keep your energy levels high and your health better overall.

My brilliant GP and me have an agreement. When my cholesterol is a shade too high he offers me statins. I say no thank you, but agree to bring it down using lifestyle choice within 3 months.
To do this I cut down (not eliminate) the butter, take red yeast rice capsules, and plant sterols.
I also take nearly 3 grams a day of EPA and DHA Omega-3 fats for achy bones, and this also contributes to raising the HDL which improves the ratio. It is also good to cut down on sugar and carbs.
Good luck.
We do have familial high cholesterol in our family. Don't know whether I do but children do.

Doctors here panic if cholesterol levels go over 6! My Mum, who lived in the UK, had very high cholesterol and didn’t take statins. She developed heart failure and eventually died from a heart attack. I often wonder if she might have lived longer if she had taken them. I would be very worried if I had a level of 9.

petra

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.

I've always understood that for some people diet can help but for many the problem is genetic. A friend's wife is a nutritionist and was ultra-careful with his diet but it made very little difference to him. On statins his cholesterol plummeted to virtually normal.
I take statins and do have some stiffness in my joints but for me it is a price worth paying for a longer life.

22Maggierose
Thank you so nuch for your post. I was using Benecol but I won't be now. I'll save some money as well. 🤣

I think most people over 60 will have high cholesterol and GPS seem to be happy to prescribe statins for anyone. I had a chat with my GP and he was happy for me to try Plant Sterols from British Supplements, the reviews show that in many cases they work. If my cholesterol hasn’t come down after 12 months I will think about statins. My brother at 75 was advised to take them 10 years ago but didn’t and his cholesterol is still classed as high but hasn’t increased, it’s everyone’s choice I guess
www.british-supplements.net/products/clean-plant-sterols-95-phytosterol-b-sitosterol-40-stigmasterol-30-campesterol-20?variant=27921281548362

Most of the cholesterol in your body is made by your liver; relatively little is directly from diet. In general eating a healthy diet is, of course, very sensible, but properly high cholesterol - particularly high LDL cholesterol - is really only treatable with medicines. But marginally high cholesterol is probably best tackled through diet and exercise in the first instance.

Statins didn't work for us as we both had bad leg pains now we take Ezetimibe which seem to work

I was told many years ago that my cholesterol was high but because of the ratio between good and bad cholesterol it was OK. This was at least 12 yrs ago and it's never been tested since. Are you able to actually go and ask for a cholesterol test at the GP's nowadays even if no problems?

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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?

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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

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.