Cholesterol numbers higher today, a few questions

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Cholesterol numbers higher today, a few questions

Postby MimiB-01 » Wed Jul 01, 2015 5:11 pm

Hello, Today I got a quick free finger prick cholesterol test at a health fair at work. I was eager to see great improvement since I started to be plant-based only with no oils 3 weeks ago and I've stepped up my exercise too, regular walks and aqua fitness classes. The last test I had was just in May- Total cholesterol was 246 and HDL was 61. Today Total Cholesterol is 269 and HDL is 32.
They only tested for Total Cholesterol and HDL and Glucose. No fasting required and results in 7 minutes.
Glucose is in the good range.
My concern is the cholesterol numbers are higher than what I had in May before I started the program.
I've been sticking on the program strictly with one exception, I drank one cup of coffee with some 2% grass-fed milk each morning the first week.
So, no more coffee and now off dairy completely for the past 2 weeks. I did have one tablespoon of peanut butter this morning at 9 AM.
The test was done at 1:30 PM.
My Questions:
1. Is this an expected result for having been on the program this long or does it usually take longer to see cholesterol numbers coming down?
2. Could this morning's peanut butter affect my cholesterol reading?
3. Is a quick finger prick non-fasting cholesterol test reliable?
4. Should I be concerned?
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Re: Cholesterol numbers higher today, a few questions

Postby dteresa » Wed Jul 01, 2015 6:09 pm

I do not think three weeks is long enough to show improvement.

Each test you get is merely a snapshot.

I would not trust a finger prick instead of a blood draw.

Cholesterol is taken by venous blood draw after eight to twelve hours fasting. You did not fast before the test.

When I had an MI, my cholesterol in the hospital was tested at 166. On statins for a couple of months it went down to 138. When I went off statins it rose to 158. A test one year later was 118. I was one hundred percent compliant. No animal food, dairy or any fats or oils. Unless what you ate was natural peanut butter with nothing but peanuts and maybe some salt, it would have had palm oil, a saturated fat, in it. If you had this kind of peanut butter in the morning and a non fasting, possibly not too accurate test and have only eaten this way for a short time, I would not worry about these results. In a year if you have a blood draw and have been compliant with this woe I suspect your numbers will be a lot better.

didi
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Re: Cholesterol numbers higher today, a few questions

Postby MimiB-01 » Wed Jul 01, 2015 6:36 pm

Thanks for your reply, didi. This helps me quite a bit. I had a feeling it might be something like this but I needed another opinion.
This is the first time I ever tried testing my cholesterol by finger stick and not fasting.

The peanut butter I had this morning is Smart Balance and it does have the ingredient "Natural Oils (Palm fruit and Flax seed oils)".

I was just really surprised by the result (cholesterol up by so much) and wondered if somehow it must be a mistake. I have already lost 3.5 lbs (one of my goals is to lose weight), am feeling great lately and have a lot more energy than before since I have been on this program (and without coffee too!). I'm sticking with this program and so is my husband (he is down 10 lbs and feeling great too). We really feel like this is the right track, and we are sticking with it! :-D
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Re: Cholesterol numbers higher today, a few questions

Postby PurplePotato » Wed Jul 01, 2015 9:40 pm

MimiB-01 wrote:I have already lost 3.5 lbs (one of my goals is to lose weight), am feeling great lately and have a lot more energy than before since I have been on this program (and without coffee too!). I'm sticking with this program and so is my husband (he is down 10 lbs and feeling great too). We really feel like this is the right track, and we are sticking with it! :-D


This is much more important than a number. The purpose of bio-markers is to approximate someone's health and well-being, and you are already seeing these improve. You can leave the worrying about numbers to Pfizer :-D
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Re: Cholesterol numbers higher today, a few questions

Postby dteresa » Thu Jul 02, 2015 1:03 am

They could put arsenic in any food on the supermarket shelves and say everything in the product was natural. And not be lying. Arsenic is natural. So is palm fruit oil. I believe processed food guys use the term palm fruit oil because people are more likely to buy the product if it says palm fruit oil(fruit is healthy, right?) than if it just says palm oil, which people are aware is a saturated fat. Maybe they think the word fruit in the label means a healthy fat.

didi
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Re: Cholesterol numbers higher today, a few questions

Postby brec » Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:53 am

dteresa wrote:... Cholesterol is taken by venous blood draw after eight to twelve hours fasting. You did not fast before the test....

Isn't the fasting required (only) for a meaningful triglycerides result?
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Re: Cholesterol numbers higher today, a few questions

Postby brec » Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:59 am

MimiB-01 wrote:... (cholesterol up by so much) ...

246 to 269 is an increase of 9%. I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me -- I've had dozens of tests over the years -- if that were in the range of normal measurement error.

As to how long to wait after a dietary or medication change to see the effect on serum cholesterol: I don't know, but would like to.
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Re: Cholesterol numbers higher today, a few questions

Postby dteresa » Thu Jul 02, 2015 8:38 am

RE: fasting before a cholesterol test. I have read that some studies say it matters and some say it doesn't matter. If you are having a blood panel done you will be fasting anyway so the point is moot. I also believe I read that it makes a difference if you have had a high fat meal before the test if you are not fasting. I think even coffee can raise cholesterol levels.

I do not know if it matters whether you fast or not if you are eating wfpb no fat. Sounds reasonable that it might not, at least for cholesterol. And what if your diet is awash in sat fat and cholesterol? Another situation when there might be no difference whether fasting or not fasting.

At any rate, do people have their blood drawn just for a cholesterol test? I don't know if that is usual or unusual.

didi
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Re: Cholesterol numbers higher today, a few questions

Postby ETeSelle » Thu Jul 02, 2015 8:46 am

A few points:

Fasting DOES matter. Triglycerides are one component of total cholesterol. They can't give you a TC number without tris.

Peanut butter is full of fat. Fat does raise cholesterol. I know this very well b/c when I was a vegan eating added fat, my cholesterol was 180. When I lost the fat, it went down to 123.

Finger-prick tests are notoriously inaccurate.

If you want an accurate test, fast 12 hours beforehand and go to the doctor for a real test. And stop eating high fat foods if you really want to improve your test results (and your health!). :-)
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Re: Cholesterol numbers higher today, a few questions

Postby brec » Thu Jul 02, 2015 3:13 pm

ETeSelle wrote:... Fasting DOES matter. Triglycerides are one component of total cholesterol. They can't give you a TC number without tris. ...


To say that (triglycerides) TGs must be measured separately (if that's what you're saying) because they are a component of total cholesterol is a non sequitur. --Which is not to say that this or that specific testing technique does or doesn't require a separate TGs measurement.

For example, in the most widely-used technique, TC, HDL, and TG are all measured and LDL is calculated from them using a (questionable) equation. Other techniques measure LDL directly; I've been getting so-called VAP tests which do that.

So it would be wrong, for example to say "LDL is one component of total cholesterol. They can't give you a TC number without LDL."
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