Low carb and raised cholesterol

[BobbleHat]

My diabetes was diagnosed from my annual well woman bloods - alongside raised cholesterol. My risk of cardiovascular disease is still well below 10% so my diabetes nurse said no statins for now.
Also my diagnosis was from hba1c of 56 then 52 so again, she's happy for me to try a diet/exercise approach at present.
I've been gently low carb since my first Hba1c - and more structured low carb since the second. Already down 7lbs! And really enjoying the food actually.
I'm only tracking carbs - as a history of disordered eating makes it triggering for me to try look at kcals. But the app can show that and I am naturally reducing calories anyway by following the Freshwell approach and trying to eat two large meals a day most days (still eating three on my hungry days but definitely reducing snacks).
The issue is that when I do glance at the nutrient profile of what I'm eating, it shows the saturated fat content is still higher than advised.
I'm still learning and my feeling at the moment is to focus on managing my diabetes, see how that goes and then, if cholesterol is still problematic in 3 months when I get retested, consider it then. To be honest, I only have the mental capacity to cope with having one chronic condition right now!
But I wondered if anyone else who is managing both diabetes and raised cholesterol has any wise words?

 

[Martin.A]

But I wondered if anyone else who is managing both diabetes and raised cholesterol has any wise words?

I had raised cholesterol at diagnosis but have got it down to below 5 without statins. I track my saturated fat intake as well as my carbs and manage to keep below RDA most days. Admittedly the RDA for the 'average' man is 30g per day and for the 'average' woman is 20g per day, so it's a little easier for me. I also have a Benecol with my breakfast every day and use a Benecol spread on bread, when mashing cauliflower or celeriac, or melted onto the veg in a hot meal.

 

[Sharron1]

My diabetes was diagnosed from my annual well woman bloods - alongside raised cholesterol. My risk of cardiovascular disease is still well below 10% so my diabetes nurse said no statins for now.
Also my diagnosis was from hba1c of 56 then 52 so again, she's happy for me to try a diet/exercise approach at present.
I've been gently low carb since my first Hba1c - and more structured low carb since the second. Already down 7lbs! And really enjoying the food actually.
I'm only tracking carbs - as a history of disordered eating makes it triggering for me to try look at kcals. But the app can show that and I am naturally reducing calories anyway by following the Freshwell approach and trying to eat two large meals a day most days (still eating three on my hungry days but definitely reducing snacks).
The issue is that when I do glance at the nutrient profile of what I'm eating, it shows the saturated fat content is still higher than advised.
I'm still learning and my feeling at the moment is to focus on managing my diabetes, see how that goes and then, if cholesterol is still problematic in 3 months when I get retested, consider it then. To be honest, I only have the mental capacity to cope with having one chronic condition right now!
But I wondered if anyone else who is managing both diabetes and raised cholesterol has any wise words?

It is difficult, I tried monitoring my saturated fat according to guidelines for women. Didn't make that much difference. I am not anti Statin and I can appreciate the benefit of taking it.

I have for a diabetic cholestrol of 6.3 which is above the preferred number of 4. Other factors are good, Hba1c, BP and weight. However, I was endlessly pestered to take a Statin.I finally gave in and the result was it did wonders for my Cholestrol (3.2) , no obvious side effects however it elevated my liver enzymes. An emergency call from GP and told to stop taking the Statin immediately. After some regular trips to hospital for blood tests, my liver enzymes returned to normal.

The GP told me there are other Statins I could could try or other non Statin Cholestrol lowering drugs. Although talking to the pharmacist I have since learnt these work better alongside a Statin. I decided to wait until my next Hba1c test to see my cholestrol number, however I am pretty sure I won't go down the Statin route again. I had no outwardlly symptoms and don't want to risk a repeat performance, way too nervous. The situation was not helped by GP marking each blood test label as URGENT. I couldn't speak to anyone to explain the reason for urgency and was left to my own research . I did put a complaint in, but suspect it went the way of complaints ie in the bin.

Good luck.

 

[rebrascora]

I didn't track or worry about my other nutrients, just follow a low carb way of eating and actually I eat a lot of saturated fats because I have double cream in my coffee every morning and cheese at least once every day and fatty meat and creamy Greek style yoghurt every day and I found that my cholesterol actually reduced from 5.2 to mid 4s despite eating significantly more saturated fat, so personally I don't see saturated fats as a problem. I do use a daily fibre supplement drink which is high in soluble fibre to help with my digestive tract health but that can also help with cholesterol, so it may be a factor in my levels coming down a bit, but like you I can only focus on one thing at a time and I eat for my diabetes and maybe I am lucky but everything else mostly seems to take care of itself.
What are your current/most recent cholesterol results? I think it is one thing having TC levels at up at say 8 or 9 ie high, compared to having levels at 5 or 6 (moderate) which may resolve with a low carb approach anyway, even with more saturated fats than recommended.

 

[JITR]

Just a passing thought - have you tried oats or barley? They contain beta glucan which is said to lower cholesterol.

https://zoe.com/learn/can-eating-oats-reduce-cholesterol.

Also you can reduce their GL by putting them in the freezer (or the fridge?) overnight.

Have a look at @s'nic's recent posts, she got her cholesterol down to avoid taking statins as I recall.

 

[Leadinglights]

I didn't bother about anything other than carbs, just a piece of paper and a pencil. I was already on a low dose statin before diagnosis and continued with that and cholesterol etc is low even though I eat full fat but with low carb regime.

 

[s'nic]

I'm not anti-statin, but I do have dodgy kidneys, so I want to minimise any avoidable meds.
Like @Martin.A I track carbs and saturated fats at present, and I use a supermarket brand 'benecol type' drink for lowering cholesterol.
I also use oats or oatbran to reduce cholesterol as advised by heart.org.uk - 1.5 grams of β-glucan a day (3g is quoted as a cholesterol busting aid) https://www.heartuk.org.uk/low-cholesterol-foods/the-wonder-of-oats-
(here's a tip - oatbran contains more beta-glucan per 100g, and less carbs, so it may be a slightly better choice if you find oats raise your blood sugars).
Full details of my cholesterol reduction are in this post, with details of the eating plan I followed in my first post - http://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/cholesterol-hba1c-egfr-results.113298/post-1368050

A number of members have reported as @rebrascora did, that a higher fat and low carb diet resulted in lower cholesterol levels without statins. Carbs can contribute to cholesterol so maybe that is why, I can't claim that as solid fact, but I have read in numerous reputable sites that carbs do contribute to cholesterol.
We are all individuals, and our bodies can react differently to another persons. I did not want to wonder whether or not my 6 month test would be higher or lower which is why I decided to go the low saturated fat route (unsaturated fat doesn't matter).

 

[BobbleHat]

I had raised cholesterol at diagnosis but have got it down to below 5 without statins. I track my saturated fat intake as well as my carbs and manage to keep below RDA most days. Admittedly the RDA for the 'average' man is 30g per day and for the 'average' woman is 20g per day, so it's a little easier for me. I also have a Benecol with my breakfast every day and use a Benecol spread on bread, when mashing cauliflower or celeriac, or melted onto the veg in a hot meal.

Thank you. After you said this, I went back and had a look at the app and realised that it had had automatically tweaked the ratios for 'good' levels and 'bad' ones, in proportion to me setting it to low carb.
So it was counting anything more than 10g a day of saturated fat as over! Once I put it back manually to the 'average' allowance of 20g, I only had one day when I was high in saturates and that was the day I had air fried halloumi sticks with my dinner instead of potatoes! They were delicious so I'm not sorry but maybe I'll have 2 instead of 3 next time!
I love the things I'm learning from this forum. I hadn't thought about things like Benecol to help - definitely going to look at potentially adding something like that to my diet.

 

[Martin.A]

At a T2 session run by our surgery last year a GP showed us a scatter graph, released by the WHO, showing the number of cases of CVD by cholesterol levels across multiple countries. The CVD events were predominantly amongst people with cholesterol levels between 3.0 and 7.0, but when a line was inserted at 5.0 there was no discernible difference between the number of events in the range 3.0 to 5.0 and those in the range 5.0 to 7.0, which was a bit of a surprise to everyone in the room.

 

[BobbleHat]

It is difficult, I tried monitoring my saturated fat according to guidelines for women. Didn't make that much difference. I am not anti Statin and I can appreciate the benefit of taking it.

I have for a diabetic cholestrol of 6.3 which is above the preferred number of 4. Other factors are good, Hba1c, BP and weight. However, I was endlessly pestered to take a Statin.I finally gave in and the result was it did wonders for my Cholestrol (3.2) , no obvious side effects however it elevated my liver enzymes. An emergency call from GP and told to stop taking the Statin immediately. After some regular trips to hospital for blood tests, my liver enzymes returned to normal.

The GP told me there are other Statins I could could try or other non Statin Cholestrol lowering drugs. Although talking to the pharmacist I have since learnt these work better alongside a Statin. I decided to wait until my next Hba1c test to see my cholestrol number, however I am pretty sure I won't go down the Statin route again. I had no outwardlly symptoms and don't want to risk a repeat performance, way too nervous. The situation was not helped by GP marking each blood test label as URGENT. I couldn't speak to anyone to explain the reason for urgency and was left to my own research . I did put a complaint in, but suspect it went the way of complaints ie in the bin.

Good luck.

Thank you @Sharron1. I'm sorry that you've been messed around like that. I hope the next blood test brings good news.
I'm fortunate not to have needed the NHS much until now (aside from pregnancies!) but I'm realising that a) diabetes/other comorbidities is very complex and hcp don't always agree and b) there is a definite postcode element to what happens.
I'm also not averse to statins if needed. I've just never been one for taking tablets, not even paracetamol so suddenly finding myself with multiple conditions potentially requiring meds is just something I'll take time to process I think.

 

[BobbleHat]

I didn't track or worry about my other nutrients, just follow a low carb way of eating and actually I eat a lot of saturated fats because I have double cream in my coffee every morning and cheese at least once every day and fatty meat and creamy Greek style yoghurt every day and I found that my cholesterol actually reduced from 5.2 to mid 4s despite eating significantly more saturated fat, so personally I don't see saturated fats as a problem. I do use a daily fibre supplement drink which is high in soluble fibre to help with my digestive tract health but that can also help with cholesterol, so it may be a factor in my levels coming down a bit, but like you I can only focus on one thing at a time and I eat for my diabetes and maybe I am lucky but everything else mostly seems to take care of itself.
What are your current/most recent cholesterol results? I think it is one thing having TC levels at up at say 8 or 9 ie high, compared to having levels at 5 or 6 (moderate) which may resolve with a low carb approach anyway, even with more saturated fats than recommended.

Oh my goodness. I am living for my Greek yoghurt and berries every day!
My serum cholesterol was 6.1 so fingers crossed for a reduction by eating for diabetes!
I know the Freshwell guides talked about the fact that there still isn't powerful evidence one way or another to say about fats & cholesterol and it remains controversial. I also know anecdote isn't data but, meh, hopefully I'll be my own data set like you and manage to reduce my cholesterol profile with this way of eating!

 

[BobbleHat]

Just a passing thought - have you tried oats or barley? They contain beta glucan which is said to lower cholesterol.

https://zoe.com/learn/can-eating-oats-reduce-cholesterol.

Also you can reduce their GL by putting them in the freezer (or the fridge?) overnight.

Have a look at @s'nic's recent posts, she got her cholesterol down to avoid taking statins as I recall.

I did start eating more oats after the first blood test but then saw stuff about oats NOT being good for BG so backed right off! I'm waiting on some testing stuff coming (hopefully tomorrow) so that I can monitor my BG in response to meals and personalise what I'm eating. I hope I'm a diabetic who can manage some oats without too many issues as I do like overnight oats as a quick and easy option when I'm at work on long shifts.

 

[s'nic]

I hadn't thought about things like Benecol to help - definitely going to look at potentially adding something like that to my diet.

Benecol contains plant stanols, supermarket brands contain plant sterols. They both do the same thing, but the supermarket brand should work out a lot cheaper 😉

And looking into this I just found this page which is informative - https://www.heartuk.org.uk/four-cholesterol-lowering-foods/sterols-and-stanols
It also says "Plant sterols and stanol esters are naturally found in plant foods in very small quantities. Over the course of a day, plant foods will provide up to 24mg of plant stanol esters and 600mg of sterols."

The page regarding nuts indicates they assist with cholesterol too, which may help explain why a low carb, higher saturated fat diet (likely to contain more veg/salad/nuts) does not impact cholesterol

Nuts

Lower cholesterol with information, support and tasty recipes.

www.heartuk.org.uk

"A daily handful of nuts (28g), unsalted and unsweetened, has been proven to lower LDL cholesterol and reduce CVD risk by up to 21%.
It is the nutrient profile of nuts that contributes to improved lipids and cardiovascular health: they are rich in unsaturated fats, a variety of fibres, plant sterols, minerals including potassium and magnesium, and the antioxidant vitamins beta-carotene and vitamin E."

 

[BobbleHat]

I didn't bother about anything other than carbs, just a piece of paper and a pencil. I was already on a low dose statin before diagnosis and continued with that and cholesterol etc is low even though I eat full fat but with low carb regime.

So refreshing to hear people just focusing on the carbs and not complicating stuff. I'm still at the 'rabbit in the headlights' phase and bewildering myself with all the facts and figures. This thread has reassured me that I can sort the eating for diabetes and not necessarily sent my cholesterol soaring. Thank you.

 

[s'nic]

I did start eating more oats after the first blood test but then saw stuff about oats NOT being good for BG so backed right off! I'm waiting on some testing stuff coming (hopefully tomorrow) so that I can monitor my BG in response to meals and personalise what I'm eating. I hope I'm a diabetic who can manage some oats without too many issues as I do like overnight oats as a quick and easy option when I'm at work on long shifts.

You can do the same with oatbran for a slightly lower carb version. I mix oatbran with yogurt and roughly squished berries. The squishing means their juice naturally flavours and sweetens the yogurt without need for sugar or any other sweetener

 

[BobbleHat]

Benecol contains plant stanols, supermarket brands contain plant sterols. They both do the same thing, but the supermarket brand should work out a lot cheaper 😉

And looking into this I just found this page which is informative - https://www.heartuk.org.uk/four-cholesterol-lowering-foods/sterols-and-stanols
It also says "Plant sterols and stanol esters are naturally found in plant foods in very small quantities. Over the course of a day, plant foods will provide up to 24mg of plant stanol esters and 600mg of sterols."

The page regarding nuts indicates they assist with cholesterol too, which may help explain why a low carb, higher saturated fat diet (likely to contain more veg/salad/nuts) does not impact cholesterol

Nuts

Lower cholesterol with information, support and tasty recipes.

www.heartuk.org.uk

"A daily handful of nuts (28g), unsalted and unsweetened, has been proven to lower LDL cholesterol and reduce CVD risk by up to 21%.
It is the nutrient profile of nuts that contributes to improved lipids and cardiovascular health: they are rich in unsaturated fats, a variety of fibres, plant sterols, minerals including potassium and magnesium, and the antioxidant vitamins beta-carotene and vitamin E."

I'm excited by all this! I'm rediscovering a love of nuts after years thinking I didn't like them.
And yes, I should have said Benecol - or cheaper Benecol like products - in my post!

 

[JITR]

Dr Malcolm Kendrick is a GP who has written books about cholesterol. Here is one of his papers with an appropriate title for this thread: ‘Why saturated fat cannot raise cholesterol levels (LDL levels)’

Why saturated fat cannot raise cholesterol levels (LDL levels)

3rd July 2018 “Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.’ H.L. Mencken. Of all the flaws of the …

drmalcolmkendrick.org

Make of it what you will!

 

[AndBreathe]

My diabetes was diagnosed from my annual well woman bloods - alongside raised cholesterol. My risk of cardiovascular disease is still well below 10% so my diabetes nurse said no statins for now.
Also my diagnosis was from hba1c of 56 then 52 so again, she's happy for me to try a diet/exercise approach at present.
I've been gently low carb since my first Hba1c - and more structured low carb since the second. Already down 7lbs! And really enjoying the food actually.
I'm only tracking carbs - as a history of disordered eating makes it triggering for me to try look at kcals. But the app can show that and I am naturally reducing calories anyway by following the Freshwell approach and trying to eat two large meals a day most days (still eating three on my hungry days but definitely reducing snacks).
The issue is that when I do glance at the nutrient profile of what I'm eating, it shows the saturated fat content is still higher than advised.
I'm still learning and my feeling at the moment is to focus on managing my diabetes, see how that goes and then, if cholesterol is still problematic in 3 months when I get retested, consider it then. To be honest, I only have the mental capacity to cope with having one chronic condition right now!
But I wondered if anyone else who is managing both diabetes and raised cholesterol has any wise words?

Bobbie - are you losing weight at the moment?

The reason I ask is that some find their cholesterol rises whilst losing weight, then it often settles down a bit once the individual is stable.

 

[harbottle]

Dr Malcolm Kendrick is a GP who has written books about cholesterol. Here is one of his papers with an appropriate title for this thread: ‘Why saturated fat cannot raise cholesterol levels (LDL levels)’

Why saturated fat cannot raise cholesterol levels (LDL levels)

3rd July 2018 “Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.’ H.L. Mencken. Of all the flaws of the …

drmalcolmkendrick.org

Make of it what you will!

Wellllll:

Malcolm Kendrick

Malcolm Kendrick is a Scottish General Practitioner (GP), conspiracy theorist author, cholesterol denialist and low-carb diet advocate who has spent decades promoting the Atkins diet and more recently the carnivore diet.[3][4][5] He is best known for his controversial claim that low-density...

rationalwiki.org

Kendrick’s views and his book don’t appear to be supported by much evidence.

 

[harbottle]

And some of his claims are factually incorrect:

The Great Cholesterol Con-Artist: Malcolm Kendrick

Why Malcolm Kendrick is wrong claiming high carb diets raise LDL and cause heart disease.

carbsanity.blogspot.com