My mother's cardiologist is the head of cardiology at Lehigh Valley
Hospital.  My mother likes him and won't change.

He wants her LDL as low as possible - but he said in the process it would
pull her TC down but that did not matter because no # was too low for LDL or
TC.  That raised a warning flag for me because I remember the Eades' graph
on deaths from all causes rising when TC goes below 182 I think.  It
irritated me that he stressed that there were NO studies to show otherwise
when there definitely are.  Here is one:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/311/7002/409

I just had blood work done through my natural Gyn, and my numbers after
eating LC/Paleo for 10.5 years (I eat fatty meats and all visible fat along
with a lot of veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds):

TC - 163
LDL - 80
HDL - 76
Triglycerides - 33
Fasting Glucose - 89
CRP - .2

And here, the health powers that be would have you believe that I should be
dead from all the sat fat I consume!

Paula H.

-----Original Message-----
From: Paleolithic Eating Support List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Paleo Phil

Yes, and unfortunately the cardiologist is focusing on a sub-optimal figure
when it comes to determining what is "too low." Since total cholesterol
includes BOTH bad and GOOD cholesterol, it makes much more sense to look at
the individual elements than at the total figure.

The studies cited by the Second Opinions site do look interesting, but I
don't know whether there has been enough study of the subject to determine
what level of total cholesterol is too low, and the mix of good and bad
elements in total cholesterol complicates such studies. 


Perhaps your cardiologist meant LDL instead of total cholesterol? 

If the cardiologist is so thick-headed that he won't discuss anything other
than total cholesterol, then it's time to get a new cardiologist.