On Friday, April 23, 2004, at 12:23  PM, Marylee wrote:
> My mother received her cholesterol results.  Total was 210, HDL was 80.


Anything over 50 HDL is good. 80 is excellent. 210 total is great,
especially if HDL is 80.
>  I
> don't know the other details, but can get them from her.

Check triglycerides. Lower is better, should be under a hundred.
>   Are there
> some "desirable" percentages of HDL to LDL or total, or other details
> we
> should consider?

If you check on the internet you can find medical sites that allow you
to plug in your numbers and they will give you an estimate of your
heart attack risk. One problem with these sites, and the whole
cholesterol thing too, is that they are fixated obsessively on heart
attacks, ignoring other health risks such as cancer and stroke. Heart
attacks do go up slightly at high cholesterol levels, but what they
don't tell you is that cancer risk falls as cholesterol rises, and so
does stroke. Mental illness, violence, suicide and early death are also
linked to low cholesterol. If any of these things run in your family,
shoot for higher cholesterol!

So there are many good reasons to take cholesterol with a grain of
salt. Your Mom's values are smack in the middle anyway.