On Sat, 4 May 2013 08:51:38 +0100, Tim Lamb
wrote:

In message , polygonum
writes
On 04/05/2013 07:57, John Williamson wrote:
Tim Lamb wrote:
There was a lot of interest last time this was aired but I was left
with a few unanswered questions...

How significant is the fat in processed Pork slices as I find it a
very convenient source of sandwich filling?

How linear is the response to dose levels? A recent test found 4.2
total (2.4 LDL) for a dose of 20mg. Pre-statins, I had levels of 6.8
and 7.2 total. I would like to drop the dose to 10mg.

I asked how long it takes for the body to return to normal after
stopping medication and was told 2 weeks. I was also told to resume
treatment to double check any noted changes.

I am not a medical expert, but I've read that only about 10% of the
cholesterol in your blood is directly due to your diet, the rest is
internally generated. I could be wrong, of course.

I believe there is quite some truth in that.

High cholesterol is often related to inadequate thyroid hormone. To the
extent that high cholesterol was used as an indicator of hypothyroidism
in the days before suitable blood tests were available.

Have no idea whatsoever about the pork slices you eat. At least read
the packet and tell us what they contain!

Almost nothing in medicine is strictly linear - so I would tend to
assume the response is not linear.

You could do worse than go off and look at some papers:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?...esponse+linear

Ah! Ta. Looks linear over normal dose rates.

If the dietary effect is only 10%, I think I will ignore my wife's
mutterings:-)

I've heard the same 10percent-ish thing too.

I went to the surgery for something else and had a
while-you-are-here-we-might-as-well-give-you-a bloodtest which proved
a little high in the cholesterol stakes.

As it happened, it came after a week of unusual over-indulgence in
high-cholesterol stuff so I asked if I could do it again after a more
normal spell. Well, I didn't go normal, I went non-cholesterol. I
spent an incredibly boring fortnight eating and drinking nothing
higher in cholesterol than lettuce, determined to drag the numbers
down.

I had another test.

It was higher.

Nick