Hi,

Thanks for your cholesterol query, and for raising an interesting subject that can cause a lot of (sometimes) unnecessary worry and confusion.

For a start 5.4 is not a high result. It can be considered slightly raised and is certainly on the cusp between acceptable and less desirable results, but actually is around the average for the UK population and must be taken in context. Most doctors would recommend just keeping an eye on it and only taking action if it started to rise, or became combined with other risk factors like high blood pressure, raised blood glucose (the precursor to diabetes) or high blood triglyceride levels.

And here’s the critical point - your blood cholesterol HAS NOT CHANGED over 25 years and so is very unlikely to be a problem in your individual case. And, as you point out, you have a healthy lifestyle with no smoking, low fat, exercise etc, which means a slightly raised cholesterol level (perhaps just the result of your genetic makeup) is of little consequence. Exercise can raise the level of HDL in the blood (the good sort that takes cholesterol out of circulation) so it may also be that you have a healthy high ratio of HDL to LDL types. If you think it is going to be comforting to you to find out, you should ask your doctor for this breakdown.

In the meantime, remember that staying in your healthy BMI range will also lower your heart disease risk. Avoiding too many saturated fats (in meats, dairy, pastries etc) whilst having more unsaturated (in nuts, seeds, olive oil etc) will also help. You could also have a daily shot of one of those cholesterol-lowering yogurt drinks if you wanted to, but quite honestly you appear to have nothing to worry about.

I hope this is a comfort to you and that you can relax!