Cholesterol-how low is too low?
 

My oldest son had some blood work recently. Everything is fine and in range according to the docs. However, his cholesterol is 110 mg/dl. He is not a vegetarian or an athlete and he is not on a gluten free diet. He is a busy teenager who is 6'3" and weighs 150 pounds. To me this low cholesterol indicates malabsorption but these days the doctors are only concerned with high cholesterol. Any thoughts?
--Judy

From my limited understanding, cholesterol is a ratio/balance thing... kind of like omega 3 and 6s.

I can tell you that I did find some information about dietary oils and how they affect cholesterol.

Olive oil brings the 'good' up and the 'bad' down.

Grapeseed oil bring them both up.

It was a pretty general study/article and I can't remember where it is right now but I bet you could find it if you googled it.

That being said, dh is slightly high on cholesterol (by one point - which some people scoff at) but we ingest grapeseed oil every day in our house and have done for several years. Still, I did make sure to get some olive oil for him to put on his food instead but he prefers the grapeseed as it's milder.

Oh, I almost forgot all the oils are raw... not heated... that's very important as it turns into a bit of a different beast the minute you heat it up.

That's all I've got on cholesterol and dietary oils.

for a total number...
 

110 is quite low. How old is your son?

Cholesterol synthesis is controlled by genetics and the liver.
Food sources shut down the liver if excessive, and if food sources of cholesterol are limited, then the liver makes more.

As people age, their cholesterol goes up.
I think 150 lbs for a person 6foot 3 is very low weight.
If this is just genetic, that he is this thin, then that is it.

What are the cholesterol readings for the rest of the adults in your family?
It just might be that your son will catch up as he ages.
Cholesterol is a precursor to the manufacture of hormones in the body, and
is probably being used up rapidly as your son had this growth spurt.
After about age 25, he might see that number change.

Was the reading done fasting? that is also important. If it were after a meal
even 3-4 hrs after, it should be higher.

If you are concerned...time for some Omega-3 eggs for breakfast. But I wouldn't worry yet.

My son is 17 and has not grown significantly in height for a couple of years. He has always been very thin. The blood draw was done a few hours after lunch. Some of the grandparents have high cholesterol.

One time when my cholesterol was 140 my OBGYN called to tell be how good it was. My holistic doctor told me a few weeks later that it was too low and reflected my weak adrenals.

--Judy

Judy,

I am assuming you have had him tested on all fronts. I can tell you without question that if it were my son, I would take him off gluten. Of course, I already have both my sons off gluten. All of my Uncles are built exactly as you describe your son....extremely tall, extremely skinny. They did not age well (if they aged at all). I would take him off gluten.

I am adding more to this because I think I should elaborate. I think in some families, gluten intolerance stretches far beyond those who are celiac and those who aren't. My mom had six brothers and sisters. Two of her sibings, one brother, one sister, totally flaked out in their 30s, early 40s. Suddenly, her brother who was a successful lawyer, became unable to handle life. He pretty much checked out, left his family, and disappeared (until the insurance company found him 7years later) and lived in a low rent boarding house taking odd jobs to make ends meet until he died at age 60. Her sister did the same thing but was married with four kids. She was pretty much unable to function normally, could not take care of her kids and died for some unknown reason at age 50. I am very sensitive to this because that was exactly where I was headed without a celiac/gluten intolerance diagnosis. I suddenly could not function. I couldn't get out of bed, I couldn't think straight and I was hardly able to participate with my husband and children. I am still healing after 4 years GF, but I am doing great.

I only mention the two out of the six that had tragic endings. One other brother got completely emaciated (six foot three or something), and had so little energy I would constantly ask my mother what was wrong with him. My mother actually fared better than the rest but she has auto-immune thyroid, diabetes type II, and severe ezcema. (Mom is off gluten now). Of the remaining two siblings, one was much older than my mother and died before I really knew him. My mom's younger brother seems to be ok but recently recovered from some sort of auto-immune blood condition.

I won't mention the demise of my cousins as that would get lengthy. However, suffice it to say that history repeats itself. I now have five cousins off of gluten.

So Judy, when I hear about all your family problems, it sounds just like mine. I just don't think anyone in my family should be eating gluten. Too risky.

Grace

Three years ago my fasting cholesterol was 104 mg/dl. I always thought the low level was because of my vegan diet (I consume zero cholesterol). I know you said your son isn't a vegetarian, but does he eat a "typical" amount of meat and dairy products?

Actually for most people dietary cholesterol doesn't have much effect on blood cholesterol. People doing CR (Calorie restriction, intentionally undereating by 20-30% for longevity) have very low cholesterol and count it as a good bio marker. But then again, very ill people can also have low cholesterol. IMHO, it's hard to judge a person's overall health based on their cholesterol.

Here's an interesting site of Cholesterol Skeptics: http://www.thincs.org/

Interesting. I have never heard this. I remember some press a year or so ago about a low-fat vegan diet lowering cholesterol as well as or better than the statin drugs in many cases. Dr. Dean Ornish did a study on this several years ago. Dr. T. Colin Campbell's book, The China Study, addresses this too - he found that in the rural Chinese counties where his 20-year study took place, people ate very little animal products and on average had 1/2 the cholesterol rates of people in this country... as well as significantly less cancer, autoimmune disease, heart disease, etc. Its a good plug for a vegan diet, but after joining this group (BT pick your #:p ), I'm thinking his control group probably also ate very little gluten. I'd love to know! That could certainly skew the results. Anyway, I don't want to turn this into a debate. I've come to believe that there are "studies" for just about every side of every story, and we all just have to do what we think is best. :)

I remember seeing an article about symptoms of celiac disease that including abnormally low cholesterol. Just don't remember where so I was hoping someone else remembered seeing it.

I need to set up a gluten file of my own for the abstracts I read that everyone posts. If the old site was up I could search there. I'm vegan and my cholesterol is 159. Not abnormally low and on par with the typical Asian.
Leslie

One reference is in table 3 of Dr. Nelsen's article http://www.aafp.org/afp/20021215/2259.html

Mentions low cholesterol related to poor fat absorption and decreased hepatic lipoprotein production.

My son, who had all the GI problems as a child, had very low cholesterol. I don't know if he has ever had it rechecked since going GF.
Anne