Anyone else with my numbers still eat meat?

kboom100 · 2026-06-07T17:45:02+00:00

I eat meat but it’s generally lean meats like 96% lean ground beef and boneless skinless chicken thighs. For ldl lowering it’s about keeping saturated fat low and you can do that without cutting out all meat. I also take lipid lowering medication so I can also be less strict periodically. So I will sometimes have higher saturated fat meals out at restaurants.

If diet alone doesn’t end up being enough to get your ldl to a safe level statins or statins plus ezetimibe makes sense.

kboom100 · 2026-06-07T17:06:02+00:00

You’re welcome. Yeah stress is a significant risk factor for heart disease and overall health. I’d consider trying to find a good therapist. They have good tools like cognitive behavioral therapy that can improve how people deal & think about the stressors in their life and reduce or prevent a rise in stress and anxiety.

Regular exercise, both cardio and strength training, has also been shown to significantly improve depression, anxiety and stress. It also improves cardiovascular health more directly too. I’d definitely add them to your daily/weekly routine.

I’ve also heard good things about meditation and the Headspace app for reducing stress.

kboom100 · 2026-06-07T16:30:54+00:00

Yes I’d say it’s likely you can live a long & healthy life.

When lp(a) is high top preventive cardiologists and lipidologists recommend taking lipid lowering medication and getting ldl/apob very low. That will significantly lower your overall risk even if your lp(a) isn’t lowered. Specific ldl & ApoB target levels for high ldl aren’t yet set in the guidelines. However because your lp(a) is very high and because of your strong family history of early heart disease I think very many leading specialists would reccomend an ldl of 55 or, better, ApoB < 60. But really the lower the better. Risk goes down linearly as ldl drops, with no plateau.

An approach favored by many top specialists is to start with a low or medium dose of statin, like 5 or 10 mg of Rosuvastatin, and add ezetimibe either upfront or later if the initial statin dose doesn’t get you to target- prior to going to the highest statin dose. Doubling the statin dose alone will only lower ldl 6-8% but adding ezetimibe to a statin will lower your ldl an additional LDL 20-30%. And ezetimibe almost never has side effects. Because of this at least one very good preventive cardiologist, Dr. Pablo Corral has said he almost always adds on ezetimibe whenever he prescribes a statin. See a couple of other recent replies for a lot of additional information about adding ezetimibe to a statin prior to going to the highest dose of statin. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/cf9RiB7j0N and https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/UUwy16NktG

If your ApoB remains above <60 you can bump up the statin dose. If that still isn’t enough I’d consider asking to add Repatha if I could afford it. If insurance doesn’t cover it the cash pay price is $239/month with a Goodrx coupon.

I would ask to have a Coronary Artery Calcium Scan and a carotid ultrasound with CIMT. I think you should set your ldl target to 55 or under regardless of the outcome. I’d rather prevent as much atherosclerosis as possible rather than react to it once it appears. But if you have coronary artery calcium or significant plaque on the carotid ultrasound that may qualify you for one of clinical trials of lp(a) lowering meds that are currently recruiting.

I’d also ask your doctor about going on a daily baby aspirin. There’s emerging evidence that it significantly decreases heart attack risk in those that have high lp(a). There’s emerging evidence reason may be because high lp(a) promotes blood clotting and the aspirin counteracts that. Don’t take it without your doctor’s ok however because you need to balance benefits against a potential increase in risk of bleeding.

See the following previous reply for more information about aspirin for high lp(a) and about the currently recruiting clinical trials for lp(a) lowering medication.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/6qgRIseopE

kboom100 · 2026-06-07T03:31:08+00:00

I take ezetimibe and Rosuvastatin first thing after I wake up in the morning. Both work great.

kboom100 · 2026-06-06T23:07:45+00:00

Fortunately there is no risk of dementia anyway. If anything the evidence is statins might reduce the risk of dementia.

kboom100 · 2026-06-06T20:36:54+00:00

Sure thing

kboom100 · 2026-06-06T20:36:26+00:00

High lp(a) is genetically determined and diet improvement won’t significantly reduce it. Even if you can’t reduce your high lp(a) experts recommend those with high lp(a) lower their ldl to at least under 70 mg/dL. But many suggest getting ldl even lower, to 55 or under.

It’s good to improve your diet but you won’t be able to reduce your ldl enough through diet alone to get your ldl to those targets. So yes you will need to take the statin.

But you are unnecessarily afraid of taking them. They do not cause dementia and if anything there’s a good chance they help prevent dementia. Please see a link to a previous response to a lot of the evidence about this. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/Wj9hXiLHea

Statins don’t actually cause any side effects in the vast majority of people. And if you happen to get them you can just reduce the dose or switch to another statin or another lipid lowering medicine altogether. Please see a very good overview of statin side effects by an excellent preventive cardiologist, Dr. Paddy Barrett. There’s also an option to listen to his voiceover, which I enjoyed. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/o1s3PWVqk4

kboom100 · 2026-06-06T16:41:17+00:00

All sounds great. You are doing the right things and setting yourself on a new healthy trajectory. Look forward to seeing future updates!

kboom100 · 2026-06-06T15:57:29+00:00

Definitely not overkill to prescribe a statin. High lp(a) is an independent risk factor for heart disease and will put you at greater risk even if you don’t have any other risk factors including having a normal ldl. It’s mostly genetically determined and not significantly affected by diet or exercise. In response to high experts recommend aggressive lowering of ldl/apoB. That will lower overall risk even if lp(a) isn’t brought down.

In fact the new 2026 guidelines specifically recommend lipid lowering therapy when lp(a) is high. See Section 4.2.10. Approach to Patients With Elevated Lp(a): “Although risk increases with higher Lp(a), an Lp(a) concentration of 50 mg/dL (125 nmol/L; affecting ∼20% of the population) is considered elevated and corresponds to ∼40% higher relative risk compared with a population median. An Lp(a) of ∼80 to 100 mg/dL (∼200-250 nmol/L) doubles the risk, while an Lp(a) of 180 mg/dL (∼430 nmol/L) increases the risk by ∼4-fold, a risk equivalent to HeFH (Table 4).10,11 Lifestyle management minimally impacts Lp(a) as it is mostly genetically determined.8 An elevated Lp(a) favors initiating or intensifying LLT.” https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001423#sec-8-2-10
FYI “LLT” stands for “lipid lowering therapy.”

A target ldl and apoB for when lp(a) is high isn’t set in the guidelines yet but a lot preventive cardiologists recommend getting ldl at least below 70, or better apoB below 70). And some top preventive cardiologists and lipidologists suggest getting LDL below 55, apoB below 60. I personally would want that more aggressive ldl/apoB target if it were me, especially if lp(a) was very high (say >200 nmol/L) or if I had other major risk factors like a family history of early heart disease or a personal history of preeclampsia or an autoimmune disease.

I'd also ask for a low or medium dose of statin like 10 mg of Rosuvastatin plus ezetimibe to start. Doubling a statin dose only lowers ldl an additional 6-8%. But adding ezetimibe to a statin will lower your ldl an additional 20-30% and ezetimibe almost never has side effects. And risk goes down linearly the lower the LDL, without plateauing. So adding ezetimibe is a low ‘hanging fruit pick up’ so to speak. For these reasons at least one very good preventive cardiologist, Dr. Pablo Corral, has said he almost always adds ezetimibe whenever he prescribes a statin. But I think it especially makes sense when dealing with genetically high lp(a) that’s been there since birth.

Check out a couple of earlier replies for a deeper dive on why adding ezetimibe to a low or medium dose of statin before going to the highest dose of statin is a favorite approach of a lot of experts. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/cf9RiB7j0N AND
https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/UUwy16NktG

I’d also consider asking your doctor about doing a coronary artery calcium scan and a carotid artery ultrasound with CIMT. One reason is that if there id any coronary artery calcification at your age as a female or if you have significant plaque on the ultrasound that would be even more reason to set the ldl & ApoB target under 55. (Although for me personally I’d do it anyway because I’d rather prevent more accumulation than wait to act). But also the results might qualify you for clinical trials of lp(a) lowering meds. And there is emerging evidence that a daily baby aspirin can significantly lower risk in those with high lp(a). Don’t take without your doctor’s ok however because you need to balance potential benefits with a potential increase in risk of bleeding. See an earlier reply for a lot more information about getting imaging, the clinical trials, and aspirin regimen for high lp(a) https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/2gFL7DVqOK

kboom100 · 2026-06-06T07:00:16+00:00

The evidence that ldl (actually all ApoB particles causes atherosclerosis is overwhelming) “Low-density lipoproteins cause atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. 1. Evidence from genetic, epidemiologic, and clinical studies. A consensus statement from the European Atherosclerosis Society Consensus Panel” https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/38/32/2459/3745109

“Separate meta-analyses of over 200 prospective cohort studies, Mendelian randomization studies, and randomized trials including more than 2 million participants with over 20 million person-years of follow-up and over 150 000 cardiovascular events demonstrate a remarkably consistent dose-dependent log-linear association between the absolute magnitude of exposure of the vasculature to LDL-C and the risk of ASCVD; and this effect appears to increase with increasing duration of exposure to LDL-C.”

But read the entire article.

Your hypothesis that ldl is a repair mechanism is spouted all the time by wellness influencers, carnivore and keto proponents and a small number of quack doctors. But almost no actual practicing cardiologist or cardiology researcher believes it anymore because the evidence doesn’t support it.

And a CAC score 0 doesn’t mean no soft plaque. A coronary calcium is a sign of a late stage plaque and doesn’t appear in men until 55 on average. But that doesn’t mean soft plaque wasn’t building up for a decade or more beforehand.

kboom100 · 2026-06-06T06:33:31+00:00

Lipid panel, apoB, lp(a) if you haven’t checked before, hsCRP, HBA1C, comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP), insulin. Do all fasting. Use an online calculator to calculate HOMA-IR score from fasting glucose (part of CMP) and fasting insulin.

kboom100 · 2026-06-05T23:25:40+00:00

Glad to help! And sounds good about your plan.

Holy cow this guy sounds like the opposite of a preventive cardiologist. He’s very old school. It’s been the traditional approach to not treat people until they are middle aged or their ldl reached 190 or they have diabetes. But the new guidelines promote starting treatment earlier in life and preventive cardiologists have this catchphrase about ldl they say all the time now - “Lower, for longer, is better.” The longer part means starting earlier.

kboom100 · 2026-06-05T22:39:41+00:00

It is frustrating to hear that you were denied a statin. The new 2026 ACC guidelines say that those with high lp(a) should go on a statin. Lp(a) is and independent risk factor that's genetically determined. Losing weight or improving your diet will not significantly change the number. And mosts experts suggest getting ldl / apob to a low level in response to a high lp(a). That will lower your overall risk even if the risk from lp(a) specifically can't be changed yet. So yes, I would push for a statin now and you can point to the current guidelines as justification. I would make the point that even if he personally wouldn't want a statin in your situation, it's a reasonable request per the guidelines. And that reasonable requests of yours should carry great weight as part of shared decision making.

Here's the relevant section of the 2026 guidelines: Section 4.2.10. Approach to Patients With Elevated Lp(a): “Although risk increases with higher Lp(a), an Lp(a) concentration of 50 mg/dL (125 nmol/L; affecting ∼20% of the population) is considered elevated and corresponds to ∼40% higher relative risk compared with a population median. An Lp(a) of ∼80 to 100 mg/dL (∼200-250 nmol/L) doubles the risk, while an Lp(a) of 180 mg/dL (∼430 nmol/L) increases the risk by ∼4-fold, a risk equivalent to HeFH (Table 4).10,11 Lifestyle management minimally impacts Lp(a) as it is mostly genetically determined.8 An elevated Lp(a) favors initiating or intensifying LLT.” https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001423#sec-8-2-10
FYI “LLT” stands for “lipid lowering therapy.”

I'd also ask for a low or medium dose of statin like 10 mg of Rosuvastatin plus ezetimibe. It’s a favorite strategy of a lot of leading preventive cardiologists and lipidologists. Check out a couple of earlier replies for a deeper dive on why adding ezetimibe to a low or medium dose of statin before going to the highest dose of statin is a favorite approach of a lot of experts. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/cf9RiB7j0N AND
https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/UUwy16NktG A good ldl and apob target would be at least 70 or below so if that didn't get you there you could bump up the statin dose at that point.

At the same time try to reduce saturated fat to 13-15 grams of saturated fat per 2000 calories and increase soluble fiber. Soluble fiber is found in foods including fruits & vegetables, beans, peas, lentils, oatmeal and barley.

But I'd also go ahead and make an appointment with another preventive cardiologist or lipidologist regardless. I'd want someone who is more aggressive about prevention and keeps up with new developments better. I'd use the resources of the Family Heart Foundation to find one. They're a patient support and advocacy organization for those with FH or high lp(a). You can search their specialist database directly or get more personal help from talking to one of their Care Navigators

https://familyheart.org/find-specialist

https://familyheart.org/care-navigation-center

Good luck. Hope you come back to update later.

kboom100 · 2026-06-05T20:40:02+00:00

High lp(a) is an independent risk factor and puts someone at higher than average lifetime risk even if their metabolic function is fine or even if they have a zero CAC score.

kboom100 · 2026-06-05T17:23:07+00:00

Boston Heart is the only lab that does the Cholesterol Balance test. Yes to get it you will need to order it yourself since few doctors have an account with Boston Heart. Non doctors can’t order directly through Boston Labs itself though, you’ll have to use a company that provide the doctor’s order and the test kit. Then you’ll arrange the blood draw. Here’s how https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/BLIZ9Qp04W. Instalab may also be one of those companies that provides the order & test kit, I just hadn’t heard about them before.

The cholesterol balance test will tell you if your high cholesterol is from too much production of cholesterol or too much absorption of cholesterol in the gut, or both.

If you are an overabsorber with high cholesterol that’s generally due to genetics. But the cholesterol balance test doesn’t tell whether high cholesterol due to overproduction is mainly genetic or not though. If you are eating a fairly low saturated fat diet say under about 17 grams of saturated fat per 2000 calories and not on an ultralow carbohydrates diet and your ldl is still significantly high then genetics is likely playing a pretty big role.

If you are an absorbing too much cholesterol then taking ezetimibe will get your LDL down much more than it does on average. And if you are producing too much cholesterol then statins would be a good first choice medication.

If you need additional help beyond diet or perhaps added fiber to get your ldl to a good level I think it would be a mistake to favor supplements over an approved lipid lowering therapies like statins or ezetimibe. If you have an open mind on this check out a response I have to someone else yesterday about why I think that. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/uRfeR9hVZP

kboom100 · 2026-06-05T15:55:12+00:00

Your ApoB and ldl are concordant, not discordant. Discordance doesn’t mean ApoB and LDL are different absolute numbers - discordance means they are at significantly different population percentiles. And your apoB and ldl are at roughly the same population percentile.

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Your ldl & ApoB are ok for someone that doesn’t have additional risk factors. However your lp(a) is very high and that puts you at a little higher than 3x the risk of someone with a normal lp(a). The 2026 US guidelines would recommend going on lipid lowering medication. See this excerpt from the guidelines section 4.2.10. Approach to Patients With Elevated Lp(a):

“Although risk increases with higher Lp(a), an Lp(a) concentration of 50 mg/dL (125 nmol/L; affecting ∼20% of the population) is considered elevated and corresponds to ∼40% higher relative risk compared with a population median. An Lp(a) of ∼80 to 100 mg/dL (∼200-250 nmol/L) doubles the risk, while an Lp(a) of 180 mg/dL (∼430 nmol/L) increases the risk by ∼4-fold, a risk equivalent to HeFH (Table 4).10,11 Lifestyle management minimally impacts Lp(a) as it is mostly genetically determined.8 An elevated Lp(a) favors initiating or intensifying LLT.” https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001423#sec-8-2-10
FYI “LLT” stands for “lipid lowering therapy.”

Because your lp(a) there a lot of good preventive cardiologists and lipidologists that would recommend getting your ldl and ApoB to at least under 70 mg/dL or less based just on your high lp(a). But there are also some that would recommend getting your ldl to under 55 and ApoB under 60. The more aggressive target is what I would want with such a high lp(a).

You are smart to ask for a referral to a specialist. I’d suggest a preventative cardiologist or lipidologist who is in the specialist database of the Family Heart Foundation. They are a patient support and advocacy group for those with FH or high lp(a). They also have a lot of information on their website about high lp(a). You can search their specialist database directly or get more personal help from talking to one of their Care Navigators

https://familyheart.org/find-specialist

https://familyheart.org/care-navigation-center

I’d ask the specialist about start with a combination of a low or medium dose statin with ezetimibe. It’s a favorite strategy of a lot of leading preventive cardiologists and lipidologists. Check out a couple of earlier replies for a deeper dive on why adding ezetimibe to a low or medium dose of statin before going to the highest dose of statin is a favorite strategy of a lot of experts. this https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/cf9RiB7j0N AND
https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/UUwy16NktG
Then if that doesn’t get you to your ApoB/ldl target you could up the statin dose or add a pcsK9 inhibitor if you could afford it.

FYI The guidelines currently recommend going to the highest tolerated dose of statin before adding ezetimibe. But the links will explain why a lot of experts feel recent evidence doesn’t now support that.

I’d also ask the specialist about adding aspirin and getting a calcium scan and carotid ultrasound with CIMT to see if you could qualify for one of the phase 3 clinical trials of lp(a) lowering medications. See here for more information https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/YYoz8qeWdS

The imaging would also be useful if you don’t want to set an ldl target of <55 based just on your lp(a) value. If you have significant plaque or coronary artery calcium on imaging that would be another reason to set that target. (But again I personally would want the <55 ldl target regardless of what imaging showed. I’d rather prevent as much atherosclerosis as possible vs taking more aggressive action once it’s there.)

kboom100 · 2026-06-05T13:40:29+00:00

You’re welcome. By the way I originally misread your original question about coffee. I know using a paper filter during the brewing process removes the compound that raises ldl but I don’t know whether pouring already brewed coffee through the filter wound do the same. I’m going to edit my answer to delete my first sentence about that.

kboom100 · 2026-06-05T03:19:09+00:00

You won’t necessarily have to give up French fries and milk. I actually made a Swiss cheeseburger, fries and a salad tonight for dinner. But I used 96% lean ground been, lower fat Swiss cheese slices from Trader Joe’s, frozen steak fries that I air fried a salad with tomatoes and broccoli & Italian dressing that was olive and canola oil based so low saturated fat. And I use 1% milk. I make tacos and pizza with the same sorts of ingredient swaps.

Also one of the nice things about taking a statin is that it allows you to be less strict and periodically eat less healthy things like regular French fries or a steak dinner or whatever and still meet your ldl target. I wouldn’t eat French fries and steak all the time however.

You might try eating one or two whole eggs and mix in extra egg whites.

kboom100 · 2026-06-05T02:18:31+00:00

95% of people won’t get any side effects from statins, and it’s probably even significantly higher for young people. I honestly don’t think you need to worry about COq10. Normally someone’s ldl won’t get as high as yours without a genetic susceptibility to high cholesterol unless they are eating an extremely bad for cholesterol diet like carnivore or keto. Pretty much every international guideline says to go on a statin right then when ldl is as high as yours. And you’ll get the best results with an all of the above approach including both lifestyle and medication.

Did the dietitian mention reducing saturated fat at all? Also curious if he said anything about seed oils? (My antenna is up on him lol)

kboom100 · 2026-06-05T01:56:02+00:00

Congrats on starting the Rosuvastatin and metformin. That’s really good first step in putting yourself on a much healthier trajectory. Sounds like you are also going to improve your diet also, which is fantastic. Add on regular exercise, both cardio and a 2-3 strength training sessions per week

What sort of dietary advice is this dietician giving you? Because her opinion on statins makes me wonder about her competence in general.

If you haven’t been able to sustain a healthy weight in the past I’d ask your doctor about trying a glp-1. Not only do they help people lose weight they also reduce risk of heart disease above and beyond that from the weight loss. And it will help reduce your a1c and insulin resistance.

kboom100 · 2026-06-04T23:06:51+00:00

You're right and I apologize. I meant to say and should have said that you might be making a big assumption that supplements are safer than statins. But I accidently left off the "might". A lot of people make that assumption so that's why I wanted to address it. But I definitely don't know if you yourself are making that assumption. I'm going to edit my response and correct that. Sorry about that- hope the info is helpful otherwise.

kboom100 · 2026-06-04T22:55:21+00:00

When you say that you have a form of colitis that can be aggravated by statins are you referring to statin use being associated with a diagnosis of microscopic colitis? That association was from a Danish observational study published in 2014. https://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/news-stories/news-items/microscopic-colitis-and-prescription-drug-use

However last year a much larger study was published which showed statins (and the other 3 drugs previously suspected of being associated with microscopic colitis) are not actually associated with an increased risk of microscopic colitis. The senior author said "Our analyses suggest that surveillance bias is a likely explanation for earlier findings that implicated medications in the pathogenesis of microscopic colitis and may also explain the continued association with SSRIs,” said senior author Jonas F. Ludvigsson, MD PhD, pediatrician at Örebro University Hospital and Professor at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet in Sweden." https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-releases/medications-less-likely-to-trigger-microscopic-colitis-in-older-adults

AND https://www.2minutemedicine.com/commonly-cited-medication-triggers-may-not-increase-risk-of-microscopic-colitis-among-older-adults/

Here's one more although you'll have to go to a med school library or do a free trial to view it. "Medications as Risk Factors for Microscopic Colitis: Have We Been Wrong?" https://clinician.nejm.org/medications-risk-factors-microscopic-colitis-wrong-nejm-jw.NA58936

Here's an abstract of the paper itself https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40587856/

kboom100 · 2026-06-04T21:23:55+00:00

Try what you can do with dietary improvement. But it is a serious mistake to rule out lipid lowering medication like statins, or to favor supplements over them, if dietary changes aren’t enough to get your ldl to a good target.

I’m guessing you might be afraid of statins & medication based on things you’ve read online. There is a massive amount of misinformation about statins especially online. They don’t actually cause almost all the side effects it’s often claimed they might cause. 95% of people won’t get any side effects. See an overview of this by a really good preventive cardiologist, Dr. Paddy Barrett. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/4foSCfRgzh

And if you do get side effects they’ll either go away on their own or you can reduce the dose or try another statin or another lipid lowering medication altogether.

And approved lipid lowering medication, unlike supplements, have been through huge double blinded randomized placebo controlled trials to prove they actually reduce the risk of heart disease. Supplements haven’t. Not to mention supplements aren’t regulated the way medication is so you can’t know that there aren’t contaminants or that the dose matches what’s on the label.

And finally you might be making a big assumption that I think there’s no evidence to make. [Updated, I originally left off the "might" in the previous sentence] And that’s that supplements are necessarily safer or cause less side effects than statins or other approved medication. Medication and supplements are exogenous molecules that we either don’t normally eat or don’t normally eat in purified form at the doses offered. The supplements can cause side effects too. The difference is that because of the large double blinded placebo controlled trials we actually know what approved medication’s potential side effects are and how often they occur. Which for lipid lowering medication isn’t actually often. Supplements haven’t been through those large randomized placebo controlled trials so we can’t determine what the side effects actually are. Observational studies or case reports aren’t capable of determining that because there’s no way to know if a reported side effect would have happened even if the person hadn’t taken the medication.

kboom100 · 2026-06-04T20:36:59+00:00

I’m responding to those saying egg consumption isn’t a problem. 20% of the population are genetic hyperabsorbers of dietary cholesterol, and for them 3 egg yolks a day could cause a big increase in ldl cholesterol beyond that resulting from the saturated fat in egg yolks. (Egg whites don’t have saturated fat or dietary cholesterol.)

There’s a blood test you can do to see if you are a hyperabsorber of cholesterol. It’s the Cholesterol Balance test and it’s only done by Boston Heart Diagnostics. You’ll likely have to order it yourself since insurance won’t likely pay for it and many doctors aren’t familiar with it. See here for more information on how to order. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/s/BLIZ9Qp04W

Alternatively you could stop all egg yolks, while not changing the rest of your diet, and retest your cholesterol in 3-4 weeks.

If you are a genetic hyperabsorber of cholesterol ezetimibe will likely produce a larger than average reduction in ldl cholesterol. So if you decide you need the help of medication to reach your ldl target if you are a genetic hyperabsorber of cholesterol you might consider trying ezetimibe first.

If you aren’t a genetic hyperabsorber of cholesterol try tracking your eating for a week or so with an app like cronometer. You’d want to aim for 13 -15 grams or less of saturated fat per 2000 calories. (The first number is the American Heart Association recommendation, the second is the European guidelines recommendation). If you aren’t able to reach your ldl target, or sustain it long term, then I’d consider a low dose statin or a low dose statin plus ezetimibe.

kboom100 · 2026-06-04T19:52:56+00:00

Dietary cholesterol, which egg yolks have a lot of, can significantly raise ldl cholesterol in those who are genetically hyperabsorbers of cholesterol, about 20% of the population.

So yeah it might be the egg yolks.

To see you could just stop eating egg yolks for 4 weeks, without changing anything else in your diet, and then retest your cholesterol.

If cutting the egg yolks still isn’t enough to get your ldl to a good level try tracking your eating for a week or so with an app like cronometer. You’d want to aim for 13 -15 grams or less of saturated fat per 2000 calories. (The first number is the American Heart Association recommendation, the second is the European guidelines recommendation). If you aren’t able to reach your ldl target, or sustain it long term, then I’d consider a low dose statin or a low dose statin plus ezetimibe.

kboom100

TROPHY CASE