High cholesterol can affect thin people – 11/22/2023 – Balance and Health

The desire to lose weight took businesswoman Andréia Casarin, 51, to an endocrinologist at the age of 37. The first diagnosis was hypothyroidism, a disease that can cause weight gain.

Blood tests and visits to the doctor’s office became regular. Shortly afterwards, at the age of 40, Andréia discovered that she was part of a dangerous statistic: she was among the 40% of the Brazilian adult population with high cholesterol.

“At the time, it was a surprise for me. I didn’t have an affair in the family, I was thin and had a good diet,” he says. “When I found out, my cholesterol wasn’t even that altered, but already outside the normal range. So, the doctor recommended increasing physical activity, improving my diet and returning in six months. After that time, it didn’t improve and I needed to take medication. “

“Cholesterol cannot be guessed. There is no way you can look at a person and guess that they have cholesterol. People wait for symptoms to look for these markers. That will not happen”, says Andrei Sposito, director of Socesp (Society of Cardiology of State of São Paulo).

Cholesterol is a lipid present in the structure of cells and helps in the production of hormones and vitamins. In addition, it forms bile acids — substances that act in digestion.

There are two types of cholesterol: HDL (high-density lipoprotein), which protects the heart against diseases, and LDL (low-density lipoprotein), that is, the “good” and “bad” cholesterol, respectively.

Excess LDL increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack and stroke. It can accumulate on the walls of the arteries, form fatty plaques and cause obstruction in any arterial territory.

The Brazilian Society of Cardiology considers a high total cholesterol level above 190 mg/dL. The ideal in the case of HDL is above 40 mg/dL.

In the case of LDL, the recommendation follows according to the patient’s cardiovascular risk:
Low risk: less than 130 mg/dL (low), less than 100 mg/dL (medium), less than 70 mg/dL (high)
less than 50 mg/dL (very high).

To this day, Andréia is monitored every six months. “My cholesterol is one of those that doesn’t go down even with diet and exercise,” she says. Currently, Andréia’s cholesterol is between 200 and 230 mg/dL.

“Studies in cardiology are increasingly focusing on the theme ‘the lower, the better’, the lower the cholesterol level, the better this patient’s life will be, without cardiovascular events”, says cardiologist Fernando Menezes, from the Albert Einstein Hospital, in Rede Dor, from Grupo Dasa and BP – A Beneficência Portuguesa.

As around 70% of cholesterol is produced by the body and the other 30% is obtained through food, the need to maintain a balanced diet is reinforced.

This and physical activity can reduce cholesterol by around 10%. “Adopting a healthy diet, with fiber, combinations of different foods and practicing regular physical activity promote increased life expectancy and health”, says Sposito.

“Foods with a higher fat content increase cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Olive oil, flaxseed, fish, which have a lot of omega 3, are good fats. Fat is necessary in our daily consumption, it is part of our diet. We even order 20% to 25% daily fat injection. The big problem is that we often ingest too much fat”, explains Andrea Pereira, nutritionist at Hospital Albert Einstein and co-founder of the NGO Obesidade Brasil.

In the nutritionist’s opinion, Brazilians’ dishes, even those from São Paulo, generally have a good balance between carbohydrates and fat.

But a regulated lifestyle, good nutrition and ideal weight are not guarantees that cholesterol will always be normal — and not every overweight person has high cholesterol.

“Increased cholesterol is not a typical marker of obesity. Obesity is what contributes to this”, explains Sposito.

What obesity does, according to the doctor, is cause an increase in triglycerides, “a reduction in HDL and transforms LDL into an even smaller particle. It can make more cholesterol.”

Ideal triglyceride values ​​may vary according to age group. For those over 20, it is desirable that the index is less than 150 mg/dL (with fasting) and less than 175 mg/dL (without fasting).

At the end of 2020, after years of living with high cholesterol, Andréia saw an increase in triglycerides, a high that raises a warning sign for cardiovascular diseases and pancreatitis.

Menezes also warns of the risk of obstruction in the leg arteries, which is peripheral arterial disease, in the case of high cholesterol.

“You have low flow in the legs and it starts to affect the muscles. So, the patient walks and feels pain. It’s a symptom we call claudication. And in the long term, this causes obstruction, ischemia, lack of blood in the foot. And Sometimes, in more extreme cases, it can even lead to amputation,” he says.