# Cholesterol



## rounder199 (3 Apr 2006)

I just got back from visiting my family doctor and it seems like my bad cholesterol is reading 6.48, chol/hdl ratio = 5.0 which he said was high/borderline and should not affect me for the next 30-40 years, but to watch out for the sat/trans fats. The good cholesterol was fine.  I have applied as a pilot and have already given in the rest of my bloodwork and urine sample which came out ok.  Same for my eye exam.  I'm 5'11, 180 lbs, play sports/train all the time and have a good diet.  I'm just worried now that this will cause a problem on my file.  Has anyone had a similar experience or could tell me if this is a cause for concern? Thanks.


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## Armymedic (4 Apr 2006)

It will be a cause for concern. 

After 18 yrs of flying  and service to your country, just short of your retirement, you'll suddenly die of a massive heart attack. All because you ignored the advice of your doctor to start being aware of your diet.


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## rounder199 (4 Apr 2006)

I meant a short term concern as in application wise since it was borderline. I plan on reading labels a lot closer at this point and doing more cardio to reduce it but it could take months before I see results.  I don't plan on being a risk down the line to the air force or to myself.


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## Armymedic (4 Apr 2006)

Can't forsee an problem.

But the people on the board make more then 3x my annual salary, so....


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## Gunnar (4 Apr 2006)

Olive oil is your friend.  Cold olive oil, extra virgin.  Don't fry with it.

Apparently, olive oil is a monounsaturate, and as such, bonds with polysaturate fats, and removes them from your system.  Still, it is a fat, so it's best not to overdo...but it apparently pulls the cholesterol right out of your system.  A glass of red wine now and again is also supposed to be good for that.  So eat good salads and drink red wine in the sun, and enjoy live, and you'll live longer.  ;-)


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## Marinero2008 (11 Jun 2008)

Does anyone know where to find a table showing acceptable (by military standards) cholesterol levels in respect to age? Thanks.


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## PMedMoe (12 Jun 2008)

Google is your friend:  Capital Health


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## geo (12 Jun 2008)

Normal levels 
Ttl Cholesterol  5,2 mmol / l and less
HDL  1 mmol / l or more
LDL  3.39 mmol / l and less
ratio chol ttl/HDL  5 and less

as an example, my latest test results are....

Ttl Cholesterol  4,26 mmol
HDL  1,32 mmol / l 
LDL  2,31 mmol / l
ratio chol ttl/HDL  3,23

All in all, I'm in the green.... but it wasn't always that way...

Eat white meats - fish, chicken, etc


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## geo (12 Jun 2008)

BTW rounder....

HDL = good cholesterol
LDL = BAD cholesterol


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## Marinero2008 (12 Jun 2008)

Thanks everyone! I appreciate this valuable info.   
My civi doc calculated me at 3.75 level so I guess I am ok. Now, I can take all that paper work to CFRC and get my application process going.  ;D


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## Mudshuvel (16 Feb 2011)

Hey all,

So, as most of my posts indicate, I'm going for AC Op, ATIS Tech, and  AVS Tech. Due to AC Op being an airforce support trade, I was required to go for blood/urine tests. 

I got my cholesterol check, and was pretty disappointed by the results. I have an appointment for my doctor and I to go through my results and my file is enroute to Ottawa. I'm looking for some opinions or information here from either a Med Tech or someone who experienced something like this before. Will this fail my aircrew medical?

Glucose Fasting: 5.0
Cholesterol: 4.63
*Triglycerides: 2.69*
*HDL Cholesterol: .80*
LDL Cholesterol: 2.61
Chol/HDL Ratio: 5.8

Thanks


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## mover1 (16 Feb 2011)

Ok firstly what did the doctor say?
Why didn't you ask him the best course of action to correct your "disappointing" blood tests 
How old are you? How much junk food, beer , pizza burgers do you eat on average. 
You know with a proper diet and good exercise you can reduce you cholesterol right levels right? 

For other folks..

Honestly if your reading this and your results are disappointed as Mudshuvel here. (And dude I am not calling you fat or lazy by any means) and your not knowing why between the beer and the KFC your cholesterol is so high I suggest you start eating healthy and go running. Its cheap easy and I bet you can knock your score down a point in as little as a couple months.
And I am not just giving advice for advice sake. I too had high cholesterol. They wanted to put me on the pills but I said I would just start working my body harder and taking care of it and guess what. Every year my levels have balanced out and bad got lower and good got higher. No pills for this dude. No Otis Spunkmeyer either.  Remember three buckets of the Col.s  goodness  and an extra large pizza is a nice pair of running shoes. think about it.


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## Mudshuvel (16 Feb 2011)

Didn't see the doctor, results were provided to me from the clinic to bring to the RC. Appt for my doc is on March 5th. 

I'm 26, I don't drink beer, just the odd rum and coke, and I don't eat a lot of junk. Any breads I eat are wholegrain and I am not a fan of red meats. I smoke, working on it, trust me. Same with coffee.  I do not necessarily eat in excess, but I'm sure I could cut a portion off. My results show lower than average bad cholesterol (which is good) but my good cholesterol is .2 mmol/L off (as per statistic canada, I should be at 1.0, I am at .8). Triglycerides should be 1.7 but I'm sitting at 2.7. Cholesterol/HDL ratio (as per stat Canada, 5.0 is acceptable, I'm at 5.8)

I don't exercise as much as I want too, but I'm looking on punching it to improve. I should have elaborated- could I fail my aircrew medical because of these results? The Med-Tech is not available for me to speak to, and army.ca is a pretty decent wealth of information, however critical. 

Trust me mover, I don't sit back eating pizza, drinking pop and beer while playing World of Warcraft 

Thanks for your reply.


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## Scott (16 Feb 2011)

[not cheeky or condescending]

I know that there are a lot of people who are big fans of forums and asking their questions here in hopes of getting those answers they so desperately crave.

[not an accusation]

There are also some people who just want to hear what they want to hear and so they ask on the forums instead of getting the "straight poop"

As mover asked, what did the Doc say and why did you not ask the Doc your questions about correcting this?

Seriously, I'm wondering about this one.

That aside, I hope you follow a correct course of action and ask the questions you need to and get the answers for them.

[/not cheeky or condescending]
[/not an accusation]


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## Mudshuvel (16 Feb 2011)

hahaha, thanks Scott.

I'll put it in bullet form. It takes a month to reach my doctor here in NB, so I have yet to speak with them. My question is, because my cholesterol isn't _horrible_ and my good cholesterol is just a little low while my bad cholesterol is sitting at a good level, would my low good cholesterol bar me from AC Op? I have no doubt I can bring up my HDL as it is not horribly low, and with that my Chol/HDL level will balance out.

I'm not seeking to hear something to comfort me, per se. Just seeking information on what the acceptable levels of cholesterol are for Aircrew. I have a habit of writing books for just one question 

Cheers


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## pontcanna (17 Feb 2011)

Beer is actually a fairly healthy substance, as long as you're not quaffing flagons of it every night. It's what it makes you hungry for (fried, salty, fat-laden food) that is the problem.


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## shogun506 (31 May 2012)

I just got my blood work done and am very surprised to see that my cholesterol is slightly high. I'm very healthy with a clean diet and 2 times/week in the gym + 2 times/week running. My numbers turned out to be:

Triglycerides 1.77 (instead of <1.71)
HDL .88 (instead of >1.29)
LDL 2.51 (instead of <2)
Chol/HDL ratio 4.76

The person drawing my blood said ideally I should fast for 12 hours prior to the test but I had fasted for 9 hours and she said that would be acceptable. My question is would this cause concern with recruiters and cause me to be disqualified, or is it acceptable?


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## ModlrMike (31 May 2012)

I doubt this would be of any concern to recruiting. While your cholesterol is slightly abnormal, your ratio is <5 which is fine. Lay off the fries, chips and processed stuff, and it should normalize.


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## Eye In The Sky (31 May 2012)

I had mine go up some back a few years ago.  Added a tablespoon of ground flax seed to my oatmeal/shredded wheat and it worked very well.  2 months later I was back down.  That was under the advice of a nutritionist btw, not my own idea.


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## sbje1959 (18 Mar 2018)

I recently completed my Aircrew Medical assessment, and most appears to be in order. I'm applying to become a pilot, so I need Air Factor 1.

The main point of concern is my cholesterol, which is slightly out of the normal range (high LDL, low HDL). The Flight Surgeon ordered another blood test for me to see if it's any better now (last test was about four months ago), but I'm worried that it won't be because my father has bad cholesterol despite eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.

Does anyone know what the standards are for this, or can you point me to where the standards are? I went looking around on Google but couldn't find anything.


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## Eye In The Sky (18 Mar 2018)

I'm not sure if there is a standard for this, but you might dig thru this website if you've got some time...

http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/about-policies-standards-medical-occupations/index.page

Cholesterol in itself isn't the 'end all be all' for aircrew medicals, they look more to the Metabolic Syndrome X factor from my experience;  that also takes into consideration waist circumference, BMI and blood work like cholesterol and, as you likely know, not just the #s for the high and low but the overall spread between them as well.


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## sbje1959 (18 Mar 2018)

Thanks for the link.

It didn't really tell me much about cholesterol, but I _did_ find out that Pilot needs 2/2/2/2/2/1 on the various factors. 

The spread on my cholesterol wasn't terrible. My LDL was only a little bit too high and my HDL was only a little bit too low. I'm a young and tall guy and I exercise a lot and eat well, so my cholesterol being high was a bit of a surprise to me and to the doctor. But she had no problems with any of the other numbers on my lipids panel from a few months ago, and my blood pressure is really good, so I'm hoping that this won't hold me back.

Time will tell, I suppose, but it'd be a shame to have come this far only to be rejected because my LDL is a tiny bit too high.


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