Dr Riccardo Di Cuffa

Oct 2024

October is Cholesterol Awareness Month. Cholesterol is a fatty substance your body needs, but having too much of it can be dangerous. Keeping track of your cholesterol levels is key to staying healthy and preventing serious issues like heart disease and strokes. Why is it important?

1. Protect Your Heart

High cholesterol can clog your arteries, making it harder for blood to flow. This increases your risk of heart attacks. Regular checks help you spot high levels early so you can take action.

2. Lower Your Stroke Risk

Blocked arteries don’t just affect the heart—they can also lead to strokes. Monitoring your cholesterol helps reduce this risk by letting you make necessary changes in time.

3. Catch Problems Early

High cholesterol often has no symptoms. The only way to know if your levels are too high is through regular blood testing.

4. Improve Your Lifestyle Choices

Knowing your cholesterol levels helps you make smarter choices about your diet, exercise, and habits like smoking. Small, sustainable changes can lead to big health benefits.

5. Stay Healthy Long-Term

Keeping cholesterol in check isn’t just about avoiding immediate health issues. It helps protect your long-term health, lowering the risk of future problems.

Cholesterol Case Study

To highlight the value of testing and medicals to your long-term health let me share a recent case as an example. 

A patient in his mid-50’s seen last year was overweight with a BMI of over 30. He also had numerous niggling health issues including acid reflux and IBS to mention. He had a Core Health Check with us last year where we detected a cholesterol ratio of 10.2 which was very high. 

His Q-risk score was 14.6%. Q-risk calculates your risk of developing a heart attack or stroke within the next 10 years. If your risk is over 10%, your doctor would discuss ways to reduce this by optimising your cholesterol levels, improving blood pressure, etc. He was given some nutritional advice and tips for improving his lifestyle.

During a follow up several months later, having stuck to the lifestyle recommendations we found that his BMI had dropped to 26 and his repeat blood tests revealed that his cholesterol ratio had also dropped from 10.2% to 3.7%.  This is now a normal reading. 

Encouragingly, his Q-risk score had also dropped to 6.2% which is regarded as a normal risk for his age. He just made the necessary lifestyle changes and improved his diet with our guidance. No special medications or medical interventions, in fact he is now taking less medication than before.

His acid reflux had improved as well as his symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. 

This is firm evidence that by knowing your numbers and intervening early in your heath – you can improve your cardiovascular outcomes if you check yourself. Prevention is always better than cure and he will continue to engage with health regimes going forward.

Regular cholesterol checks are a simple way to safeguard your health and prevent major issues before they start. Book our special October blood test promotion here.