Low triglycerides(75) but high cholesterol(226)-how is this possible?

Question

hdl is low(36)

Answer 1

I think its common enough. Fats are transported in various vehicles (particles) in the body..very low density Lipoproteins, low density lipoproteins and high density lipoproteins. Cholesterol is a type of fat but really its like the skeleton of steroid hormones rather than lard like fats. The fats and cholestrol stick to the proteins to form VLDL/LDL and HDL. The density refers to fat content...the more cholesterol and fat bound the less dense the lipoprotein. Thus HD lipoproteins contain less fat and cholesterol bound and typically do so because they have picked up some cholesterol from your blood vessells or from cells in your body and dumped their load in the liver. VLDL and LDL are bad because they're on their way to your cells or blood vessels dumping out cholesterol. The actual composition between fats ( triglycereides) and cholesterol can vary as its essentially a mixture and it reflects your own metabolism..eg diabetics might have high cholesterol and triglycerides because their fat metabolism is affected by insulin resistence.

Why do we get these problems ??? Well the HD/VLDL and LDL lipoproteins require docking receptors on your liver to work. Sometimes, due to genetic variation, your receptor might not be the best fitting and you have problems metabolising the cholesterol or triglycerides or both. Its all part of evolution......survival of the fittest. Luckily we have drugs to even out the field and alter our fitness.