Just a fyi - ginger is lovely as a hot drink. Store your ginger root in the freezer, pull it out and grate some into cup and add boiling water. I drink several cups of this every day because I like it. It doesn’t need sugar or anything else to be yummy.
There is also VLDL, which would be the part that is not HDL or LDL. The usual approximation is that VLDL = triglycerides / 5, but that is not always accurate (however, it may be used to calculate LDL after measuring total, HDL, and triglycerides directly). See question 3 and 4 in https://education.questdiagnostics.com/faq/FAQ164-retired0 .
@ucbalumnus Thanks! Yes, that explains it. Triglycerides did increase a little, but were still well within the normal range so I didn’t really pay attention to it. I wasn’t aware it played a part in LDL calculations. Now I can check off the “learned something new every day” box.
Someone locally asked me the time frame. Blood results have been in Jan and Sept, so 4 months from the last one and another 8 months for the one before that. It works off a school/community schedule. Ginger was only added in the past month or so. Milk thistle was added prior to Sept’s numbers, but I don’t recall exactly how much before that one. The healthy diet and general daily activity isn’t new at all (goes back to my college days), but have been tweaked to be a little better (less meat being the main thing, but added a few more nuts) except the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Google searching hasn’t led me to a reliable source of ginger capsules without paying to subscribe to consumer labs, so I’ll probably just add my own from natural root.
No other meds are part of my life on a regular basis - no vitamins or prescriptions or supplements. Just the milk thistle and now ginger. We do try to add turmeric regularly via cooking though. Ibuprofen is also handy for various headaches I get - esp if I let my salt levels get low, but lately I’ve gotten a better handle on keeping that balance in check so that’s becoming more rare.
I’m still not opposed to adding statins in general, but only the Ca score and cholesterol levels are high. Nothing seems to help the Ca score (arterial Ca @ 175). If ginger can bring down the cholesterol levels without the brain fog, it’s the direction I want to take. If Sept proves that didn’t happen, I’ll reevaluate. My main concern with statins other than the brain fog it seemed to bring on is being pre-diabetic with Type II diabetes literally everywhere in my family line - no one else is exempt except one aunt who smokes and has stayed thin. I’ve staved that off so far via diet (or luck, but I credit diet) and would rather not have a medicine messing that up if there are alternatives.
Note also that triglyceride and HDL levels are associated with the type of LDL. High triglycerides and low HDL tend to be associated with small dense particle high risk LDL (so triglyceride / HDL is sometimes used as an indicator of how risky your LDL particle size is).
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/diacare/23/11/1679.full.pdf
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/01.ATV.12.11.1284
https://www.cooperinstitute.org/2015/12/10/the-blood-triglyceridehdl-ratio-and-ldl-particle-size-critical-issues-for-determining-risk-of-coronary-heart-disease
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14564088
@ucbalumnus Thanks again! That info was also quite helpful. My ratio is 1.82, so seemingly in the better range (but still needs to improve). It’s interesting how that doesn’t match insulin resistance for me because my fasting glucose has always been >100, but <126 since testing began back in my college/military days. It does, however, match most other things like BP being perfectly fine and the heart cath they did showing great results. The insulin resistance must have a strong genetic component. I really have no doubt if my diet were different I’d be as diabetic as the rest of my family.
I’m now wondering if the Ca score was accurate. I noticed on my credit card bill that the hospital that did the procedure refunded my money. No insurance was involved. No requests for help with payment were involved. I’m 100% stymied on that one and figured sooner or later their accounting dept would be in touch with me due to a mistake on their part and wanting to be repaid. Now I’m wondering if they’ve found something amiss with the machine/results, but I’d like to think they’d also have let me know - or the doctor would have. Due to the radiation involved I hardly want a retest, esp so soon.
I wish I could say learning about the triglyceride/HDL ratio worked out nicely for H… his BP is also quite high and untreated, his dad has had very significant heart issues for the past 20+ years, and neither his diet nor his exercise levels match mine though he’s trying to improve. I’ll admit to worrying as we’ve aged, esp as I see others essentially our age have cardiac issues. I’ve told him, but…those are his decisions to make. I might have to try getting med school lad to talk with him. At least school allows spouses to take advantage of our Wellness Committee perks like this so he can see his results.
To anyone else reading without as much time to delve into the studies, 1.33 seems to be the tipping point in that ratio. Less than that is good, more is not so good. My 1.82 being called “better” is only in comparison to H’s 4+. Thought I should clarify as rereading made that seem not quite right if one were just looking at posts and not the studies in the link - not all of the links showed the tipping point.
(I am, of course, assuming we’re not the only aging folks dealing with cholesterol, heart disease, and statin or ? thoughts so am adding this as a PSA.)
Ginger is used as a cooking spice, or a side for sushi, so finding real ginger in the grocery store should not be that hard. Photos of ginger roots (rhizomes) on the web can help you know what to look for.
Using real ginger is the plan at this point. I had picked some up at the grocery store the last time I was there figuring my youngest lad would concoct something out of it. (He’s my very green, very roots, nuts, and berries, permaculture dude.) He hasn’t yet, so I’ll probably confiscate it back and just buy more when I go to the store again.
Seems one has to be careful to not use too much. 3 grams seems to be recommended. 4 grams is too much. My smallest gram scale at home starts with 5 grams, so I might take some to school to use the scales there to get an idea of how much various amounts of ginger weigh. I wasn’t worried about too much just in my tea.
Measure out 6 grams and divide the pile in half by eye. It’ll be close enough.
Or put a teaspoon of water in a baggie (should be 5 or 6 grams), weigh that, then add on 3 grams of ginger.
If 4 grams of ginger is too much, what is supposed to happen if you eat the pile of ginger next to your sushi?
@notrichenough Good thoughts that should be workable. I’m working with a postal scale and converting ounces to grams, but it should end up close enough.
@ucbalumnus I’m not under the impression there’s a specific harmful amount on any given day, just daily consumption over a longer period of time. Personally I don’t have to worry about any amount with sushi. I like my sushi broiled and usually with tartar sauce… 
Raw fish isn’t my thing.
Interesting @Creekland . My HDL is actually a lot higher than my triglycerides.
I did have the more specific cholesterol test last year, that looks at the size and density of the LDL particles ,and it was almost all “big and fluffy” at that time. That’s when my doc backed off on the statin rec, and my latest results got me a “keep it up”.
There is one statin, Crestor, which is very dangerous for Asians, as shown in studies. Sadly not all providers are aware and it’s still being prescribed to Asians. It does something bad to the blood chemistry, but is ok for the patients after it is discontinued. Most of the MDs in HI are just using other statins on their mostly Asian patients.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/warning-issued-on-use-of-crestor-by-asians
I was fortunately told by my internist today that I don’t need a statin at this time, even though I need to try to eat healthier and exercise more, which I will be doing. She calculated my risk of heart problems and it’s very low, in spite of my non-optimal blood tests.
@anxiousmom - Do you peel your ginger before putting it in the freezer?
Kajon - nope. I just freeze it as is, and I don’t bother to peel it when I grate it. I’ve been drinking ginger water like this for years and a little peel doesn’t bother me!
I’m just catching up after some time away.
I wonder if raw or cooked ginger makes a difference. I always ate ginger, raw, cooked in foods, and pickled, but had a bad reaction last time I had raw ginger. I’m trying to psych myself up to try cooked ginger again. My GI doctor thinks I have an eosinophilic disorder of the GI tract so I’m reluctant to do anything to trigger any issues now that I’m stable.
I’ve been cutting back on eating and using weights more when working out, and I have been slowly losing weight. I’m hoping this will also help bring my LDL down, since I think it crept up with weight gain. I’ve been pushing the upper limit of normal weight for my height for the last few years, and I’d be more than happy to get to the midpoint.