Hi Wendy, I was re-watching the first women's health class, and you mentioned that for some people, their cholesterol levels get too low while taking statins and then are unable to produce adequate levels of testosterone. You mentioned that cholesterol only needs to be under 100 and that anything around 40-60ish is too low. If referring to a blood test, is that total cholesterol? LDL? HDL? The blood test I am looking at belongs to a male in his 60s and has the following: HDL - 33 mg/dL (Low) LDL - 71 mg/dL CHOL/HDL Ratio - 3.85 Triglycerides - 117 mg/dL Lipid PNL w/ Non HDL Chol - 127 mg/dL Non HDL Chol (calc) - 94 Thanks!

Wendy said: Clarification: I was referring to LDL, since that is what is acted on with statins. Although there are some papers that indicate having an LDL below 60 lowers the cardiac risk even more than when it's below 100, that is also associated with side effects like cognitive decline and erectile dysfunction. (When the LDL is that low, obviously the total will be really low as well, and cholesterol is the building block for all our steroid hormones as well as being needed to protect our brains!). BTW, this is a fairly concerning cholesterol pattern you have listed. Although the LDL total is under 100, the HDL (which is protective) is super low--should be 60-80. And the triglycerides are elevated, as I prefer to see them well below 100. Looks like someone who has unstable blood sugar and either doesn't eat enough veggies or doesn't exercise enough or both. There is another way to order a lipid panel that would give you even more insight: lipid fractionation. At Labcorp they call it NMR lipids, at Quest they call it CardioIQ advanced lipids with fractionation. That tells you whether the individual is making small particles of LDL or large ones. Large ones are less concerning as they don't stick to the vessel wall and turn into plaque as easily as small ones do. When one takes a statin, it partially blocks your ability to make LDL but it doesn't change the particle size.