Blood center & lab cholesterol differences?
QUESTION: Why such a difference between blood center cholesterol readings and those done at the lab?
ANSWER: Hi there,
This is very important question, because a lot of people are not aware of the fact that the result of certain blood tests depends on the quality and the expiry date of the reagents, the quality of the apparatuses and the period between the blood samples takings and the start of the blood test.
However, in some blood centers, just like in your cases, and in several laboratories, reagents at low quality are used along with old apparatuses.
As you can imagine by yourself, the results are going to false. Because of this, my advice for you is to stick to the popular laboratories, which are working for their reputation.
However, in some countries the situation is different, which means that the blood centers are using the modern apparatuses and the high-quality reagents.
In most countries, the blood centers, which are under the authority of the government, are bad organized. This means that in some cases, your blood have to wait for few hours before the start of the blood test.
This will absolutely change the values. This fact obligates to refer to the private laboratories, because they are well organized.
However, you are obligated to discuss every change in the result of the blood tests, because sometimes, the results from the blood centers are correct.
Because of this, repeat the tests and discuss them with your doctor again. In this way, you are going to be sure that everything is ok with your body and there is nothing to worry about.
Hope it helped!
Dr.Alba
ama guidelines for ldl and hdl
QUESTION: What are ama guidelines for ldl and hdl? How to deal with these problems according to ama?
ANSWER: Hi,
American Medical Association (AMA) is executing a lot of studies related with the cholesterol amount in the organism.
For that reason AMA is publishing every year the results of those studies and a list of food that are considered good for people at very high, high and low risk for cardio-vascular diseases.
As you probably know, changes in the lipid metabolism and in the HDL/LDL ratio increase or reduce the risk of developing atherosclerosis and the risk of cardio-vascular diseases (CVDs) like myocardial infarction and stroke.
The major aim of AMA guidelines for HDL and LDL is to teach the doctors to define the risk for CVDs of their patients and to reduce this risk.
Keeping the cholesterol at this level can stop the development of atherosclerosis and a result like this can be achieved with diet.
This publication does contain exact information about the foods which are supposed to be excluded from the meals and those which are allowed.
Meals, which are containing pork meat and other meats rich in fats have to exclude from the diet of patients at high and very high risk of CVDs because this type of meat increase the amount of LDL in the organism, leading to the aggravation of the atherosclerotic plaque.
Besides this, fried food are also forbidden, because they are increasing the LDL amount in the organism too.
Guidelines like this are very useful not only for the doctor but even for the patients, because it provides them the opportunity to live normal live, without being afraid of myocardial infarction or stroke.
Dr.Alba
