I gave blood at school at the end of last month and I called into get my cholesterol information. Well on the sheet that have the number to call it also had a cholesterol chart.
Total Cholesterol
Desirable Less then 200
Borderline High 200 - 239
High 240 and higher

I called and my cholesterol is 117. My friend who runs is 187. What is yours, and why is mine so low?

I think the more important indication of good heart health is your HDL, LDL and triglyceride levels. What are those numbers?

Koffee

Unfortunately the only information I get about my blood from donating is blood type and total cholesterol

Got it.

It may be a good idea for you to go in and see what's going on with your blood. I mean, the real indication of what's going on with you are all the components of the cholesterol test- HDL, LDL, and triglyercides. Otherwise, what can we tell you except that it's low?

I can tell you that my LDL is very low, my HDL is very high, and my triglyceride level is freakishly low, yet my total cholesterol is slightly under 200. If I were to go by total cholesterol alone, I'd be freaking, but my doctor said taking the other excellent results into consideration negates the usual health concerns with someone who's at the borderline. I would say without knowing what your other levels are, it may be a good idea to go to the doctor. From what I remember back when I first freaked when I saw my test results, I can say the literature suggested that if your total cholesterol is less than something like 160, there may be a health problem... like hyperthyroidism, anemia, or bacterial infections in the blood. That's something to be concerned about, but without knowing what your other levels are, it's hard to say if there's a problem, or if you're just someone with an unusually low total cholesterol level who has no health problems.

See a doctor if you're really that concerned.

Koffee

I think that the new guidelines are below 170 for total cholesterol.

I'll have to second what koffee said. I have really low cholesterol too, my problem though, is that I need to raise my HDL levels; not an easy task. Many reports put people at too low HDL levels at risks also.

Ask them for the breakdown. For them to say you have 117 implies they know what the contributing figures are. You have a right to know. Go get 'em.