Hate to fast all morning just to stand in a long line at the lab when it’s time to test your blood lipid panels?
According to a mega-study looking at over 200,000 patient test results, the fast might not me necessary at all.
One of the top reasons patients give their doctors when they are questioned as to why they never went in for the cholesterol tests that were ordered is because they don’t want to have to fast for 9-12 hours only to sit in a crowded waiting room for another hour or two.
Patient falls in the laboratory have even been blamed on the syncope, or fainting, due to drop in blood sugar that is the result of the fasting.
But is the fasting even necessary?
Canadian researchers that were considering the necessity of making patients fast before a cholesterol test looked at the test results of more than 200,000 patients and the various reported fasting times from 0 to 12 hours.
What they found was that there was no statistical difference in the accuracy of a test that occurred after a 9 to 12 hour fast, as is recommended, and no fasting at all, suggesting the practice is likely outdated and worthy of abandoning.
It is theorized that not making patients fast will make it more likely that they will actually show up for the tests in the first place, and that the results will not be significantly impacted if someone comes in a few hours after lunchtime instead of after a 12-hour fast.
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You hardly need to test for cholesterol anyway. The generalised tests don’t show if you have the damaging Pattern B type.
In any event having low cholesterol is more damaging than having high cholesterol, with a higher fatality rate.
Those with too low cholesterol are prone to have the pattern B variety. Eating eggs helps in these circumstances.
Pattern B is the type that is a small enough molecule to lodge in the artery walls and cause damage.
@John Doyle … got legitimate sources for your statements?
My labs are always a combination, and since I have to fast for my sugar labs, I have to fast anyway for labs.
Great news for those who do not have diabetes, though. My mother was one of those who fasted for cholesterol labs, and fell often, and fainted often, and had injuries from the falls; crippling injuries. People take statins, and fast for labs, and take sinus meds which cause dizzyness and falls, and no one tells these elderly in their 80’s that their meds have worse side effects and consequences than what they are trying to fix in their bodies. Your everlasting optimist! (joke);) georgia
GREAT article here, Blue Heron Health News, and Scott Davis!