This is a must have book.
Barnes & Noble.com - Image Viewer: The Schwarzbein Principle, by Diana Schwarzbein, Paperback
She's a Endocrinologist in Santa Barbara. In this book she has a chapter on cholesterol levels and how not all HDL, LDL, VLOL levels are the same for everyone. It's an amazing book on a lot of other things too, but you really should read this.
OK, I MUST post this information that is a section of the chapter on cholesterol:
You could eat too many carbohydrates, drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, ingest artificial sweeteners, eat damaged fats, drink caffeinated beverages or be too stressed, and your cholesterol panel could look perfectly normal for the time being. But these bad habits destroy your body on a cellular level, and this destruction cannot be detected immediately by a blood test. In the meantime, while your blood tests look normal, your body is making cholesterol and triglycerides at a very high rate, because all of these lifestyle habits raise insulin levels. Remember that the liver converts sugar into fats when insulin levels are elevated. Your body can then store or use these fats for energy; therefor, the blood levels do not immediately change.
Abnormal cholesterol panels are a late indicator of abnormal cholesterol metabolism. The damage being done on a cellular level from overconsumption of carbohydrates or use of stimulants has to occur for years before an abnormality will show up on a blood panel. That is true even if the damage is substantial.
The following two examples show hypothetical ideals of HDL, LDL, and VLDL lipoproteins.
EXAMPLE ONE: Which cholesterol panel do you think is better?
Panel 1: Total cholesterol 240 = HDL 80 + LDL 140 + VLDL 20
Panel 2: Total cholesterol 240 + HDL 40 + LDL 170 + VLDL 30
When evaluating the three lipoproteins, higher HDLs and lower VLDLs are desirable. By following a healthy lifestyle, HDLs increase and VLDLs decrease. So Panel 1 is much better than Panel 2. But note that the sum of the lipoproteins of each panel both arrive at the same total of 240. Hence total cholesterol levels are meaningless.
EXAMPLE TWO: Which cholesterol panel do you think is better?
Panel 1: Total cholesterol 240 + HDL 60 + LDL 160 + VLDL 20 Tg = 200
Panel 2: Total cholesterol 180 = HDL 60 + LDL 80 + VLDL 40 Tg= 200
In comparing these two cholesterol panels, you want the VLDLs and the triglycerides to be lower even if this means accepting higher total cholesterol and LDL levels. Therefore Panel 1 is the better panel.
The last example illustrates why cholesterol panels do not show your risk for heart disease. Furthermore, it demonstrates how easy it is to misinterpret cholesterol profiles.
EXAMPLE THREE: This example is from two different people. Which one has the lower risk for a heart attack?
Person 1: Total cholesterol 180 = HDL 60 + LDL 100 + VLDL 20
Person 2: Total cholesterol 180 = HDL 60 + LDL 100 + VLDL 20
Without knowing anything about these people's eating and lifestyle habits, there is no way to determine their individual risks or which one of them has the higher risk of a heart attack. Their doctors would likely tell both of them that they were low risk. But you now know that the risk of heart attack has nothing to do with cholesterol numbers but everything to do with where you are on the accelerated metabolic aging track, which is dictated by eating and lifestyle habits.
She writes more on this subject. Again, a must have book!