What Should I Avoid Before A Cholesterol Test?

A cholesterol test is also called a lipid panel or lipid profile. Your doctor can use it to measure the “good” cholesterol (HDL; HDL) and “bad” cholesterol (LDL; LDL) and triglycerides (a type of fat) in your blood.

Cholesterol is a soft, thick fat that your body needs to function properly. However, too much cholesterol can lead to heart disease, stroke, heart attack, atherosclerosis (hardening or hardening of your arteries), etc.

What Does Your Lipid Profile Test Mean For You?

Men should check their cholesterol levels regularly from age 35 onwards. And women should start routine cholesterol screening at the age of 45. To be on the safe side, you can start testing your cholesterol as early as age 20 and get it done at least once every five years.

If you are taking medication for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, or high BP, you should have a cholesterol test every year to control your cholesterol levels. 

🩸Empty stomach or not?

Now the question arises whether this test should be done empty stomach or after food.

This confusion arose because some experts previously believed that an empty stomach before a cholesterol test would give more accurate results. They believed that your levels of low-density lipoproteins (bad cholesterol and triglycerides) could be affected by the food you ate shortly before the test.

But now experts believe that everyone doesn’t need to remain empty stomach before this test.

According to them, those people who do not take statins, i.e. cholesterol-lowering drugs, do not need to be on an empty stomach before this test. Get the test done on an empty stomach only when the doctor tells you to do so.

🩸Some Kinds Of Foods Might Affects Your Test Levels

Consuming a twofold cheeseburger, fries, and a milkshake just before having your blood drawn for a cholesterol test might prompt a  follow-up fasting test if the triglycerides are extremely high in your body.

In any case, eating ordinarily has little impact on your lipid levels, including triglycerides. 

🩸Specific Medications Might Produce False Test Levels

There are certain specific medications that can produce false results at the time of the test. Corticosteroids and beta-blockers can raise lipid levels, for instance.

Assuming you take such medication, tell your medical care provider before your cholesterol test. It could be that you’ll have to take a break from the medicine for a brief period preceding testing to obtain exact outcomes.

🩸Consuming Alcohol May Negatively Affect Cholesterol Test Results

It has been found in some studies that drinking Alcohol could alter results. Indeed, even periodic heavy drinking can contrarily influence cholesterol scores.

Most specialists advise the patient to stay away from liquor for 24 hours preceding testing. In spite of the fact that liquor doesn’t have cholesterol, it is processed in the liver.

Your liver is an organ that normally creates cholesterol, so having liquor can make it work harder and give marginally lower or more elevated cholesterol numbers during the test. Liquor additionally dehydrates you, which is something that would rather not occur before a cholesterol check.

🩸Preventing Exercise Is Good For Accurate Test Results

If you have a routine of exercising, you might be wondering whether a normal workout before a test will influence your cholesterol test results or not.

But the answer is this it can, which is the reason it’s ideal to skip the exercise session around the test time. Experts suggest no activity during the full fasting time frame. Indeed, even only one activity session could raise your HDL or great cholesterol. That might sound good, yet it really masks your actual HDL number.