74: Answering your questions about cholesterol and PCOS

Cholesterol and PCOS. A confusing topic to say the least!

Been told you have to go low fat by your doctor for your cholesterol but high fat by your nutritionist / dietitian for your insulin resistant PCOS? Trying to make sense of all of the information out there on cholesterol? Hoping that you can still eat eggs?!

You may remember a few episodes ago, I spoke to Dr Simon Thornley all about cholesterol. When I say the response I got was overwhelming, oh my gosh! I got so many DMs about what you’ve been told by doctors about cholesterol.

I’m going to be honest, I’m still a bit shocked that a lot of the research hasn’t filtered through yet. For example, the advice in most parts of the world is to go on a low-fat diet if you have high LDL cholesterol. However this isn’t actually evidence based. And as many of us with PCOS have a degree of insulin resistance, getting this advice – which is virtually opposite to what we’re told to do for our insulin resistance – makes things all the more confusing.

Because of the difference between what you’ve been told and what the research has shown (which I touched on in that previous episode), I got a raft of DMs with questions about cholesterol and PCOS. In today’s episode of The PCOS Nutritionist Podcast, I wanted to go through the most frequently asked questions to help you make sense of all of the information out there.

Because let’s be honest, it’s pretty darn confusing to know what to believe!

So, What are the key markers we need to be looking at? What markers should we actually be worried about? How does insulin resistance and PCOS actually lead to having too much ‘bad’ cholesterol and not enough ‘good’ cholesterol? What foods actually make a difference to cholesterol?

And do we really need to avoid eggs?! A question I get time and time again because the information out there is so conflicting. 

So if you listened to that episode and still had a whole lot of burning questions about PCOS and cholesterol, this episode is one you’re definitely going to want to hop on and listen to.

This episode is for you if:

  • You’ve been told you have high cholesterol, but not what’s causing it
  • You’ve been told that you can’t have eggs – or certainly no more than 1 a day
  • You don’t have high cholesterol now but you’re now worried you’ll be at risk of developing it
  • You’re feeling confused because the advice for PCOS seems to be the opposite of what your doctor is telling you to do for your cholesterol
  • You want to know what the deal is with heart disease risk, cholesterol and PCOS
  • You heard me mention LP(a) in the last podcast and want more information on what these mean and why they’re important for your cardiovascular health
  • Your thyroid is out of whack
  • You want to understand a bit about what cholesterol is and what specific markers you need to know about

Some things we cover in this episode:

  • What actually is cholesterol
  • Why cholesterol is ESSENTIAL for your body to function optimally
  • Why triglycerides and Lp(a) and ApoB are the key markers for your cardiovascular risk 
  • What the other potential causes of cholesterol issues in PCOS are
  • Thyroid, cholesterol and PCOS
  • Cholesterol and Heart Disease Risk
  • Can you talk more about Eggs, I’ve been told I shouldn’t have eggs, or certainly no more than 1 a day.  Is this correct? 
  • What foods do make a difference 

Resources and References: