Q: I am 46 years old male, suffering from high BP and diabetes. Recently, I underwent a regular medical check up and found the following results. Blood pressure - 130/70; blood sugar fasting - 83.2; blood sugar PP - 102.5; cholesterol – 319; Serum Triglycerides – 209; HDL Cholesterol – 42; VLDL Cholesterol - 41.8; LDL Cholesterol - 235.2; LDL/HDL Ratio - 5.6; Total Cholesterol/HDL - 7.5. Please advise on the precautions and my diet.

A:You have an extremely high LDL-C which can be very dangerous especially because you have diabetes and hypertension too (though controlled). You may repeat the test for a second conformation. Also check your thyroid function (TSH test). Reduce oil usage to 1 table spoon /day, preferably sunflower oil. Do not deep fry or reuse cooking oil. Avoid full fat milk and milk products – use <2% fat milk or buttermilk with butter removed. Avoid fatty meat and chicken with skin. Lastly, you need a combination of atorvastatin 10mg + ezetemibe 10 mg to be taken daily at night. Your target LDL-C is <100mg%. You can recheck 2 months after starting drugs.