Skip to content
FARMICINE
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”— Thomas A. Edison🌿“No illness which can be treated by diet should be treated by any other means.”— Maimonides (commonly attributed)🌿“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use; when diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”— Ayurvedic proverb🌿“Medicine and food share a common origin.”— Traditional Chinese medicine saying🌿“Food is medicine is not only an idea whose time has come; it is absolutely essential.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“Nature is the true healer. The physician is only nature's assistant.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“All that man needs for health and healing has been provided in nature; the challenge of science is to find it.”— Attributed to Paracelsus🌿“Vitality and beauty are gifts of Nature for those who live according to its laws.”— Leonardo da Vinci🌿“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”— Attributed to Voltaire🌿“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”— Benjamin Franklin🌿“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise — not too little and not too much — we would have found the safest way to health.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Eating alone will not keep a man well; he must also take exercise.”— Hippocrates, On Regimen🌿“Health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life.”— WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion🌿“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being — not merely the absence of disease.”— WHO Constitution🌿“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”— Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin🌿“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Do not eat anything your great-grandmother would not recognise as food.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Diet-related diseases produce crushing health and economic burdens.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Good food is a right, not a privilege.”— Alice Waters🌿“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”— Thomas A. Edison🌿“No illness which can be treated by diet should be treated by any other means.”— Maimonides (commonly attributed)🌿“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use; when diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”— Ayurvedic proverb🌿“Medicine and food share a common origin.”— Traditional Chinese medicine saying🌿“Food is medicine is not only an idea whose time has come; it is absolutely essential.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“Nature is the true healer. The physician is only nature's assistant.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“All that man needs for health and healing has been provided in nature; the challenge of science is to find it.”— Attributed to Paracelsus🌿“Vitality and beauty are gifts of Nature for those who live according to its laws.”— Leonardo da Vinci🌿“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”— Attributed to Voltaire🌿“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”— Benjamin Franklin🌿“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise — not too little and not too much — we would have found the safest way to health.”— Attributed to Hippocrates🌿“Eating alone will not keep a man well; he must also take exercise.”— Hippocrates, On Regimen🌿“Health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life.”— WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion🌿“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being — not merely the absence of disease.”— WHO Constitution🌿“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”— Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin🌿“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Do not eat anything your great-grandmother would not recognise as food.”— Michael Pollan🌿“Diet-related diseases produce crushing health and economic burdens.”— Dr Dariush Mozaffarian🌿“One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.”— Sir William Osler🌿“Good food is a right, not a privilege.”— Alice Waters🌿
Prevent · Protect · Heal
Farmicine Healthcare
Reading your body

🫀 Lipid Profile Explained: LDL, HDL and Triglycerides

Your lipid profile is six numbers that describe how fat travels in your blood. This guide explains total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, non-HDL and the TG:HDL ratio, why Indian adults so often show high triglycerides with low HDL, and the food-first steps that work alongside your doctor's decisions.

By the Farmicine editorial team·Reviewed for claims compliance·4 min read· 40s 50s 60s
In this guideWhat does each number on a lipid profile mean?Why do Indian adults so often show high triglycerides and low HDL?What should you focus on: LDL or non-HDL?Which food-first steps move the numbers?Who decides about statins?What is the CoQ10 discussion about?When to see a doctor

Few reports cause more quiet anxiety than the lipid panel, mostly because the words are unfamiliar. A lipid profile explained in plain language is simply a description of how fat is being carried around your bloodstream, and which carriers are crowded. Here is what each line means, the pattern that is especially common in India, and what food can and cannot do about it.

What does each number on a lipid profile mean?

  • Total cholesterol adds up all the cholesterol in all the carriers. On its own it is the least useful line.
  • LDL cholesterol is cholesterol in low-density particles, the ones most associated with plaque in artery walls. Many Indian guidelines consider values of 130 mg/dL and above raised for people without other risk factors, and want it much lower for those with heart disease or diabetes.
  • HDL cholesterol is carried in particles that ferry cholesterol back to the liver. Below 40 mg/dL in men and below 50 mg/dL in women is commonly read as low.
  • Triglycerides (TG) are the fat form in which surplus calories, especially from refined carbohydrate and sugar, travel to storage. Below 150 mg/dL fasting is the usual target.
  • Non-HDL cholesterol is total minus HDL: everything in the potentially harmful carriers, including the remnants that LDL alone misses. Many cardiologists now prefer it to LDL.
  • TG:HDL ratio is triglycerides divided by HDL. A ratio above about 3 is associated with insulin resistance and small, dense LDL particles, even when LDL itself looks acceptable.

Why do Indian adults so often show high triglycerides and low HDL?

Cardiologists call it atherogenic dyslipidaemia, and it is the most frequent lipid pattern in South Asians: triglycerides above 150, HDL under 40 or 50, and an LDL that is only mildly raised but made up of smaller, denser particles. Several threads come together. Meals heavy in white rice, refined wheat, sugar and fried snacks push triglycerides up. Long hours sitting, little muscle mass and fat stored around the waist rather than the hips amplify it. There is also a genetic tendency towards lower HDL and higher lipoprotein(a) in people of Indian origin. The hopeful part is that this pattern responds strongly to food and movement, often within weeks. It overlaps closely with Metabolic Dysfunction (B3) and Cardiovascular & Microcirculation (B9).

What should you focus on: LDL or non-HDL?

If your triglycerides are normal, LDL and non-HDL tell much the same story. If triglycerides are high, non-HDL captures risk that LDL misses, so look at it first. Where available, ApoB counts the actual number of harmful particles and is the most direct measure of all. Ask your doctor which number they are tracking and what target they have set for you, because targets depend on your overall risk, not on the lab's printed range.

Which food-first steps move the numbers?

  • Soluble fibre every day. Oats or barley at breakfast, a bowl of dal, rajma or chana, and isabgol in water bind cholesterol in the gut. Studies consistently show modest LDL reductions from this alone.
  • A handful of nuts. Almonds, walnuts and peanuts, soaked or roasted without salt, are associated with better LDL and HDL. Walnuts and flax add plant omega-3.
  • Change the cooking fat. Cold-pressed mustard oil, groundnut oil or olive oil in place of refined seed oils and vanaspati; ghee in modest amounts; no reheated frying oil.
  • Cut the refined carbohydrate and sugar. This is the single biggest lever for triglycerides. Fewer sweets, fruit juices, biscuits and maida, more millets, vegetables and pulses.
  • Oily fish or algal omega-3. Sardines, mackerel and rohu twice a week, or algal oil for vegetarians, support healthy triglycerides.
  • Move daily. Brisk walking raises HDL slowly and lowers triglycerides quickly. Strength training helps both.

Six to twelve weeks of these changes, then a repeat fasting lipid profile, is a reasonable way to see what food has achieved before any other decision is made.

Who decides about statins?

Your doctor does, and the decision is based on your total heart risk, not on one number: age, blood pressure, sugar, smoking, family history and sometimes a coronary calcium scan. Food-first changes are not an argument against statins when they are advised, and statins are not a reason to stop eating well; the two work in different ways and add up. Never stop or reduce a statin on your own because a report improved.

What is the CoQ10 discussion about?

Statins lower the body's own production of coenzyme Q10, a molecule involved in cellular energy, and some people on statins develop muscle aches. Trials of CoQ10 for these aches have had mixed results: some people report benefit, pooled analyses are modest. It is a conversation worth having with your doctor rather than a reason to stop the medicine. If it is tried, the ubiquinol form taken with a fat-containing meal is the usual approach, and your advisor sets the plan. The Cardiovascular solution organises the food steps above into a measured 90-day routine, always alongside your doctor's care.

When to see a doctor

See a doctor promptly if LDL is 190 mg/dL or above, which can suggest an inherited pattern, or if triglycerides are 500 mg/dL or above, because very high levels carry a pancreatitis risk. Book an appointment to discuss overall risk if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, a family member who had a heart attack or stroke before 55, or if you smoke. Seek emergency care for chest pressure, pain spreading to the arm or jaw, sudden breathlessness, or sudden weakness or slurred speech. Food supports your heart; it does not replace your doctor's assessment.

Related reading

Reading your body

🍚 HbA1c vs Fasting Glucose: What Your Sugar Report Means

Fasting glucose, post-meal glucose and HbA1c each tell a different part of the same sugar story. This guide explains the commonly used pre-diabetes cut-offs in plain terms, why the 4 pm energy crash matters, and the food-first and movement habits that work alongside your doctor's care.

Reading your body

🔥 hs-CRP and ESR: Inflammation Blood Tests Explained

hs-CRP and ESR are the two inflammation markers most Indian labs offer, and both are easy to over-read. This guide explains what each measures, why a raised value needs context, how the numbers connect to the Chronic Inflammation pattern and the omega-3 index, and when a retest actually means something.

Reading your body

🧪 How to Read a Blood Test Report in India: Plain Guide

A routine Indian lab report is nine or ten short stories told in numbers. This guide explains what each panel measures, why reference ranges differ between labs, what the H and L flags really mean, and how to read a report in a calm, useful order before you meet your doctor.

Explore

Cardiovascular & Microcirculation (B9)Metabolic Dysfunction (B3)Cardiovascular solution

Frequently asked

What is a normal TG:HDL ratio?

Divide triglycerides by HDL, both in mg/dL. Below 2 is commonly considered favourable; above about 3 is associated with insulin resistance and smaller, denser LDL particles.

Why is my HDL low even though I am slim?

Low HDL is common in people of Indian origin for genetic reasons, and is also associated with refined-carbohydrate-heavy meals, little exercise and smoking. Movement and fewer refined carbs help it rise slowly.

Can oats and isabgol really lower cholesterol?

Soluble fibre from oats, barley, pulses and isabgol binds cholesterol in the gut and is associated with modest LDL reductions in many studies. The effect is real but moderate, and adds to other changes.

Should I take CoQ10 if I am on a statin?

Discuss it with your doctor. Statins lower the body's CoQ10, and some people with muscle aches report benefit, though trial results are mixed. It is a companion question, never a reason to stop the statin.

This guide is wellness education, not medical advice, and does not replace a consultation with your doctor. Farmicine products are food supplements that support structure and function; they are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.