If your cholesterol is checked in the winter, you’re much more likely to be prescribed a statin drug. Our levels vary according to the seasons, and they are at their highest during the cold winter months.
But it’s nothing to do with the seasons themselves, but the way we behave when it’s warm or cold, say researchers. When it’s cold, we stay inside more, get less exercise and eat more fatty ‘comfort’ foods, say researchers at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Centre.
We also get less sunshine during the winter, and vitamin D levels help determine the HDL-LDL cholesterol balance.
Total cholesterol levels can be 3.5 per cent higher in men and 1.7 per cent in women during the winter, and this can be enough to trigger a statin prescription. By the summer, our cholesterol levels lower and the statin prescription may have been unnecessary.
(Source: American College of Cardiology 63rd annual scientific session)
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