Fasting Before Cholesterol Tests May Be Unnecessary

Fasting before a routine cholesterol check may not be necessary, according to a large community-based population study, correlating with results from previous, smaller studies on the subject. 

Fasting can be inconvenient for patients and "may discourage compliance with routine screening programs” according to Christopher Naugler, MSc, MD, of the University of Calgary in Alberta, and colleagues.

In fact, they suggested that eating before a cholesterol test may ease the identification of insulin resistance, as high triglyceride levels after eating are "excellent predictors of insulin resistance."

Researchers followed 209,180 participants, mean age of 53 years, who all received at least 1 lipid profile during a 6 month period in 2011.  Mean total cholesterol at baseline was 183.4 mg/dL, mean HDL cholesterol was 55.2 mg/dL, and LDL cholesterol was 103.3 mg/dL.   

Comparing participants fasting from less than 1 hour to 16 hours, researchers found minimal differences in results for both HDL and LDL cholesterol.  There was less than a 10% difference for LDL cholesterol and less than a 2% difference in HDL cholesterol. 

"This finding suggests that fasting for routine lipid level determinations is largely unnecessary," they concluded. 

-Michael Potts