23 yr old, HIGH cholestrol

[cookienkikin]

Hello, I'm a 23 yr old otherwise healthy male. I'm 6ft and weigh about 200 lbs.  I eat somewhat healthy but I drink beer very often, about a 6 pack a day and sometimes more and alot more on the weekends.  I went to my Doc and he did a liver function test and a cholestrol test because the left side of my chest will sometimes hurt me really bad. He said my liver function test was good but my cholestrol was high (264) was the number. Said they my good cholestrol was good but bad cholestrol was high.  Is this really high for someone my age?  Is this normal? What can I do to change it so I don't have to get on meds?  

[cookienkikin]

i also take lexapro 10 mg once a day, could this affect it? someone please provide some insight on my questions.  Thanks so much

[Encephalomalcia]

The bad cholesterol LDL should be 100 or below.  Beer has lots of sugar in it and therefore drinking a lot of beer could lead to diabetes.  Diabetes with heart problems would not be a good combination.  I, myself, stopped eating beef 12 years ago due to a large number of family members needing open heart surgery.  Prime rib was my favorite, but with all the people having heart attacks and surgery, I stopped eating beef and my cholesterol dropped tremendously.  

[cookienkikin]

ok. so im not sure if i understand you correctly about this whole cholesterol thing. I was doing some research and according the the normal levels the higher your HDL is the better and the lower your LDL is the better.  So say one would have an HDL of 134 and a LDL of 130.  That would keep them both in good ranges?? correct??? and would bring the total cholesterol to 264 which is supposed to be a bad overall??? I dont understand if they are both in good then how come the total of 264 is bad???  thanks

[cookienkikin]

I received my numbers today from my blood test.    Total cholestrol-245 Triglycyrides-182 HDL-48 LDL-160