The accuracy of your cholesterol test results, is very important to your lowering cholesterol success, since these results will determine whether you are in fact required to lower cholesterol and the means you should be taking to achieve that. The results of your cholesterol test rely on several factors. Among those factors are: the food that you ate the night prior to the test, your medication intake (in case you take medications regularly) and the type of your activity the day before the test.

In order to successfully accomplish your cholesterol test, getting the most relevant and most accurate results to establish whether you need to lower cholesterol, several steps and restrictions must be taken, depending on the type of test you are about to perform, recommended by your doctor.

Testing for HDL levels and total cholesterol levels, alone will not require fasting. If you’re conducting only total cholesterol test, fat foods and alcohol should be avoided since these can skew results as well. Exercise is also not recommended since it can increase HDL levels prior to the test and provide an unreliable picture of your cholesterol condition. Mind that exercise should be practiced regularly except for prior to cholesterol test, since it does have a positive impact on HDL cholesterol levels while lowering LDL and triglycerides.

However, if you take a complete cholesterol test to diagnose your Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides, and overall total cholesterol, it is extremely recommended that you fast 8-12 hours prior to the test, while drinking lots of water. If you take medications on a regular basis, you should take these with water in the morning, per your doctor’s advice.

The logic behind the need to fast prior to a complete cholesterol test is that food and especially high fat food can skew the results of your LDL cholesterol. It is highly important that your LDL cholesterol levels will be accurate since most chronic conditions including atherosclerosis (the narrowing and hardening of the arteries) and heart diseases come from LDL build up in artery walls and knowing the correct numbers will determine the level of risk you’re in and the urgency of steps needed to be taken to lower your cholesterol.

Regardless of what cholesterol test you’re about to perform, if you had gone through radio active scans a week prior to the test in can have an impact on your LDL results so make sure you schedule a complete cholesterol test with at least a week gap between any radio active scans you may have.