Cholesterol Results

I got my fasting blood test results today from my GP's surgery.
Total HDL Cholesterol was 5.1 mmol/L, Total Serum Cholesterol was 6.0 mmol/L
My G.P.'s comment was that this was "much improved" and he doesn't want to see me. So I'm statin-free from another year.
HDL cholesterol is recorded in order to allow calculation of the 10-year Coronary Heart Disease risk (along with smoking status, age, sex and Blood Pressure). It is also used to work out the chance of getting Primary Cardiovascular Disease - something like stroke or angina rather than just CHD.
The helpful staff at the surgery wouldn't give me the other details so I can't calculate my LDL Cholesterol exactly. (LDL is the "bad" cholesterol).

LDL-cholesterol = (Total cholesterol) - (HDL-cholesterol) - (plasma Triglycerides / 2.2). So if my plasma Triglycerides were 0 my LDL cholesterol would be 0.9. This seems to give me a 2% chance of developing some form of Primary Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) over the next 10 years. My "target" cholesterol is 4.0 still though so I have a way to go.

I have been taking plant sterol capsules for the past 3 months. These have been shown to give a 12.4% reduction in LDL cholesterol - which is pretty much what I have seen. They are also especially effective where there is familiy history of high cholesterol (familial hypercholesterolaemia). However, there are no reliable clinical trials hence the guidelines from the government are that "NICE do not recommend that these are prescribed routinely for the primary prevention of CVD. Although sterols and stanols have been shown to reduce total cholesterol, further research is required to demonstrate whether this translates into a reduction in CVD." They are also SUPPOSED to help prevent some forms of cancer, including bowel and breast cancer. At £7.00 for a month's capsules I think its worth it.