High Cholesterol in children

[Cindymc]

My 14 year old son has high cholesterol 222, Triglyceride 240, HDL 35, LDL 139, Ratio 6.34.  He is 5'10 and weighs 203 lbs. There is a history of family heart disease - my husband died 2 years ago at age 49 (complications to bypass surgery) and his father died at age 47.  The peditrician is referring us to a cardiologist at Childrens Hospital for evaluation and possibly to put him on medication.  My question(s) are: is he to young for medication?  Should diet and exercise be tried first to see if that resolves the problem?  Are there any other questions I should be asking the specialist regarding my son's health? At this point I'm so worried I can't even think of what to ask....  

Thank you for your comments and suggestions.

[rick1234]

It is very hard in my opinion to ask a child to drastically alter their eating habits IF the whole family doesn't get involved.  Unfortunately, in America we as a society don't eat that healthy.  We are constantly being bombarded with junk food ads while at the same time are told we must be thin and beautiful.  My suggestion is to not buy any junk food for the WHOLE family.  Also be wary of any packaged products that are sold as"low fat"  You really need to check out every label and ingredient list.  One good place to start is a book by Dr. Dean Ornish.  He did research on reversing heart disease (name of the book i believe)
try to limit calories from fat to 25 or less.  Also be wary of anything that says..hydrogenated oil or fat.  even though these foods may have no cholesterol, i believe they can raise cholesterol levels.  don't forget exercise.  maybe as a family you can go on walks now that the nicer weather is coming.

feel free to email me at ***@****

rick

[CCF-M.D.-DLB]

This is a tough question, given the family history. My approach would be to try exercise and diet first. Especially given the family history, he need to do adopt an appropriate lifestyle anyway. If after several months of real dieting and exercise and weight loss his cholesterol is still elevated, then I would consider medication.