This is certainly true. There are so many factors in our body composition and diet that are very individual. There are people who have genetic predispositions for high cholesterol. My mother is one of those people. She was on statins, but Atkins brought her cholesterol dangerously too low, so she stopped taking them, and her cholesterol went up, but I've heard that it can take 6 months for the effects of lc'ing to show up in cholesterol profiles after using statins.

There is, however, some debate as to how cholesterol is related to heart disease. Some of it concerns particle size. Big fluffy particles are good. Others say that triglycerides are a higher marker for heart disease. It certainly bears some research. Also, with the total cholesterol vs. the ratio, I have heard that the ratio of LDL to HDL is more important. HDL is often too low in people; I believe the recommendation for good HDL is over 35.

T2 Diabetes also causes some blood lipid irregularities.

But I also wonder if smoking could be having an effect on your blood profiles. I know that smoking is supposed to cause hardening of the arteries, in a similar way that other heart disease factors cause plaquing, but unfortunately I don't know the mechanism.

It definitely would be an interesting point of research to see if there is a correlation.

If you haven't read DR. ATKINS AGE DEFYING DIET, I think you would find it very interesting because it goes into a lot of detail about heart health in general and explains a lot of the mechanisms behind LC theory.