Hello All,
43yr 5’10" Its been 3 Weeks on Keto diet with Coconut Oil.
Weight before 161lbs Now 145Lbs.
My HDL before 35 Now 45
TG Before 310 Now 109
HbA1C 6.1 on June 1st. Now 5.6
Bad Part.
Total Cholestrol: Before 249 now 264
LDL Before 190 now 197
I am not that concerned but family is more concerned about Total Cholesterol and want to me to start adding more carbs.
Please advice.
Thanks,
BJM
I suggest you read the content on the cholesterol code website so you can put your families minds at ease over total cholesterol and ldl numbers, which are not a good indicators of heart disease. A better indicator is HDL and triglycerides, and after only 3 weeks, yours are going in the right directions. HDL is coming up and trigs and coming down (way down at that!), both awesome. Just keep in mind that when you are actively losing weight, your cholesterol test can be a little wonky. It can take 6 months to a year for the levels to stabilize. Again, read all the great information on Cholesterol Code. http://cholesterolcode.com
Nothing bad here, everything is looking the way it should. So why the F$@* did my cholesterol go up your asking right?
Well here is the simple answer. When you start a ketogenic diet there is one anomaly that most people will notice when they have blood work drawn when they have been on a ketogenic diet for less than six months. And that is in increase in your LDL. This happens because your fat cells contain a small amount of previously stored cholesterol. Once you start to lose a significant amount of weight, your fat cells release this cholesterol into your blood stream. The amount released is minimal and it will be reused by the liver, but it will cause slight rise in your LDL. Don’t panic, just breathe and tell your family that this slight rise is just your body dumping it’s previously stored cholesterol.
The fat that you are eating has NO effect on your increase in LDL cholesterol. I repeat, the fat you are eating while in a state of metabolic ketosis has no direct correlation on your circulating LDL. In six months you will see a significant drop in your LDL and a significant increase in your HDL. Your doing great, just stay calm and keto on…
He may be a lean mass hyper-responder, thus the increase in total cholesterol and LDL.
Bob –
Could you amplify what a “lean mass hyper responder” is? I had similar test results as Jaggan.
Thanks,
Q
If anyone else wants this info:
The original poster does not meet all of these criteria, but is close. Basically, it’s a small set of lean people who go on very low carb and experience high LDL and TC in response.
Looking generally good to me. From what I’ve learned in relation to CVD and as a non-doc/sci, most signs seem to point to repeated high-levels of insulin/glucose in the system over time and small dense particle LDL as the best determining factors.
It took my readings about a year to look closer to my preferred mark. The first NMR Lipoprotein test couldn’t even get some readings. On your post, I’m reading HDL went up, good. TG went down, good as far as I can remember. HbA1C down is good. LDL up slightly… question there is how much of that is small very-low-density particle LDL? An NMR Lipoprotein test can get you a pulse on that. It’s about $120 and insurance may cover. Older thinking was that LDL was always bad and the root, period. Evidence has been coming to light over the past few years that implies that was not entirely correct. The jury is still out though. That is just part of the territory right now and a risk that has to be weighed for yourself.
My understanding is that the, smaller, very-low-density pattern B LDL particles get into nooks in the arterial walls more easily. Larger-fluffier pattern A LDL particles don’t tend to get down in those nooks and may be more benign overall. Once the low density LDL gets in the nooks, it’s hard for the body to get rid of them. So the logic goes: if you have more very-low-density particle LDL, there’s more to get in the nooks, therefore less chance the body can get rid of them before more are piled in, when a lot gets in there then you have plaque. If the plaque hits the bloodstream, you get a clot/bad situation.
When assessing my own risk, I look at the HDL vs LDL ratio and then I look at the VLDL particle count from the NMR Lipoprotein results. My aim is always good ratio and then small count of VLDL. I don’t worry so much about the fluffier LDL if the HDL vs LDL ratio looks good. If diabetic, like me, definitely keep an eye on it with an NMR. Diabetes affects how the liver processes the fats which then can affect the LDL towards CVD. Also, 80% of the cholesterol, your liver produces, and it’s not from what you eat. The rub is VLDL is entirely created from the liver (https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/how-its-made-cholesterol-production-in-your-body), so I’m not really sure how much we can control directly from eating more mono/poly vs saturated fat.
As for the fam, who studies the ketosis more, you or them? Follow the data and results yourself. Opines are cheap, healthcare is not.