Cholesterol is up

(Pri) #1

My cholesterol is 230 which very scary. Also I came vitamin D deficit. Should I quit keto. My brother is doctor he is scaring me once plaque is built it will never go away.
Please give me some motivation to keep going since it is already hard to stick at times.

(Ethan) #2

Plenty out there to refute this as an issue

(Troy) #3

He is scary me by saying that :pleading_face:
Sorry

Plenty of help forthcoming from othersđź‘Ť

Get ready for some Feldman cholesterol info, Dr. I Cummins - CAC scores, Dr. Lustig Etc, and Diet Doctor

Hang in there!
Good luck

(Troy) #4

Couldn’t leave you hanging

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #5

Frankly, your brother has not kept up with the recent research.

If you do a search on these forums, you will find many video lectures by Prof. David Diamond on the topic of cholesterol and statins. You may find them entertaining, as well as highly informative.

There is very little science to show that elevated cholesterol is a problem for our health, and quite a bit to show that it may, in fact, promote better health. A forum search on cholesterol will probably yield far more information than you are prepared to wade through, but I suspect that if you look at what turns up, you will be surprised and relieved. You may even find enough information to arm yourself against your brother.

(Gregory - You can teach an old dog new tricks.) #6

While it is over-simplified, here is a little cholesterol question I like to ask those who think it should be lowered.

If cholesterol sticks to artery walls ( and it does, but not arbitrarily ), at what level >0, does it stop sticking to artery walls?

Imagine the cholesterol thinking in a molecular way " OK, there is not much of me left, so I am going to stop sticking to these artery walls . " .

Yes, cholesterol is found in plague deposits in arteries, but it is there to repair damage, it doesn’t just arbitrarily deposit itself in arterial tissue…

Particle size does matter, but that’s another discussion.

(Kenny Croxdale) #7

[quote=“Pasta1, post:1, topic:102993”]My cholesterol is 230 which very scary.
[/quote]

Total Cholesterol

This number alone is meaningless.

Its relevance is in determining your…

Remnant Cholesterol Number

It is very simply calculated : you just subtract HDL Cholesterol (HDLc) and LDL Cholesterol (LDLc) from your Total Cholesterol . For example, if your Total Cholesterol were 300, your LDLc 200, and HDLc 80, then you’d have a Remnant Cholesterol (RC) of 20. That’s 300 – 200 – 80 = 20.

Many physicians are not familiar with Remnant Cholesterol.

LDL

This is number alone is meaningless, as well.

What’s important, as you appear to know, is if you have higher good Particle A LDL or bad Particle B LDL.

There is a test for this but few physician tell you about it.

Znother way of determining if you have more good or bad Particles is…

Triglyceride:HDL Ratio
https://www.thebloodcode.com/know-your-tghdl-ratio-triglyceride-hdl-cholesterol/#:~:text=Your%20TG%3AHDL%20ratio%20is,of%20heart%20attack%20and%20stroke.

Your TG: HDL ratio is calculated on a fasting lipid profile. A calculator is here: Simply take the Triglyceride and divide by the HDL ; the closer to one, the better. For example: TG = 120 mg/dL and HDL =40 mg/dL. 120 / 40 = 3.0, and indicates an elevated risk of heart attack and stroke

Two Vital Numbers

The two most important stand alone numbers are…

  1. HDL

Higher is better.

  1. Triglycerides

Lower is better.

Kenny Croxdale

(Gregory - You can teach an old dog new tricks.) #8

P.S.

My total is 230 also, and I’m not scared at all…
What was scary, was when I took a statin for a few months, and it dropped to 130…
My HDL used to be in the 30’s and lately I’m seeing 50’s…
I’m good with that .

Something to keep in mind, is that with ongoing weight loss, TG will tend to be higher, but not necessarily an indicator of health risk…

Had a CT score of zero a couple of years ago…

(Kenny Croxdale) #9

Statin

Research shows that a statin lower your number, as you noted.

The irony (based on the research) it that the statin doesn’t lower your risk An individual on a statin share the same risk as someone not on a statin.

Triglycerides and Weight Loss
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/13-ways-to-lower-triglycerides#:~:text=Lose%20Some%20Weight&text=That's%20why%20losing%20weight%20is,%2FL)%20(%202%20).

That’s why losing weight is an effective way to lower your blood triglyceride levels. In fact, research has shown that losing even a modest 5–10% of your body weight can decrease blood triglycerides by 40 mg/dL (0.45 mmol/L)

Impressive.

Kenny Croxdale

#10

What’s scary about that? It’s literally 30 points above an arbitrary scale. What’s the breakdown?

Well, sorry, but your brother is either very misinformed (more likely) or lying to your face! (hope not) Aside from it not being “forever” he also has NO clue whether you have plaque or not unless he did a CAC scan for it. Most of the population is Vit D deficient. Supplement with a good Vit D, that has nothing to do with keto, that’s because of the lifestyle modern people live.

I know he’s your brother but the more research you’ll do you’ll notice a couple things. One of them is that doctors have close to ZERO nutritional knowledge, and that they really have no clue how to interpret cholesterol readings nor do they typically order the correct tests that actual show them the particle breakdown required to have some insight into anything.

(Ethan) #11

Exactly. Mine is just under 400 now as a carnivore, and I have zero concerns. My cardiologist is also not really concerned. My HDL is roughly 100. I have a CAC of zero.

(Bob M) #12

HDL of 100? Are you a LMHR?

(Jane) #13

My HDL was 130 last year. Triglycerides 73. Total 259 and my doctor is 2019 was thrilled with my numbers!

My current PCP is not but her information is out of date. At least she didn’t push statins.

(Bob M) #14

But you’re a woman, and I think Ethan is a man. Usually, women are higher in HDL, men lower.

Oddly, I have an HDL of half Ethan’s and almost 1/3 yours, but my CAC score is also zero. 55 year old male when I got the CAC scan done. Though I also have “low(er?)” LDL and TC, but extremely high Lp(a).

So, it’s tough to tell what actually matters with cholesterol.

My money is on Malcolm Kendrick’s protect the glycocalyx/endothelium. And (low) HDL and (high) trigs are merely manifestations of poor diet.

(Ethan) #15

Nope, no LMHR. Carnivore.

(Bunny) #16

When we eat lots of sugar our body thinks it’s VITAMIN C so our glycocalyx shield, literally gets stripped away by dietary sodium (salt) with time.

If nothing can stick (glycocalyx) to the endothelium it does not matter if it’s calcium, cholesterol crystals, fatty deposits or plaque then high cholesterol is probably nothing to worry about if your not eating very much sugar and keeping your Vitamin C intake high and in your keen awareness along with your sodium, potassium and magnesium intake.

The glycocalyx shield is more important than anything you could possibly be worried about and it is hard to believe that the awareness about it is almost non-existent.

(BuckRimfire) #17

Ask your brother to do a PubMed search for “Triglyceride/HDL ratio cardiovascular risk.” If he’s willing to look honestly at the MANY independently conducted studies he’ll find in the search results (from many different countries; it appears to be a handy way to get some medical research funding: do a study in your country that replicates the study done previously in other countries, which is great since it adds independent data points), he’ll see that every study that compares the predictive power of LDL-C or total cholesterol with the TG/HDL ratio finds that TG/HDL is a better predictor of CV risk.

Keto/low-carb usually makes your LDL-C or total C “worse,” but it makes TG/HDL much better. Why so many MDs can’t consider that maybe the lipid profile that is the better predictor is BETTER to aim for, I don’t know, but I suspect it’s a combination of basic conservatism or inertia (LDL-C measurements came first, so we can’t change our minds for new studies) or the funding of the statin industry keeping the highest levels of academic medicine from changing the paradigm.

#21

Get an ApoB and Apo A-1C test done. A more significant predictor of ASCVD and CVD risk than your regular routine cholesterol test. For reference look up Dr. Allan Sniderman.

(Joey) #22

It’s been about 3 years. The OP has likely gotten another blood test by now :wink:

(Bob M) #23

It’s too bad I’m no longer on Twitter. Someone there had an extensive lists of studies where ApoB was not a good indicator of risk. Unfortunately, I think it’s only on Twitter, or at least I can’t find it on the “normal” Internet.