I have been on a Ketogenic diet since January of 2018. In the literally hundreds of hours of research and reading … I have come to a simple question:
If the C-reactive Protein test comes back with no inflammation, and a person is on a strict Keto diet, is there any risk of atherosclerosis?
That’s the question! Thanks in advance for any ideas, studies, etc.
Mike
I would think a lot has to do with what came before, and how long keto has been exerting its healing influence. @tdseest had congestive heart failure and reversed it (among many things); I know I’ve read anecdotes about people lowering their CAC scores with keto.
That said, I don’t know that I would count on cRp test to tell the entire story; as cheap as a CAC is these days, my plan is to take a baseline test and then repeat it every few years to make sure I’m still good. Just MHO.
C-Reactive Protein is just one of many laboratory markers that may or may not influence inflammation that might trigger a stroke in relationship to blockage with either hard or soft plaque in the case of Atherosclerosis.
So, you have to have to blockage in the form of hard plaque (shows on a a Coronary Heart Score or CAC) and the related soft plaque which is not visible on that test, and some form of inflammation usually.
So other markers would be things like Homocystine, Oxided LDL’s like MPO, etc. But, having a low CRP does tell you that you don’t have much inflammation in general.
In my case, I have a CAC score of 66, then one 2 months later of 58, but I don’t have a single elevated form of known inflammation so my cardiologist isn’t worried about me at all…
I hope this helps.
Tom,
Interesting … .what do you attribute the drop in the CAC score? I have wondered if good-eating can improve a CAC score (lowering it) but have not done research yet on it.
Mike
I’m really not sure. Some have speculated that the results were within the margin of error for the test. But, I don’t honestly know.
I’ve been supplementing K2 / D3 for some time, and fasting regularly as well, so it may actually be progress.
Keep in mind that no normal person would ever run two tests like this so closely together, so maybe we just don’t have a good understanding of the rate of change either.
I’m not sure we will ever know.
Tom, I’m sure many appreciate your sharing your experience. You’re a bit of a pioneer in some regards and offer a few data points that would otherwise not be out there for people to be encouraged by.
I suspect many in similar situations to where you started would feel quite hopeless and may give up completely. Seeing that you’ve been able to improve your health with the steps you are taking is serious encouragement!
Can everybody improve CAC scan results? Don’t know. But we do know that some can. And if there’s hope, maybe someone will actually try. You’ve even improved your ejection fraction. I don’t think doctors expect that’s much of a possibility in most cases either.
Again, thank you for sharing!
Yes. The Cardiologist and EP both said that there was absolutely no sign that I ever had any form of heart failure when they reviewed my CCTA and TTE. Which, is truly remarkable.
I actually had a frank discussion with the cardiologist regarding some of the methodology to my madness, and he just shook his head and smiled.
But, he didn’t give me a pitch for statins, or anything, and just said continue to make good lifestyle improvements and choices.
My CAC score is over 2000, and my C reactive protein lab is low (0.78).