Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I had my blood work done in March 2011 and then discovered primal/paleo around May. I started fairly strict compliance around July and lost 15 lb. in the first 45 days (205lb to 190lb @ 6'1"). I did cheat some during the holidays, but not too grossly.

Just got new results today (Jan 23, 2012). I'll put 2011 numbers first, then 2012, then the "ideal" range:

Cholesterol: 206 to 220 mg/dL (<200)

HDL: 47 to 51 (>40)

Trig: 136 to 85 (<150)

LDL: 132 to 152 (0-100)

Glucose: 109 to 97 (65-99)

I'm 46yo, not super active desk jockey. I have installed a pull up bar (and actually doing some) and I'm walking with bricks twice a week considering goruck challenge.

The nurse I spoke with said the doc is concerned about LDL going up and wants to see my numbers again in four months. If LDL isn't down, he'll want to discuss drugs.

Since my glucose, trigs and HDL are headed in the right direction, whats that mean for overall number and LDL? Any suggestions on lowering LDL? Should I care?

Thanks!

flag	asked Jan 24 2012 at 5:05 lokidoki 11●1

J. Stanton - gnolls.org · Answer 1 · 2012-01-24 08:06:23Z UTC

Half of the increase in your "LDL" is because your triglycerides went down by 50 points.

LDL is not measured directly by the traditional "cholesterol test"...it's derived from TC, HDL, and TG via the Friedewald equation. In other words, it's a made-up number!

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Friedewald_equation

HDL = total Cholesterol - LDL - (0.2 * TG)
Or, solving for LDL: LDL = TC - HDL - (0.2 * TG)

Your TG went down by 50 points, so your "calculated LDL" went up by 10 points. The remaining 10-point variance probably isn't significant, and neither is the 13-point variance in TC. What is significant is that lower TG correlates strongly with larger LDL particle size, which is strongly negatively correlated with heart disease.

Besides, 200-240 TC is the statistically-established region of minimum mortality. You're still right in the middle of it. http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?p=3836 The "ideal" numbers are bullshit, concocted by drug companies to sell statins to healthy people.

JS

gismcieri · Answer 2 · 2012-01-24 06:16:58Z UTC

I am in the same boat. I am going for more labs tomorrow and if the inflammation markers like c reactive protein are low then I am not going to worry. If it's high then I have somethings to think about. I lost 50 lbs on paleo/primal over the last 6 months. Every other cw blood marker dropped but cholesterol.

Dave · Answer 3 · 2012-01-24 07:28:21Z UTC

http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?p=2547

This post seems to indicate that various micronutrient deficiencies could be to blame. Particularly, copper and choline. Iodine and fish oil may help too. So eat your liver and egg yolks, and maybe get a good supplement with copper, choline and perhaps iodine.

6 months paleo before and after blood work

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