Why does Dr. Gundry say no crossfit for apoe4?

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catscatscaats
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Why does Dr. Gundry say no crossfit for apoe4?

Post by catscatscaats »

I saw in a youtube video Dr. Gundry saying that apoe4s shouldn't do crossfit.

Anyone know why?
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Re: Why does Dr. Gundry say no crossfit for apoe4?

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In his presentation at the Ancestral Health Symposium in August 2016, AHS16 - Steven Gundry - Dietary Management of the Apo E 4 at 26:10, Dr Steven Gundry said, “that the last thing ApoE4s should be doing is Cross Fit.” CrossFit is a program of aerobic exercise, calisthenics and Olympic weightlifting. It is typically very intense, emphasizing competition as well as exercise. When later asked to elaborate on his statement, Dr Gundry indicated that that the indictment was not just on cross-fit but all intense, stressful workouts. He cautioned that ApoE4s have to be mindful of their greater potential to develop small vessel disease. Small blood vessels occur in the brain and heart as well as elsewhere in the body. He stated that almost every one of his patients who are intense cross-fitters, or marathoners, or other high-intensity participants have elevated Cardiac Troponin-I markers. Cardiac Troponin-I is a test that is a hundred more times sensitive than the test in the emergency room looking for heart attacks. But he also stated that when his patients back off from the intensity, this marker goes back to normal.

Another potential result of excess intense exercise is Atrial fibrillation (AFib). AFib is an abnormal or rapid heart rate, a common but serious arrhythmia. Two groups are at high risk for AFib: Obese, sedentary people, and thin, active people who over exercise. From this article, An "Iron" response by Dr. John Mandrola, a cardiac electrophysiologist: “There are hundreds of citations documenting the risk of atrial fibrillation in long-term endurance athletes.” He then went on to cite six specific references.
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Re: Why does Dr. Gundry say no crossfit for apoe4?

Post by catscatscaats »

Interesting. Thank you for answering. I do strength training about 3 days a week for an hour. Do you think that is too intense for apoe4s? Also I am Apoe 3,4...does Dr. Gundry's statement apply to apoe 3,4 as well?
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Re: Why does Dr. Gundry say no crossfit for apoe4?

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catscatscaats wrote:I saw in a youtube video Dr. Gundry saying that apoe4s shouldn't do crossfit.

Anyone know why?
I had the same question when I heard that, so during one of our consults with Dr Gundry I asked him about it. I wrote about this in another one of my posts, but here I'll cut and paste:
So during our recent consult, concerned about my recently adopted strength training program, I asked Dr Gundry about his comment that the last thing ApoE4s should be doing is cross-fit. He confirmed the indictment is on cross-fit, not on strength exercise in general. He told us that as ApoE4s, we have to be mindful that we have the potential to develop small vessel disease because our cholesterol is more “active” and small blood vessels occur in the brain, and in the heart, and elsewhere. He doesn’t view cross-fit as a strength training program, he views it as trying to damage your heart as much as you can. :lol: He told us almost every patient of his who is a big time cross-fitter has positive Cardiac Troponin-I elevation which is a test that is hundred times more sensitive than the test used in an emergency room looking for heart attacks. When his cross-fit patients back off, their Cardiac Triponons go back to normal. Not just cross-fit, he says he also sees this in marathoners and in a patient of his who is an avid hiker.
Now another consideration, and this is just me, not Dr Gundry, is that during exercise lactate is produced in muscles and this article
Simple sugar, lactate, is like 'candy for cancer cells': Cancer cells accelerate aging and inflammation in the body to drive tumor growth https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 152549.htm while it discusses how cancer breaks down and inflames the connective tissue to provide lactate for itself, it nevertheless implies that generating too much lactate may not be a good thing.
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Re: Why does Dr. Gundry say no crossfit for apoe4?

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This is fascinating and perhaps gives me some explanation of why my athlete brother died of a cardiac arrest at 56. He was into cycling at the time and was riding a route and competing with a 25 year old who posted a faster time than him. He was also a top 10 master's swimmer in about 6-8 events.
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Re: Why does Dr. Gundry say no crossfit for apoe4?

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"Another potential result of excess intense exercise is Atrial fibrillation (AFib). AFib is an abnormal or rapid heart rate, a common but serious arrhythmia. Two groups are at high risk for AFib: Obese, sedentary people, and thin, active people who over exercise."

OK that is of interest to me, my dad has ran marathons all his life and presumably has the 4 gene as I do (well likely, anyway) and has now developed atrial fibrillation. He still runs though, and is getting treatment (blood thinners, had a cardioversion which helped a little) but maybe something to be aware of for me in the future.

At present I enjoy swimming and walking, yoga and simple weights but in a calming way not stressy, maybe will keep it that way and possibly do a little bit HIIT but nothing too stressful. Thanks.
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Re: Why does Dr. Gundry say no crossfit for apoe4?

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cwicker wrote:This is fascinating and perhaps gives me some explanation of why my athlete brother died of a cardiac arrest at 56. He was into cycling at the time and was riding a route and competing with a 25 year old who posted a faster time than him. He was also a top 10 master's swimmer in about 6-8 events.
I’m so sorry to hear about your brother’s death. So tragic... And I can see how the information in this thread can perhaps give you an explanation as to what happened to him.

I have been concerned about my sister’s athletic pursuits. She has decided not to learn her ApoE4 status, so I don’t know if small vessel disease is a risk for her. She started running marathons in her 40s and has run 10 of them, and she has done other intense exercise. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cross Fit is one of them. She’ll be 56 next month.

My sister recently had a health scare due to having a three-inch blood clot in an artery in her groin. It had to be surgically removed and a graft was implanted to cover the hole from the part of her artery that had been removed along with the clot. The question has been: What caused the clot? A cardiologist did all kinds of testing on her heart. She even wore a monitor for a month to look for afib. But her heart checked out fine. However, I don’t know if the doctor checked for the Cardiac Troponin-I marker. (I hope that’s standard practice.) Doctors suspect she has an autoimmune disease called Lupus Anti-Coagulant, which can form a blood clot in any blood vessel, but they haven’t been able to confirm that because the blood thinner she has to be on for life causes false negatives when testing for this disease.

She’s trying to return to her previous exercise pursuits, but an old hamstring injury is, well, hamstringing her. She has returned to her otherwise high-stress lifestyle.
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Re: Why does Dr. Gundry say no crossfit for apoe4?

Post by TheBrain »

TheresaB wrote:
catscatscaats wrote:I saw in a youtube video Dr. Gundry saying that apoe4s shouldn't do crossfit. Anyone know why?
I had the same question when I heard that, so during one of our consults with Dr Gundry I asked him about it. I wrote about this in another one of my posts, but here I'll cut and paste:
So during our recent consult, concerned about my recently adopted strength training program, I asked Dr Gundry about his comment that the last thing ApoE4s should be doing is cross-fit. He confirmed the indictment is on cross-fit, not on strength exercise in general. He told us that as ApoE4s, we have to be mindful that we have the potential to develop small vessel disease because our cholesterol is more “active” and small blood vessels occur in the brain, and in the heart, and elsewhere. He doesn’t view cross-fit as a strength training program, he views it as trying to damage your heart as much as you can. :lol: He told us almost every patient of his who is a big time cross-fitter has positive Cardiac Troponin-I elevation which is a test that is hundred times more sensitive than the test used in an emergency room looking for heart attacks. When his cross-fit patients back off, their Cardiac Triponons go back to normal. Not just cross-fit, he says he also sees this in marathoners and in a patient of his who is an avid hiker.
Theresa, do you have any sense of what Dr. Gundry would say about high intensity interval training (HIIT)? I have never felt inclined to exercise intensely, though I did climb Humphrey’s Peak in Flagstaff, AZ, once while living there. And I love going on a long hike in a beautiful place. I’ve been reading such good things about HIIT, and I’m considering working up to that after I resolve some health issues. But a part of me would be relieved if HIIT is not a good idea for me. :)
ApoE 4/4 - When I was in 7th grade, my fellow students in history class called me "The Brain" because I had such a memory for detail. I excelled at memorization and aced tests. This childhood memory helps me cope!
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Re: Why does Dr. Gundry say no crossfit for apoe4?

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alysson wrote:Theresa, do you have any sense of what Dr. Gundry would say about high intensity interval training (HIIT)?
To my knowledge Dr Gundry has neither advocated nor opposed HIIT. When we had the discussion, he indicted cross-fitters, marathoners, and his one patient who was an avid hiker, those don’t fit into the HIIT category. He does seem to fit into the not too long or too hard category. In one of his blogs, http://gundrymd.com/how-much-exercise/ he says,
“You don’t have to beat yourself up at the gym to get in your weekly exercise” and talks about walking, recommends getting a dog, and also mentions rebounding (those little trampolines). He talks more in-depth about about rebounding here http://gundrymd.com/rebounding-exercise-benefits/

I must say, a common theme I’ve been hearing recently in talks, podcasts, etc. from other doctors and health professionals beyond Dr Gundry is to exercise, but not too long or too hard.

The beauty of HIIT is while you do have to exercise intensely, it’s not for long, you can gain benefit in less than five minutes, no need to change into gym clothes!

Have you explored Michael Mosely? His website is https://www.fast-exercises.com/ and this is the documentary he did on HIT (he calls it HIT, it’s the same thing as HIIT) https://vimeo.com/51836895, he's found it very beneficial, but he also found there is a genetic component (not ApoE4) to the benefits achieved.

Dr Joe Mercola is big into a type of HIIT called Nitric Oxide Dump. In addition to the exercise component, it's designed to stimulate the release of nitric oxide, a free radical stored in the lining or endothelium of your blood vessels. https://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitne ... rkout.aspx It takes 4 minutes to do, but he recommends doing it 3 times a day with at least 2 hours in between.
-Theresa
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Re: Why does Dr. Gundry say no crossfit for apoe4?

Post by TheBrain »

Theresa, thank you for this great information. I haven't heard of Michael Mosely, but I'll watch his documentary tomorrow. The Nitric Oxide Dump sounds intriguing and relatively easy to do (although I haven't done it yet!). But I'll educate myself more first (as I'm still thinking I should wait until certain health issues are resolved). But rebounding sounds pretty cool and certainly doable now.
ApoE 4/4 - When I was in 7th grade, my fellow students in history class called me "The Brain" because I had such a memory for detail. I excelled at memorization and aced tests. This childhood memory helps me cope!
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