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[Sgl9x]

Hello All,

I'm new here and glad to have found this site.

I just found out that i'm Apoe 4/4 and have a question.

I've been Keto for over 4 years and I'm 49 years old, 175 lbs, 6 feet tall. Started it because my A1c was 6.3 and my FBG was creeping up to 100. Lost 50 lbs as well on this diet. A1c is 5.2 now and FBG is 90.
TC is 290. HDL is 41, TG is 100, LDL 230.

I've got Bradycardia with a resting pulse of 44.

Work out once a week with weights and 20 mins a day of stationary bike.

Carbs: around 20 grams a day of all non starchy vegetables. (usually broccoli, cauliflower, and Kale)
Protein: around 90 grams a day of chicken, fish, shellfish, and Beef once a week.
Fats: around 150 grams a day. From protein, MCT, butter, Cocoa butter, olive oil, mac nut oil. More Mono than Saturated.
I take: B complex, fish oil, Multivitamin (real food), K2, D3, C

I have significant brain fog when ever I get above 20 total carbs a day (or even less). In my research, Apoe 4 gene causes low efficiency in glucose metabolism AND ketone metabolism. These are the only energy substrates for the brain. Is there something else I can do to make my brain a more efficient engine?

Thanks, Steve

[donbob]

Perhaps another substrate: lactic acid. en.m.wikipedia.org

[Sgl9x]

I know lactic acid can be generated by exercise and good bacteria in the gut but is there another way? Pyruvate maybe but it increases LDL while lowering HDL. Not sure if that is a good trade off with my Cholesterol high already.

[donbob]

We are out of my paygrade with this topic.

We are all different. In my case l exercise a set of muscles to exhaustion each day with a technique known as tight drop sets. Then I rest those muscles a few days while hitting other muscle groups. I warm up each day on a treadmill set at 15% grade. I run my heart rate up to theoretical maximum. In my case that is 149 bpm(220-age).

Perhaps consider slowly building your exercise to a much higher level. Exercise done properly has few negative side effects. If it doesn't help in your case, nothing lost.

Best wishes.

[NF52]

...I just found out that i'm Apoe 4/4 and have a question.

I've been Keto for over 4 years and I'm 49 years old, 175 lbs, 6 feet tall. Started it because my A1c was 6.3 and my FBG was creeping up to 100. Lost 50 lbs as well on this diet. A1c is 5.2 now and FBG is 90.
TC is 290. HDL is 41, TG is 100, LDL 230.

I've got Bradycardia with a resting pulse of 44....I have significant brain fog when ever I get above 20 total carbs a day (or even less). In my research, Apoe 4 gene causes low efficiency in glucose metabolism AND ketone metabolism. These are the only energy substrates for the brain. Is there something else I can do to make my brain a more efficient engine?

Thanks, Steve

Welcome, Steve,

Congratulations on your ability to make tremendous improvements in your A1c and fasting blood glucose. You obviously are someone who can stick with a plan that works! I will let others who are our in-house experts on ketogenic diets weigh in on your question about brain fog, but wonder what your primary care provider has said about your bradycardia. A resting heart rate below 50 is considered bradycardia according to 2018 guidelines, and can be normal in healthy, athletic people. Even so, it might be helpful to share your experience of brain fog with your primary care doctor, along with some specifics on the intensity, duration and examples of impact on your thinking or functioning. It might be helpful to also try tracking what you eat and take as supplements on the free app Cronometer for a few days, to see if there are areas where you are missing out on some nutrients.

Here is a link to the index page of our Wiki which includes this section: Ketosis and Ketogenic Diet and this section on Blood sugar. Some of our users have recommended using both ketone and glucose meters, including the Keto-Mojo brand, to figure out what's happening with both glucose and ketones after various meals, upon waking or during fasts.

For tips on how to quote members so they see your post, how to search for topics and how to subscribe to conversation threads for notification of new posts, see our "How-To" Get the most out of the ApoE4.info website

Our Primer, written by a physician who is also ApoE 4/4, has terrific information. She advocates for Primer:Eating a healthy diet with heaps of micronutrients and might give you some thoughts on expanding your vegetables and carbs in ways that wouldn't cause brain fog.

I hope you will continue to post on any forums that resonate with you. We're all learning together here.

[mike]

I have significant brain fog when ever I get above 20 total carbs a day (or even less). In my research, Apoe 4 gene causes low efficiency in glucose metabolism AND ketone metabolism. These are the only energy substrates for the brain. Is there something else I can do to make my brain a more efficient engine?

Thanks, Steve

Hi from another 4/4. Where are you hearing that Apoe4 causes issues with ketone metabolism!? Ketone metabolism should still be intact. Are you testing blood sugar and ketones? If so, what kind of levels do you get when you are having the brain fog? Also you mention MCT oil. What form and how much do you take? Do you take it all at once?

[SamNZ]

Hello All,

I have significant brain fog when ever I get above 20 total carbs a day (or even less). In my research, Apoe 4 gene causes low efficiency in glucose metabolism AND ketone metabolism. These are the only energy substrates for the brain. Is there something else I can do to make my brain a more efficient engine?

Thanks, Steve

Hi Sgl9x,
Thanks so much for coming to this site, you are obviously doing really well on your journey and managing to transform many areas of your life, I think that you have a lot to be proud of yourself for so far on your journey. I feel from what you have said that you have probably already looked into this but would just like to check that you are getting the 7-8 hours sleep we all need and are not living with stress.......these would be the next places I would go to help with reducing the brain fog.
As far as diet you are doing really amazingly, maybe spend some time looking and introducing more anti inflammatory foods into the diet if that is something that you have not focused on before (turmeric, green tea to name but a few!). There is plenty of information online for this as well as in the Wiki!
Hope this helps, if stress is something that you are not currently managing do not hesitate to reply for some ideas of where to start.
Well done again and thanks for becoming a member of this community, I suspect from your message that you will have a lot to offer others on this site as well. Cheers SamNZ

[Sgl9x]

@ mike,
This is where I saw the info on the ketones:
https://www.drperlmutter.com/study/huma ... etabolism/
I test ketones occasionally with a mojo meter. Last time I checked, I was getting 1.6 mmol around 3:00 pm about 3 hours after I ate.
Brain fog right now is constant.
I take 1 tablespoon of Brain Octane Oil, 1 tablespoon of butter, and one tablespoon of cocoa butter in the morning with my coffee.
That is all the MCT I take. It tends to increase LDL more than other saturated fats, so I keep it to 1 tablespoon a day.
Thanks SamNz and NF52

[Sgl9x]

@ NF52
My primary doctor is useless in this.
4 years ago, I went to a Neurologist about the brain fog and got an MRI and it was good.
He said I didn't have AD, but said it could be another type of dementia. (he is a neurologist and will assume this)
I'm about to go back to the neurologist in the next few months to get a new scan.
Basically, I think I need more ketones than 1.6 mmol and the bradycardia doesn't help I'm sure. (44 pulse is not because I'm in good shape) Over the past week I have been eating yogurt to recolonize my good bacteria in my gut because I had diarrhea for a month recently. This brain fog has been happening off and on for the past 4 years, and typically happens when I increase carbs to over 20 grams a day. When I'm dialed in, my ketones are at 3.0 mmol typically.

EDIT: When I say brain fog I mean, can't focus or concentrate very long, mind wanders, forget words, walk into a room and can't remember why I'm there, short term memory issues.

[SusanJ]

When I say brain fog I mean, can't focus or concentrate very long, mind wanders, forget words, walk into a room and can't remember why I'm there, short term memory issues.

Hmm, have you tracked your choline intake? Many of us don't get enough unless we eat liver twice a week and lots of eggs. Might be your acetylcholine is low resulting in the focus issues. Or you might have genetic snps that effect choline metabolism. Some folks take plain choline, some citicoline and some alphaGPC. Something to look into at any rate.

Search for choline on the site and you'll see a lot of posts about it.