New member Zig

[zig]

I think this might be as good a place as any to post. Please let me know if another thread would be more appropriate for feedback on blood work test results/suggestions.

I am 39 years old. I am Apoe3/4 and have known for some time actually from 23andme. I am most interested in the genealogical results provided and didn't give the health results too much consideration. Independently I got back some poor test results on bloodwork despite maintaining what I considered at the time to be decent fitness and diet. I started to put it all together.

2013 tests

Triglyceride 195
HDL 39
LDL 124
Ratio 5.2
Total 202

Fasting Glucose 100

2014 tests (after losing 10 pounds)

Triglyceride 121
HDL 38
LDL 104
Ratio 4.4
Total 166

Fasting Glucose 86

The changes to my diet were a lunch salad from 1-2 times per week to 4-5 times per week (and thus eliminating things like a pizza slice or sandwich some days), refraining from 50/50 soda water/lemon soda mix at dinner which had become a bad habit (and perhaps the biggest change IMO), switching from low fiber rye toast to high fiber bread or cereal for breakfast and snacking on almonds at my desk thereby suppressing my snacking on uncounted bad things like chips and crackers (another big change IMO). Otherwise I had always eaten relatively healthy dinners but still eat small portions of things like pasta, still drink alcohol about 2-3 times per week and still eat things like pizza and Mexican food in moderation on the weekends. Before and after I exercised about 3x per week.

I was most happy to see the glucose levels decline. I don't know what to make of the cholesterol levels and all the conflicting info regarding this. I wonder about my HDL levels and why they did not increase. Is this related to Apoe4? My doctor believes this is genetic 100% and told me not to worry about it. I could improve my diet further but see no point at the moment with these results. Do you agree or disagree as an APOe4 carrier? My doctor was impressed with my change in one year but also didn't know what Apoe4 is. His opinion about diet is it really doesn't matter and it is all about weight loss. I disagree and feel I have a real sensitively to sugar and refined carbs.

It is important to me to not to overemphasize this knowledge of my Apoe4 status in my lifestyle but welcome feedback.

[zig]

I should add to the above that the changes I believe were in more like 2-3 months of changing my diet and not the whole year. I ignored the results for 8-9 months and then made the changes to my diet and was re-tested.

[Julie G]

Welcome Zig! Congrats on your improvements. You have much to be proud of I agree, your MOST impressive change is in glucose- kudos. You were headed towards IR, my friend, and have turned things around. Very important in staving off AD and CAD. In the absence of advanced lipids, another great biomarker to target is your TG/HDL ratio. Yours has improved wildly...but you still have some room for progress. Under 2 is considered ideal.

I applaud your decision not to obsess over the E4. As a young 3/4 male, why should you? Yet you're smart enough to start tracking now and perfectly poised to prevent AD/CAD. Nice.

[zig]

Thanks for the reply. My changes were minimal leading me to believe I am very sensitive to excess sugar IMO

I would like to improve the ratios but again it seems my HDL doesn't change and stays low. I drink red wine, work out, am eating pretty well and am at a good weight yet it stays the same. Is Low HDL related to APO4e?

I am also tying to figure out which grandparent I inherited APOe4 from. One grandparent died young of stomach cancer. The other 3 were/are long lived with no CAD, obesity, AD at all. There is some late onset vascular dementia but that alone is not alarming. Again trying to be aware without overreacting.

[Spittinchips]

Hello Zig,

Your HDL will probably move upward if you increase fat intake, particularly saturated. Of course it may also increase your LDL, so it depends on whether that would concern you or not, as to whether that's an option. I don't believe low HDL is related to E4, but I'm happy to be corrected.

As Juliegee said, a drop in BG is always good. Your comment about sensitivity to refined carbs and sugar suggests you will continue to cut those out of your diet, and you would expect that to lead to further drops in BG and also triglycerides.

All the best.

[PhillyFree]

Hi Zig,
Are your parents living? If so, get their genetics tested. If they have reservations about reading medical reports, 23andme does not currently offer med reports, just ancestry and raw data browse. From this, you may be better able to quietly infer which grandparent might have passed down the E4.

I'd bet on the grandparent who had stomach cancer, the risk of which is raised by H. Pylori. H. Pylori in turn has been related to AD:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22133280
But this is wild speculation on my part. The more genetic info you can get on your family the better.

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Also, I give weight loss a lot of credit for favorably shifting many biomarkers more or less regardless of diet.