Failing to Dent LDL

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Alexis
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Failing to Dent LDL

Post by Alexis »

Hello

I’m feeling frustrated that neither a plant sterol supplement nor daily bowls of porridge seem to improve my ldl-cholesterol; I’m wondering if my 1 apoe 4 allele has anything to do with it.

I’ve been using insidetracker.com to gauge my bloodwork: hdl is ok (62 mg/dl) but my ldl is getting worse (108 mg/dl) :?

After googling myself into oblivion, I was hoping for some advice from wiser minds in this community.

I’ve looked at the wiki and read the primer; I’m just wondering if it’s common for standard dietary interventions (plant sterols and bet glucan) to be ineffective in lowering ldl for ApoE4s?

Many thanks.

Edit: after searching the ye forums a bit, I see there’s zero consensus on ldl :P

Any thoughts still appreciated!
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slacker
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Re: Failing to Dent LDL

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A LDL of 108 looks pretty good to me! I'm not sure that a conventional medical provider would be concerned with it at your young age and health, unless you have had heart problems in the past or are at high risk of future problems. Why do you think your LDL needs to be lower?
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Alexis
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Re: Failing to Dent LDL

Post by Alexis »

Hi Slacker!

I hope you’re well.

Oh, really? I’m pretty clueless about these things. This website, http://www.insidetracker.com, runs an algorithm on your bloodwork and churns out a result.

In the attached image you can see that my ldl is creeping up over time and outside of what they consider my ‘optimised zone’.

Do you think their idea of what’s optimal is a bit excessive, then?

Warmest

Alex
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Re: Failing to Dent LDL

Post by NF52 »

slacker wrote:A LDL of 108 looks pretty good to me! I'm not sure that a conventional medical provider would be concerned with it at your young age and health, unless you have had heart problems in the past or are at high risk of future problems. Why do you think your LDL needs to be lower?
Alexis wrote:...This website, http://www.insidetracker.com, runs an algorithm on your bloodwork and churns out a result.

In the attached image you can see that my ldl is creeping up over time and outside of what they consider my ‘optimised zone’.Do you think their idea of what’s optimal is a bit excessive, then?

Warmest

Alex
Hi Alex, I've used the quotation mark in the top right corner of each post to quote both you and slacker, so that she sees that you have responded to her post. Our free forum software is not as smart as email systems that automatically send a reply to someone's inbox. Here you have to use the quoting feature, which is explained more in our "How-To" wiki with lots of other tips: How (and why) to quote users in a reply

You may also want to take a deep dive into this wiki Cholesterol, Lipids and Treatments, including statins
4/4 and still an optimist!
Alexis
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Re: Failing to Dent LDL

Post by Alexis »

Hi Alex, I've used the quotation mark in the top right corner of each post to quote both you and slacker, so that she sees that you have responded to her post. Our free forum software is not as smart as email systems that automatically send a reply to someone's inbox. Here you have to use the quoting feature, which is explained more in our "How-To" wiki with lots of other tips: How (and why) to quote users in a reply

You may also want to take a deep dive into this wiki Cholesterol, Lipids and Treatments, including statins
Oops! Thanks :)
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Re: Failing to Dent LDL

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Alexis wrote:This website, http://www.insidetracker.com, runs an algorithm on your bloodwork and churns out a result.
Dr David Sinclair PhD, the brain behind insidetracker, has a good reputation. A LDL less than 100 may be optimum, but does a young healthy person really need to take supplements or prescriptions to get it down into this range? Some people find that their LDL goes up with saturated fats; this may be true for you. As you've discovered, we have members that share studies that show that neither LDL or saturated fat are risk factor for coronary heart disease. One of our members who is a MD in New Zealand has mentioned that the US medical system focuses on cholesterol treatment much more than other countries.

I found it interesting that insidetracker had the optimum range of LDL down to zero! That seems extreme to me. As individuals, we have to muddle our way through...and we all learn together.
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Re: Failing to Dent LDL

Post by Alexis »

I found it interesting that insidetracker had the optimum range of LDL down to zero! That seems extreme to me. As individuals, we have to muddle our way through...and we all learn together.
Ha! Less is presumably not always better!

Muddle through indeed; after many days of googling, I feel more confused than ever about what the hell I should eat :?
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Re: Failing to Dent LDL

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Alexis wrote: Muddle through indeed; after many days of googling, I feel more confused than ever about what the hell I should eat :?
Dr Stavia has reasonable advice on food choices in her Primer. It's a good place to start for nutritional help. She recommends prioritizing lowering insulin resistance over cholesterol levels.

PS. Instead of relying on other members' "quoting" you to find out that you've gotten a response, you can subscribe to a topic and get notified when anyone adds to the topic. Or you can just check back every day or so!
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Re: Failing to Dent LDL

Post by Fiver »

The lipid experts I talk with get excited about the new, strong statins and the new PCSK9 inhibitors because they can indeed get someone's LDL down near zero if they want to. And they can see good improvement in CVD symptoms, even to the point of not opting to use stents in some cases to significant blockages which they now feel they can manage. They do seem a bit surprised that patients with LDL numbers near zero seem otherwise fine. I don't know that this is always the case. And I'm interested to see how this evolves. I don't know that I'd want to be near zero. But I do understand why that chart might actually go down to zero.

What I don't understand is that the chart seems to go <1 and that this is only deemed "low" and not "impossible"! :shock:

Maybe the website explains more....
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Re: Failing to Dent LDL

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Fiver wrote:The lipid experts I talk with get excited about the new, strong statins and the new PCSK9 inhibitors because they can indeed get someone's LDL down near zero if they want to.
I'll be interested to learn of any long term consequences of these low LDL levels. Probably too soon to tell at the moment. And is anyone monitoring?
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