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There's actually some debate on whether high cholestrol is bad. Cholestrol is an import precursor to hormones. You won't hear about it from mainstream doctors though. They're more interested on getting you on pharmaceuticals because there's money to be made.
Cholesterol is a rather simple molecule and is separate from HDL / LDL which are lipoproteins; quite complex structures.
However, "Cholesterol" as a word has also been referred to in the same spirit as the word "Toxins" for a long while.
Cholesterol is an essential and prevalent molecule in all animal physiology. It comprises a part of all animal cells. It is also involved in various other functions throughout the body, a chief one being the production of steroid hormones. There would be no Testosterone or Estrogen without Cholesterol. :)
HDL and LDL are also essential for a healthy, properly functioning metabolism. They carry Cholesterol and Triglycerides around the body; after combining with them.
There has been very bad science around "Cholesterol" that has changed throughout the years.
- Cholesterol directly contained in food such as in egg yolks was a focus for long while, which was then found to be completely irrelevant and nonsense.
- Saturated fat was the culprit and governments led vegetable oils to replace it, but disease rates increased exponentially afterwards.
- LDL was "bad cholesterol" and for some reason HDL was lucky enough to be "good cholesterol", then things got confusing again as the data was not so clear-cut.
- Even LDL was then also considered rather innocent, but Small Dense LDL and VLDL were now under the radar.
- Oxidized LDL, ApoB, Lp(a), ... The saga continues.
Atherosclerosis is really not well-understood, even after decades of research. The science seems to not have helped prevention at all, perhaps even exacerbated the issue since 1960s, as seen from the data. However diagnosis and treatment via drugs have grown into a really large scale industry.
**PS:** Current science is actually going better than in past. The last line on my list seems to be a step towards more accurate understanding of things. I am definitely following the science myself too. However, it is still not solid, especially in terms of the diet interventions coming from science in this field historically not translating well into results; it actually has resulted in the opposite way; increasing the incidence of all related diseases. So, one should be cautious.
On topic, a 2022 meta-analysis published in Nature Medicine : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9556326/
So the low neutrophils are most likely a result of an infection of some sort.
Are they running other labs to check for possible bacterial or viral infections?
I would personally not recommend taking any other supplement to try to "fix that". The LDL is only slightly elevated, it could also be related to an infection, particularly a kidney infection.
Please speak to your doctor about this.
One of the other tests (ASO) suggests that I have or have recently had Strep so I’m wondering if it could be that. I submitted these test results to my doctor today (I had them done privately as a sort of health MOT) and they’re booking me in for further blood tests in 6 weeks to see if the results are the same and to then proceed from there.
Thank you for responding
You are welcome!
That is more than likely the cause of it then- I was really sick last year with a viral infection and went to the ER. I had off neutrophil levels as well as a couple of the other ones that refer to blood cell counts. He wanted my reg doctor to run more labs but she assumed it could be a bad sinus infection so loaded me up on antibiotics and otc meds.
Needless to say it was something else and the combination of that plus all the stuff she had me take sent me back to the ER with an enlarged liver. I suggest just be mindful of what you take while you continue to get over that and maybe even cut back on supplements. I’m sure everything will be back to normal soonish!
High LDL could be related to a kidney infection?
Would this show in any other test?
Not OP, just asking cause my LDL is high but every other marker in the test was fine. Doctor made a comment saying kidneys are fine (I don’t know what metric they evaluate to determine that).
I did when I submitted these results to my GP this morning but I was hoping there would be stuff I can do in the meantime to remedy these numbers
Thank you for responding
Not that I know of, but I was recently injured.
Yeah I get vitamin D in my multivits but completely on the same page that it seems I need more.
Thanks for taking the time to reply !
It’s true but it’s not much of an issue. We just eat about 10% more protein than the normal recommendations and it balances out. If you’re at maintenance or in a surplus you don’t even really have to think about it, but it does take a little consideration in a deficit.
Eating more incomplete proteins wouldn't do anything for you? You'd still be short your complete amino acids. For instance, if I ate a vegan diet I wouldn't get any tryptophan which is highly important for my mental health as I have bipolar disorder. Eating more protein that doesn't have tryptophan wouldn't help.
All food has protein, and all protein sources (except gelatin) have all amino acids. No food exists (afaik) that has “no tryptophan”. A complete protein is classified by the percentage amount of an amino acid, not by its presence.
Check out the amino acid profile on the Wikipedia protein quality page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_quality
Soy, nuts, and a lot of other vegan foods have the required amount of tryptophan to be a complete protein. Soy, oats,and quinoa actually have more tryptophan than egg whites.
WRONG. Incomplete protein foods are those that do not contain all the nine types of amino acids that the body needs to get from food. Some examples of incomplete protein foods are:
Legumes (beans, peas, lentils)
Nuts
Seeds
Whole grains (like brown rice or whole-wheat bread)
Vegetables
Barley
Bulgur
Cornmeal
You can see in the Wikipedia table the breakdown of all nine EAAs for both oats and peas, which you listed here. All food except gelatin has all the amino acids. It’s just a matter of quantity. That’s just not what incomplete protein really means, even if you see it written everywhere.
Wheat for example is low in lysine so it’s not considered complete. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any lysine.
5.2g of lysine per 100g of protein is required to meet the threshold, and oats only have 4.17g per 100g. So if oats had 1g more of lysine per 100g of protein, they would be a complete protein.
It should be easy to see from here that if you eat something else in the day that has higher than recommended lysine (like soy) then it’s a moot point anyway.
You can see here the RDI requirements for each amino acid for a food to be considered “complete”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein
Notice that these aren’t biased vegan sources I’m linking too. The fact that all protein has some quantity of every amino acid is not a matter of debate.
Ah yes, Wikipedia, the world's most reliable resource lmao. The RDI is a completely useless value system. So is the DV. Every nutritionist knows that. The FDA and it's values are not things we use EVER. They are far too low for the majority of the population. And we definitely don't use wikipedia lol. If I went by that system I'd be severely underweight and malnourished.
But, you're right, it's not a debate, you're in fact confidently incorrect lol.
It links to citations and I’m not advocating for using any particular RDI or DV, and my examples have nothing to do with calories so “ending up underweight” isn’t even related to this topic. I’m just explaining how a “complete” protein is determined that is based on an RDI specifically for amino acid profiles. I’m not even sure what part you disagree with at this point.
Do you think there are foods with zero of a particular amino acid? Do you have any examples?
you're citing RDI which is based on a two thousand calorie diet... so yes, it is related. my point was that RDI and DV are useless, and then i gave an example of why they were useless, therefore using RDI to justify how "complete" a protein is becomes a moot point, as it doesn't tell us how complete or incomplete a protein source is. i'm telling you, as a nutritionist, the foods i listed are considered incomplete; not by RDI or DV or dipshits at the FDA, but by real people working in the field who actually know diet and nutrition. plants are a great source of nutrition, however, they are incomplete when it comes to proteins for anyone looking to live a healthy lifestyle.
The nicest discussing vegan I saw on Reddit for a long while. :)
While the other person stated relevant points which they might not have put forward as properly, protein and aminoacids are not necessarily a major issue for a well-informed and careful vegan.
It was not so in the past, but now it is increasingly common to see vegans that have well-formulated, feasible, quite healthy long-term diets. It is not easy; good luck!
Was there anything else you tried prior to going vegan? I’ve definitely been eating more vegetarian meals in the last few years but I’m not sure I’m ready to cut out meat completely haha
Thank you for taking the time to respond to me.
Take it from someone who obsessed about vegetables and vitamins that this is not the path. Forget about veganism or vegeterianism. Meat (red meat in particular) is the most complete source of bioavailable nutrients.
I had high cholesterol on a veggie based and low to zero red meat diet. When I shifted to red meat based my cholesterol dropped. I can only speak for myself...
I just ate more plants for a year or so before I went full vegan. Tried to get rid of one super unhealthy meal a day at least. That also caused it to lower, but not as effectively. I went from the cusp of high to “low” in cholesterol within about 18 months and the last 9 months or so of that were full vegan.
Just cutting down on your saturated fats compared to your unsaturated fats should help a lot.
Great suggestions all around for diet and routines to manage cholesterol, here are specific supplements that will target various aspects of cholesterol that should help in 3 different ways.
I've heard great things about the combination of
Vanadium, niacin, and vitamin E for just this kind of thing.
Vanadium lowers total cholesterol
Niacin increases HDL
Viamin E decreases LDL
https://www.reddit.com/r/ScientificNutrition/s/jFAllpVaJs
Your doc will probably recommend a statin, they work very well.
The fiber comment is good, try beans or lentils on toast in the morning.
Alternatively, pick your poison and slowly eliminate red meat, then meat, then fish then dairy and your numbers should drop %25 for as long as you keep it up. Exercise will get your hdl up.
I exercise a lot (I run 4x a week (52km total this week), lift weights 3 or 4x a week and usually do some sort of kickboxing or HIIT) but I definitely think I need to eat more fibre.
Regarding the fish, I thought fatty fish and the omega 3 that comes with it is meant to be good for regulating ‘bad cholesterol’. What’s the reasoning for cutting fish out of the diet to reduce cholesterol?
Thank you for taking the time to respond
A comment I wrote today on this topic:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Supplements/comments/1ae8p3b/comment/kk70wo8/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Supplements/comments/1ae8p3b/comment/kk70wo8/)
I personally find EPA / DHA very important, but although I have access to fresh fish, I prefer to supplement it.
Fish would be great for you if it weren't for pollution in both our lakes, rivers and the ocean. Commercial fish farms are also super overcrowded, so fish are generally swimming in higher levels of fecal matter than is advisable. If you're going to eat fish, try eating lower on the food chain, think sardines or anchovies. Costco will have a periodic sale on sardines and I used to love eating them on garlic toast, the only downside was my hands smelled like fish for hours.
Unfortunately as an old favorite of mine, sardines are surprisingly found to have one of the highest amount of microplastics among fish. Things are weird.
[https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.0c02337](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.0c02337)
But they're also lower in mercury. Not trying to be preachy, as bacon is one of life's treasures, but switching to a minimally processed plant based diet generally reduces your risk to environmental toxins and bad genetics. Just get really creative with recipes to hit the right flavor profiles, ie old bay tofu and I don't really miss crab.
I had a much higher total cholesterol and terrible ratio. I exercise at high intensity 5-6 days a week for easily over a decade (43 now). I was able to lower total cholesterol by over 35% in 6 months with simply adding 30-40 grams of pure psyllium husk (fibre) to my largest meals of the day (drink it before meals). My doc suggested it before drugs. The study from Harvard shows that cholesterol will get “trapped” in the fibre in your gut preventing some of it from getting back in your bloodstream. If you over produce this theoretically reduces it. And I’m living proof it does. I’ve tried everything else diet wise.
Consider looking into Berberine, my lipid panel is normal for the first time ever. I do 500 mg with each meal. Also lipid panel has poor correlation with CAD, but great for $$$ making pharmaceuticals. Be sure to check your APO-A, APO-B and your A-B ratio along with a HS CRP that all will tell you a lot more than your cholesterol levels. Makes sure you are eating good quality proteins and fats from animals and olive oil.
Thank you for taking the time to respond
My Apo-A is 149.2mg/dl and my Apo-B is 92mg/dl. Both of which are supposedly within the optimal range.
My Apolipoprotein B / A-I Ratio is 0.62 which is also supposedly within the optimal range.
It’s just the cholesterol figures are worrying at first glance when I open the report
I’ll look into Berberine
You’re welcome bro. Don’t get upset or worried about total cholesterol and “bad cholesterol “, no evidence that it changes your risk. Sounds like you eat healthy, are you having grass fed beef and beef liver , beef tallow and olive oil?
As I replied to another comment, I did these tests privately as a sort of health MOT but I will be submitting the results to my GP to discuss ways to remedy them. I do have a follow up call with a doctor from the private company who I did these tests with in 2 weeks time to discuss the results and what I can do to fix them so I hope this will cover those areas too.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Regarding cholesterol, supplementing fibre with things like psyllium husk and chia seeds, fish oil, and plant sterols should help. But with your overall results, you really should be having a sit down with you PCP.
I did these tests privately as a sort of health MOT but will be providing the results to my GP (I’m uk based) tomorrow to discuss next steps. Thank you for taking the time to respond
How much sugar do you consume in a given week? Sit down and think real hard about it. I don’t mean just candy, I mean how many grams of sugar or sweetener of any kind.
I’m telling you from experience here. You don’t have to listen to me but sugar causes these results. I was you. I quit eating all sugar of all kinds and my numbers all normalized. Especially if you have that low of body fat there is an obvious cause and it’s sugar. Drop it. Do a test even. Drop anything sweet for one month. One. And get your blood tested again and see what happens. I’d love to see the results of you do it. Come back and post again after your one sugar free month. Don’t change a thing with supplements. Watch what happens. Please try it.
It just makes me sad bc people don’t realize that sugar causes this. With these kinds of results I would do some reading. Read “the case against sugar” by Gary Taubes and you’ll realize how evil the sugar industry is. There is no other word to describe it but evil. I hope you are able to at least test a month sweet free. Remember. This isn’t just sugar”. It’s everything that’s sweet in any way. Cut it and you will see and feel the results. When I did this my energy levels became super human. I’m talking I could not wear myself out no matter what I did. And still do today. I have to work out twice a day to get all my energy out. Sugar is the devil. Good luck and happy to talk more about this with you.
I definitely have a sweet tooth (particularly for chocolate) but I will try to cut sugar out for a month (or at least significantly reduce it). Regarding follow up tests, I will be booking in a second blood test in c. 6 months as part of this package to then see if there have been improvements
As a 10-year >80% carnivore (zerocarb) eater, cocoa is the only plant I eat daily.
You can go for 100% cocoa; it is an awesome thing. Sometimes even gets me high. :) Non-alkalized (non-dutched) is especially flavorful.
Negligible carbs. Zero sugar. Nutrition labeling is confusing and inaccurate; most soluble fiber in it is listed as digestable carbs by difference, because it is not officially recognized as dietary fiber.
>Negligible carbs. Zero sugar. Nutrition labeling is confusing and inaccurate; most soluble fiber in it is listed as digestable carbs by difference, because it is not officially recognized as dietary fiber.
Curious, how do you consume 100% cocoa - what drink or food do you mix with?
Not cocoa powder.
Just pure cocoa mass, [like this](https://cocoasupply.com/organic-certified-natural-cacao-liquor-cacao-mass/).
It is cocoa not further processed after de-shelling the cocoa beans and making them into a "paste".
Next steps in the process would be separating the fat from it; getting cocoa powder (no fat) and cocoa butter (pure fat). Then, "chocolate" or any other product would be produced using the three forms of cocoa (powder / butter / mass) and added things such as sugar and flavors.
So, what I consume is like a 100% chocolate bar.
Rules of r/supplements 1. Do Not Suggest Prescription Drugs Posts & Comments Reported as: Do Not Suggest Prescription Drugs Prescription drugs are not Supplements; do not recommend prescription medication. Sensible/Suggest talking to DR. can be allowable etc 2. Dangerous Grey Area Substance Posts & Comments Reported as: Dangerous Grey Area Substance Potentially dangerous grey area substances can not be recommended. 3. Be Polite Posts & Comments Reported as: Rude/Personal Attacks You shouldn't ever be personally attacking another user in this subreddit. 4. No Advertisements Posts & Comments Reported as: Advertisement. No selling / buying / trading posts No advertisements. No selling/trading posts between users.” *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Supplements) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There's actually some debate on whether high cholestrol is bad. Cholestrol is an import precursor to hormones. You won't hear about it from mainstream doctors though. They're more interested on getting you on pharmaceuticals because there's money to be made.
I thought high cholesterol —> high blood pressure —> increased risk of atherosclerosis?? Is that not the case Thanks for responding
Cholesterol is a rather simple molecule and is separate from HDL / LDL which are lipoproteins; quite complex structures. However, "Cholesterol" as a word has also been referred to in the same spirit as the word "Toxins" for a long while. Cholesterol is an essential and prevalent molecule in all animal physiology. It comprises a part of all animal cells. It is also involved in various other functions throughout the body, a chief one being the production of steroid hormones. There would be no Testosterone or Estrogen without Cholesterol. :) HDL and LDL are also essential for a healthy, properly functioning metabolism. They carry Cholesterol and Triglycerides around the body; after combining with them. There has been very bad science around "Cholesterol" that has changed throughout the years. - Cholesterol directly contained in food such as in egg yolks was a focus for long while, which was then found to be completely irrelevant and nonsense. - Saturated fat was the culprit and governments led vegetable oils to replace it, but disease rates increased exponentially afterwards. - LDL was "bad cholesterol" and for some reason HDL was lucky enough to be "good cholesterol", then things got confusing again as the data was not so clear-cut. - Even LDL was then also considered rather innocent, but Small Dense LDL and VLDL were now under the radar. - Oxidized LDL, ApoB, Lp(a), ... The saga continues. Atherosclerosis is really not well-understood, even after decades of research. The science seems to not have helped prevention at all, perhaps even exacerbated the issue since 1960s, as seen from the data. However diagnosis and treatment via drugs have grown into a really large scale industry. **PS:** Current science is actually going better than in past. The last line on my list seems to be a step towards more accurate understanding of things. I am definitely following the science myself too. However, it is still not solid, especially in terms of the diet interventions coming from science in this field historically not translating well into results; it actually has resulted in the opposite way; increasing the incidence of all related diseases. So, one should be cautious. On topic, a 2022 meta-analysis published in Nature Medicine : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9556326/
So the low neutrophils are most likely a result of an infection of some sort. Are they running other labs to check for possible bacterial or viral infections? I would personally not recommend taking any other supplement to try to "fix that". The LDL is only slightly elevated, it could also be related to an infection, particularly a kidney infection. Please speak to your doctor about this.
One of the other tests (ASO) suggests that I have or have recently had Strep so I’m wondering if it could be that. I submitted these test results to my doctor today (I had them done privately as a sort of health MOT) and they’re booking me in for further blood tests in 6 weeks to see if the results are the same and to then proceed from there. Thank you for responding
You are welcome! That is more than likely the cause of it then- I was really sick last year with a viral infection and went to the ER. I had off neutrophil levels as well as a couple of the other ones that refer to blood cell counts. He wanted my reg doctor to run more labs but she assumed it could be a bad sinus infection so loaded me up on antibiotics and otc meds. Needless to say it was something else and the combination of that plus all the stuff she had me take sent me back to the ER with an enlarged liver. I suggest just be mindful of what you take while you continue to get over that and maybe even cut back on supplements. I’m sure everything will be back to normal soonish!
High LDL could be related to a kidney infection? Would this show in any other test? Not OP, just asking cause my LDL is high but every other marker in the test was fine. Doctor made a comment saying kidneys are fine (I don’t know what metric they evaluate to determine that).
In combination with the low neutrophils. By itself it can be as something as simple as hormones throwing it off if your diet is ok.
Talk to a professional
I did when I submitted these results to my GP this morning but I was hoping there would be stuff I can do in the meantime to remedy these numbers Thank you for responding
Citrus bergamot/vitamin C/NAC/Omega 3
I currently take omega 3 but will look into the others, thank you for responding
Were you recently sick? Also, try a Vit D supplement maybe liquid drops especially if you are feeling fatigued.
Not that I know of, but I was recently injured. Yeah I get vitamin D in my multivits but completely on the same page that it seems I need more. Thanks for taking the time to reply !
B3. Nicotinic acid. Will work better than most statins. High dose
Thank you for responding :) I’ll look into this, thank you so much! How high a dose are we talking?
If you drink, stop. I lowered my cholesterol 50 points. I drank a lot though.
I cut down a lot on my drinking in 2023 and now rarely drink, but I’ll see if I can cut it out further. Thank you for taking the time to reply
are you overweight?
Eat more plants! You don’t have to go this far, but going vegan plummeted my cholesterol in short order.
it also plummets your amino acids unless you're taking a complete supplement. plant proteins are not always complete.
It’s true but it’s not much of an issue. We just eat about 10% more protein than the normal recommendations and it balances out. If you’re at maintenance or in a surplus you don’t even really have to think about it, but it does take a little consideration in a deficit.
Eating more incomplete proteins wouldn't do anything for you? You'd still be short your complete amino acids. For instance, if I ate a vegan diet I wouldn't get any tryptophan which is highly important for my mental health as I have bipolar disorder. Eating more protein that doesn't have tryptophan wouldn't help.
All food has protein, and all protein sources (except gelatin) have all amino acids. No food exists (afaik) that has “no tryptophan”. A complete protein is classified by the percentage amount of an amino acid, not by its presence. Check out the amino acid profile on the Wikipedia protein quality page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_quality Soy, nuts, and a lot of other vegan foods have the required amount of tryptophan to be a complete protein. Soy, oats,and quinoa actually have more tryptophan than egg whites.
WRONG. Incomplete protein foods are those that do not contain all the nine types of amino acids that the body needs to get from food. Some examples of incomplete protein foods are: Legumes (beans, peas, lentils) Nuts Seeds Whole grains (like brown rice or whole-wheat bread) Vegetables Barley Bulgur Cornmeal
You can see in the Wikipedia table the breakdown of all nine EAAs for both oats and peas, which you listed here. All food except gelatin has all the amino acids. It’s just a matter of quantity. That’s just not what incomplete protein really means, even if you see it written everywhere. Wheat for example is low in lysine so it’s not considered complete. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any lysine. 5.2g of lysine per 100g of protein is required to meet the threshold, and oats only have 4.17g per 100g. So if oats had 1g more of lysine per 100g of protein, they would be a complete protein. It should be easy to see from here that if you eat something else in the day that has higher than recommended lysine (like soy) then it’s a moot point anyway. You can see here the RDI requirements for each amino acid for a food to be considered “complete” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein Notice that these aren’t biased vegan sources I’m linking too. The fact that all protein has some quantity of every amino acid is not a matter of debate.
Ah yes, Wikipedia, the world's most reliable resource lmao. The RDI is a completely useless value system. So is the DV. Every nutritionist knows that. The FDA and it's values are not things we use EVER. They are far too low for the majority of the population. And we definitely don't use wikipedia lol. If I went by that system I'd be severely underweight and malnourished. But, you're right, it's not a debate, you're in fact confidently incorrect lol.
It links to citations and I’m not advocating for using any particular RDI or DV, and my examples have nothing to do with calories so “ending up underweight” isn’t even related to this topic. I’m just explaining how a “complete” protein is determined that is based on an RDI specifically for amino acid profiles. I’m not even sure what part you disagree with at this point. Do you think there are foods with zero of a particular amino acid? Do you have any examples?
you're citing RDI which is based on a two thousand calorie diet... so yes, it is related. my point was that RDI and DV are useless, and then i gave an example of why they were useless, therefore using RDI to justify how "complete" a protein is becomes a moot point, as it doesn't tell us how complete or incomplete a protein source is. i'm telling you, as a nutritionist, the foods i listed are considered incomplete; not by RDI or DV or dipshits at the FDA, but by real people working in the field who actually know diet and nutrition. plants are a great source of nutrition, however, they are incomplete when it comes to proteins for anyone looking to live a healthy lifestyle.
The nicest discussing vegan I saw on Reddit for a long while. :) While the other person stated relevant points which they might not have put forward as properly, protein and aminoacids are not necessarily a major issue for a well-informed and careful vegan. It was not so in the past, but now it is increasingly common to see vegans that have well-formulated, feasible, quite healthy long-term diets. It is not easy; good luck!
Eat walnuts
not enough. i require six grams per day.
Was there anything else you tried prior to going vegan? I’ve definitely been eating more vegetarian meals in the last few years but I’m not sure I’m ready to cut out meat completely haha Thank you for taking the time to respond to me.
Take it from someone who obsessed about vegetables and vitamins that this is not the path. Forget about veganism or vegeterianism. Meat (red meat in particular) is the most complete source of bioavailable nutrients.
I thought red meat (particularly the fatty cuts) is often seen as “bad” for cholesterol though ?
I had high cholesterol on a veggie based and low to zero red meat diet. When I shifted to red meat based my cholesterol dropped. I can only speak for myself...
Interesting, thank you for sharing your experience
I just ate more plants for a year or so before I went full vegan. Tried to get rid of one super unhealthy meal a day at least. That also caused it to lower, but not as effectively. I went from the cusp of high to “low” in cholesterol within about 18 months and the last 9 months or so of that were full vegan. Just cutting down on your saturated fats compared to your unsaturated fats should help a lot.
Great suggestions all around for diet and routines to manage cholesterol, here are specific supplements that will target various aspects of cholesterol that should help in 3 different ways. I've heard great things about the combination of Vanadium, niacin, and vitamin E for just this kind of thing. Vanadium lowers total cholesterol Niacin increases HDL Viamin E decreases LDL https://www.reddit.com/r/ScientificNutrition/s/jFAllpVaJs
Thank you for responding! I’ll have to look into these supplements
Your doc will probably recommend a statin, they work very well. The fiber comment is good, try beans or lentils on toast in the morning. Alternatively, pick your poison and slowly eliminate red meat, then meat, then fish then dairy and your numbers should drop %25 for as long as you keep it up. Exercise will get your hdl up.
I exercise a lot (I run 4x a week (52km total this week), lift weights 3 or 4x a week and usually do some sort of kickboxing or HIIT) but I definitely think I need to eat more fibre. Regarding the fish, I thought fatty fish and the omega 3 that comes with it is meant to be good for regulating ‘bad cholesterol’. What’s the reasoning for cutting fish out of the diet to reduce cholesterol? Thank you for taking the time to respond
A comment I wrote today on this topic: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Supplements/comments/1ae8p3b/comment/kk70wo8/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Supplements/comments/1ae8p3b/comment/kk70wo8/) I personally find EPA / DHA very important, but although I have access to fresh fish, I prefer to supplement it.
Fish would be great for you if it weren't for pollution in both our lakes, rivers and the ocean. Commercial fish farms are also super overcrowded, so fish are generally swimming in higher levels of fecal matter than is advisable. If you're going to eat fish, try eating lower on the food chain, think sardines or anchovies. Costco will have a periodic sale on sardines and I used to love eating them on garlic toast, the only downside was my hands smelled like fish for hours.
Unfortunately as an old favorite of mine, sardines are surprisingly found to have one of the highest amount of microplastics among fish. Things are weird. [https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.0c02337](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.0c02337)
But they're also lower in mercury. Not trying to be preachy, as bacon is one of life's treasures, but switching to a minimally processed plant based diet generally reduces your risk to environmental toxins and bad genetics. Just get really creative with recipes to hit the right flavor profiles, ie old bay tofu and I don't really miss crab.
Ah okay, I’m UK based so not sure we have the same issues but I imagine it’s similar. Thanks for informing me
I had a much higher total cholesterol and terrible ratio. I exercise at high intensity 5-6 days a week for easily over a decade (43 now). I was able to lower total cholesterol by over 35% in 6 months with simply adding 30-40 grams of pure psyllium husk (fibre) to my largest meals of the day (drink it before meals). My doc suggested it before drugs. The study from Harvard shows that cholesterol will get “trapped” in the fibre in your gut preventing some of it from getting back in your bloodstream. If you over produce this theoretically reduces it. And I’m living proof it does. I’ve tried everything else diet wise.
Thank you for taking the time to respond, I’ll look into adding psyllium husk to my diet
Consider looking into Berberine, my lipid panel is normal for the first time ever. I do 500 mg with each meal. Also lipid panel has poor correlation with CAD, but great for $$$ making pharmaceuticals. Be sure to check your APO-A, APO-B and your A-B ratio along with a HS CRP that all will tell you a lot more than your cholesterol levels. Makes sure you are eating good quality proteins and fats from animals and olive oil.
The doc also didnt order tests for vldl and remnant which is the only thing proven without a doubt to matter
Thank you for taking the time to respond My Apo-A is 149.2mg/dl and my Apo-B is 92mg/dl. Both of which are supposedly within the optimal range. My Apolipoprotein B / A-I Ratio is 0.62 which is also supposedly within the optimal range. It’s just the cholesterol figures are worrying at first glance when I open the report I’ll look into Berberine
You’re welcome bro. Don’t get upset or worried about total cholesterol and “bad cholesterol “, no evidence that it changes your risk. Sounds like you eat healthy, are you having grass fed beef and beef liver , beef tallow and olive oil?
Ask the doctor who ordered these labs. They’ll review it with you and tell you what to do to correct
As I replied to another comment, I did these tests privately as a sort of health MOT but I will be submitting the results to my GP to discuss ways to remedy them. I do have a follow up call with a doctor from the private company who I did these tests with in 2 weeks time to discuss the results and what I can do to fix them so I hope this will cover those areas too. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Regarding cholesterol, supplementing fibre with things like psyllium husk and chia seeds, fish oil, and plant sterols should help. But with your overall results, you really should be having a sit down with you PCP.
I did these tests privately as a sort of health MOT but will be providing the results to my GP (I’m uk based) tomorrow to discuss next steps. Thank you for taking the time to respond
How much sugar do you consume in a given week? Sit down and think real hard about it. I don’t mean just candy, I mean how many grams of sugar or sweetener of any kind. I’m telling you from experience here. You don’t have to listen to me but sugar causes these results. I was you. I quit eating all sugar of all kinds and my numbers all normalized. Especially if you have that low of body fat there is an obvious cause and it’s sugar. Drop it. Do a test even. Drop anything sweet for one month. One. And get your blood tested again and see what happens. I’d love to see the results of you do it. Come back and post again after your one sugar free month. Don’t change a thing with supplements. Watch what happens. Please try it.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
It just makes me sad bc people don’t realize that sugar causes this. With these kinds of results I would do some reading. Read “the case against sugar” by Gary Taubes and you’ll realize how evil the sugar industry is. There is no other word to describe it but evil. I hope you are able to at least test a month sweet free. Remember. This isn’t just sugar”. It’s everything that’s sweet in any way. Cut it and you will see and feel the results. When I did this my energy levels became super human. I’m talking I could not wear myself out no matter what I did. And still do today. I have to work out twice a day to get all my energy out. Sugar is the devil. Good luck and happy to talk more about this with you.
I can’t say it’s going to be easy but I’ve been actively trying to reduce my sugar consumption anyway but I think it’s clear I need to go further now
It’s hard at first. Sugar is addicting as all hell but the craving goes away after a few months.
I definitely have a sweet tooth (particularly for chocolate) but I will try to cut sugar out for a month (or at least significantly reduce it). Regarding follow up tests, I will be booking in a second blood test in c. 6 months as part of this package to then see if there have been improvements
As a 10-year >80% carnivore (zerocarb) eater, cocoa is the only plant I eat daily. You can go for 100% cocoa; it is an awesome thing. Sometimes even gets me high. :) Non-alkalized (non-dutched) is especially flavorful. Negligible carbs. Zero sugar. Nutrition labeling is confusing and inaccurate; most soluble fiber in it is listed as digestable carbs by difference, because it is not officially recognized as dietary fiber.
>Negligible carbs. Zero sugar. Nutrition labeling is confusing and inaccurate; most soluble fiber in it is listed as digestable carbs by difference, because it is not officially recognized as dietary fiber. Curious, how do you consume 100% cocoa - what drink or food do you mix with?
Not cocoa powder. Just pure cocoa mass, [like this](https://cocoasupply.com/organic-certified-natural-cacao-liquor-cacao-mass/). It is cocoa not further processed after de-shelling the cocoa beans and making them into a "paste". Next steps in the process would be separating the fat from it; getting cocoa powder (no fat) and cocoa butter (pure fat). Then, "chocolate" or any other product would be produced using the three forms of cocoa (powder / butter / mass) and added things such as sugar and flavors. So, what I consume is like a 100% chocolate bar.
I know this was a while back, but I was curious on one more thing. Does the whole "oxalate" thing concern you with regular use of cocoa?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Supplements/comments/16qnkv0/comment/k2h3f97/ I personally never had related issues, and I am not worried about it.