6 Months Low carb and cholesterol has shot up.

That would be an excellent question to ask your GP.

ainz wrote
my cholesterol has shot up which is a concern for my doctor and me

Click to expand...

On a low carb diet my cholesterol has gone up, but that's not a problem for me. Unfortunately my GP didn't do a lipid profile, but I can guess what has happened - HDL gone up (good thing), triglycerides gone down (good thing) LDL increased but an increase of large fluffy LDL (good thing)
I've said before (and been attacked for it) that total cholesterol is fairly meaningless. LDL as a figure is also fairly meaningless, unless you know what size your LDL is. In the absence of an LDL-size test (doubt you'll get that on the NHS) the figure for your triglycerides is a reasonable indicator (perhttp://healthcorrelator.blogspot.co. ... r-for.html .) (edited for link)

You need to read this

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/weig ... -the-myth/


Take several opinions, but be aware that, per http://anh-europe.org/news/blowing-the- ... terol-myth

low cholesterol damages cell membranes, affecting the nervous system and the ability to deal with stress. The lower your cholesterol levels, the younger you die!
Contrary to what we are told, lower socioeconomic groups, who die from heart disease more frequently, have lower cholesterol levels than higher socioeconomic groups
Low cholesterol levels predispose to cancer: among low-cholesterol populations, approximately three times more people die from cancer compared with their high-cholesterol counterparts

Click to expand...

The more informed, and wider read you are about cholesterol, the better your choices will be.

Don't forget, your HDL has gone up from 7 months ago, and your tri's gone down from previous reading.
I initially had your concern, but was able to find a valid reason for it quite easily

Geoff

ainz wrote
why is this not the opinion of healthcare professionals

Click to expand...

You could do no better than read Good Calories, Bad Calories (also published as The Diet Delusion) by Gary Taubes, who explains exactly how healthcare professionals came to believe what they do today. I found it eye-opening.
Some half-century ago it was an hypothesis (grand name for an idea) about what causes heart disease.
The science it was based on was (and remains) flawed.
A great read also is The Great Cholesterol Con by Dr Malcolm Kendrick, who as a cardiologist says that high cholesterol does not cause heart disease.
From the acceptance of this hypothesis, anything linked to cholesterol (meat, eggs, saturated fat etc) came to be seen as bad, and grains and other carbs came to be seen as good.

As of now, most HCPs will have been taught the hypothesis and accepted it. They are still the majority. They believe because they were taught it.
There is a growing number of cardiologists, GPs, other medical doctors, who don't mind speaking out about the facts not squaring with the hypothesis.
I never knew this alternative take on good health and diet existed, until my diagnosis. Other countries, such as Sweden, are starting to recognise it, with their low-carb, high-fat ideas.
I fully believe that in time current advice will change. I can't wait till then, so I'm changing now.
Everyone must inform themselves, and make their own choices in this matter.
I'll be happy to help you in any way in pointing you towards more open-minded material.

I repeat. Gary Taubes' book was eye-opening. Perhaps your library has it (check both titles)

Geoff

librarising said:

Dr Malcolm Kendrick, who as a cardiologist

Click to expand...

Really? I thought he had been a GP and was never a cardiologist, but I'm sure you know more about him than I do.

If you're not offering anything Sid ... why do you bother ?

angua said:

If you're not offering anything Sid ... why do you bother ?

Click to expand...

Why? To correct an inaccuracy, which I'm sure librarising would be quick to do should I make a mistake.

Hope that answers your question angua.

The first thing I would suggest is as AMBrennan says to discuss with your doctor.
They use validated risk calculators that take into account not only cholesterol but your other risk factors such as weight/smoking/blood pressure.
You can do this online yourself. This is a recent one from the European Society of cardiologists. (use the demo, high risk because the UK is a high risk country)
http://www.heartscore.org/Pages/welcome.aspx
(but remember these are risks, we all know of the person who smoked all his life and lived to a long age)

Libra Rising suggests some alternative reading, here is some more mainstream: (and unless you truly believe that all scientists are liars or scoundrels .then perhaps,there is a reason for them being mainstream.)
Firstly a simple explanation of high cholesterol and CVD.
http://www.bupa.co.uk/individuals/healt ... holesterol
Secondly a blog discussing THINCS (of which M Kendrick is a member). The value of this are the links to sources of evidence .
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/ind ... -skeptics/
Thirdly a long (and sometimes rambling) account of the history of CHOLESTEROL, ATHEROSCLEROSIS AND
CORONARY DISEASE IN THE UK, 1950–2000 from the scientists themselves. Note the addendum about multifactorial risk factors for heart disease.
http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/research/ ... /44850.pdf
Lastly: and this review is a little dated (though no more so than the Taubes book which mostly relies on older references)an article arguing against the THINCS position.
(to their credit you can find a full copy hosted on their website, though I can't find that they link with it anywhere)
http://www.ravnskov.nu/A%20hypothesis%2 ... sponse.pdf
The author is a cardiologist: http://www.dbi.udel.edu/People/weintraub.html

Sid Bonkers said:

librarising said:

Dr Malcolm Kendrick, who as a cardiologist

Click to expand...

Really? I thought he had been a GP and was never a cardiologist, but I'm sure you know more about him than I do.

Click to expand...

I have absolutely no problem with anyone correcting anything and for the OP it can only be helpful to have 'correct' information - however had that been your sole purpose I might not have commented - it was the spurious "Really" and "but I'm sure you know more about him that I do" that saw as pointless.
Whether he does or not, if its the wrong info, its the wrong info and needs to be corrected.

So no you didn't really answer my question

http://dietheartpublishing.com/node/97

Mr Malcolm Kendrick is a cardiologist.
Wouldnt want to see any mis-information go unchallenged there :lol:

Good Calories, Bad Calories (also published as The Diet Delusion) by Gary Taubes, who explains exactly how healthcare professionals came to believe what they do today. I found it eye-opening.
Some half-century ago it was an hypothesis (grand name for an idea) about what causes heart disease.
The science it was based on was (and remains) flawed.
A great read also is The Great Cholesterol Con by Dr Malcolm Kendrick, who as a cardiologist says that high cholesterol does not cause heart disease.

Click to expand...

are these two books and authors not considered mainstream?

Can anyone tell me what qualifies as mainstream so I can make sure I read the right stuff?

Lucy,Mainstream for CVD would I say be the publications of societies like those listed here:
http://www.cardiologyonline.com/organizations.htm
They include The British Heart foundation , the European Society of Cardiology and the World Health Organisation . Many of organisations will have guidelines/papers that are evidenced based

The right stuff is anything and everything (just depends on how OTT you become) but then check out as much as you can for yourself. I've read Taubes and Kendrick but I also try to follow up some of the references when I can. Difficult with Taubes as it includes lots of references but listed as a bibliography)
I also found that I was very ignorant about metabolic processes so bought a textbook (Frayn: Metabolic Regulation: A Human Perspective) but thats just me

.

lucylocket61 said:

http://dietheartpublishing.com/node/97

Mr Malcolm Kendrick is a cardiologist.
Wouldnt want to see any mis-information go unchallenged there :lol:

Click to expand...

No neither would I Lucy.

Neither would I Dr Malcolm Kendrick was a GP and worked in Aberdeen for 25 years

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Kendrick

http://www.spacedoc.com/malcolm_kendrick_cholesterol

DR kendricks qualificatins are MbChB (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery/Chirurgery) MRCGP (Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners)

As far as I can find out he is or was a GP. He may well have had an interest in cardiology but he is not a cardiologist.

Cardiologists will usually have MRCP (Membership of the Royal College of Physicians) or FRCP (Membership or Fellowship of one of the Royal Colleges of Physicians).

You should certainly talk to your GP, and consider all of the mainstream CVD listed above.

But you should also realise that all of the underlying research that determines the "mainstream position" is in the context of a "balanced" carbohydrate diet. You appear to be following a low-carbohydrate diet with some success. If decide to stick with this approach, you need to turn your attention to work that is done in the context of a carbohydrate restricted approach:

• The most important work in the field of blood lipids and low-carbohydrate diets is from Jeff Volek's lab which demonstrates that when the blood of volunteers was assayed for saturated fatty acids, those who had been on a low carbohydrate diet had lower levels than those on an isocaloric low-fat diet.
  http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37202414/Volek_ ... s_2008.pdf
• Dr Richard Feinman provides an excellent commentry here: http://rdfeinman.wordpress.com/2012/02/ ... our-blood/
• and in a slightly more accessible form here: http://www.dlife.com/diabetes-food-and- ... ot_problem
• this paper considers the influence of replacing saturated fats with other macronutrients: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37202414/Jakobsen_2009.pdf

In the words of Feinman: "Dietary carbohydrate restriction is the single most effective method (except for total starvation) of reducing triglycerides, and is as effective as any intervention, including most drugs, at increasing HDL and reducing the number of small-dense LDL particles. Beyond lipid markers, carbohydrate restriction improves all of the features of metabolic syndrome. "
http://rdfeinman.wordpress.com/2012/03/ ... 15-theses/

However, in the context of your original question, although a low-carb is the most effective method of improving your lipid profile, there are some people for which it appears not to work:
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/09/hi ... e-thyroid/

lucylocket61 wrote
are these two books and authors not considered mainstream?

Click to expand...

re : Gary Taubes, he is a science writer, but in all his books writes such awful science (according to some) that he has won the Science in Society Journalism Award of the National Association of Science Writers three times.

I have no problem with mainstream as an informed choice, but remember these were once mainstream :

Pharisees and Sadducees (they got Jesus crucified)
The Catholic Church & The Inquisition (disagree at your peril)
Flat earthers
Dinosaurs

of the book I recommended wikipedia says

This book examined how a hypothesis became dogma and claimed to show how the scientific method was circumvented so a contestable hypothesis could remain unchallenged. The book uses data and studies compiled from dietary research from as early as the 19th century... He tracks the origins of commonly accepted dietary advice and aims to show that information that is filtered to the public often contradicts scientific evidence.

Click to expand...

It's best to read it yourself, and make up your own mind.
I'm not the only one on this forum whose eyes have been opened by his writing, but that's not for me to name them.
A thread about low carb is hardly mainstream, though.

Geoff

librarising said:

I have no problem with mainstream as an informed choice, but remember these were once mainstream :

Pharisees and Sadducees (they got Jesus crucified)
The Catholic Church & The Inquisition (disagree at your peril)
Flat earthers
Dinosaurs

Click to expand...

And books like "Origin of Species", "the Holy Bible", "Das Kapital", "Wealth of Nations" were regarded as controversiol and outside of the mainstream. If nobody every challenged the mainstream, then the mainstream would persist forever.

Thanks everyone

If I only read mainstream, I would be following the DUK and NHS diet. :***:

I'd just like to point out that you should always, always, always consult your GP or diabetes nurse regarding these kinds of things. You probably don't need me to tell you that, but it's just a friendly reminder :thumbup:

If you going to read Taubes, then you really need to get his 'Good Calorie, Bad Calorie' book and not the 'Why We Get Fat, and What We can Do about it'

The 'Why We Get Fat' book is basically an edited version of the Good Calorie' book.. The 'why we get fat' version omits the research references etc so you won't be able to check out the necessary research or resources, so could be said that it's written to expand his audience... You do need to look at all available from both sides, and more importantly research written since he published both books, and of cause allowing for the writing/publishing time!

But with LDL's dismissing them as completely harmless, on the pretext that it's not the number of them, it's there physical size is a dangerous thing, when you don't know what physical size they are only a number, and it needs to be remembered that there's going to be a point it doesn't matter if the blighter's are small or not, there will be enough to block an artery or two!

So yes, you do need to speak to your doctor, as well has have a look at the research. So between you and your doctor you can make a well informed decision on where you go from here!