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High cholesteral,high blood pressure and LC diet

Hi @Drfarxan,

Some interesting discussion on this thread.

I wonder if the higher blood pressure (provided you'll see similar levels when starting to test at home) might be associated with a mineral defiency (especially magnesium and potassium)?

Deficiency in both minerals is associated with higher blood pressure (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28451848/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29793663/ ). They also often seem to be low in people with diabetes, especially T2s (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6399345/).

Personally, my blood pressure has dropped from 135/85 to approximately 110/67 since changing to low carb/keto -- some of this might also be due the weight I have lost since then. I also regularly supplement with magnesium, potassium, D3 and K2.

As to cholesterol -- overall levels have not changed for me -- however, HDL has almost doubled and trigs have been cut approximately by two-thirds, LDL is pretty much the same as before.
 
ziggy_w said:
Hi @Drfarxan,

Some interesting discussion on this thread.

I wonder if the higher blood pressure (provided you'll see similar levels when starting to test at home) might be associated with a mineral defiency (especially magnesium and potassium)?

Deficiency in both minerals is associated with higher blood pressure (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28451848/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29793663/ ). They also often seem to be low in people with diabetes, especially T2s (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6399345/).

Personally, my blood pressure has dropped from 135/85 to approximately 110/67 since changing to low carb/keto -- some of this might also be due the weight I have lost since then. I also regularly supplement with magnesium, potassium, D3 and K2.

As to cholesterol -- overall levels have not changed for me -- however, HDL has almost doubled and trigs have been cut approximately by two-thirds, LDL is pretty much the same as before.
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In my last blood test my Potassium and magnesium were in normal range maybe they need to be higher.
Those are very good results but thats the problem when i my bmi was 33 my blood pressure was 120/80 after 6 months of lc diet its 139/88 sometimes and i lost ~19 kg. During intermittent fasting i drank alot of coffee i wonder if thats the issue. Especially since lc diet clears up your liver allowing it metabolize coffee more.
 
Drfarxan said:
And before you started keto your blood pressure was normal even when you drank your coffee?
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no.
I had been low carbing (c.80g carbs/day) for years before I started keto (less than 20g carbs/day), and my bp was always high, and I drank 1 cup of coffee, usually decaf, each morning, over a 10-15 year period.

I know you are desperate to avoid giving up coffee, but it was definitely coffee that sent my bp high.
Maybe that isn’t the case for you, but you will never know if you don’t test it.

I did an exhaustive series of self tests over a couple of months, using both caff and decaf coffees.

They both send my bp high. The rise started about 5 hrs after drinking one cup, was at its highest at around 10-12 hours and then took 3-4 days - yes, DAYS - to drop back down to the start point. The peak was consistently in the 160/105 area, but had never been picked up at docs or at the clinic because I do not attend appts during the early evening. A few times I clocked 185+ and over 110

I ran the test repeatedly, because, like you, I didn’t want to have to give up coffee, and I was very reluctant to accept that decaf was almost as bad as caf.

If you want to know whether coffee affects you, then you need to run similar tests. Doctors won’t run then for you.

I was happy to run them because I would rather drop coffee than have a series of totally unnecessary, debilitating and possibly terminal strokes.

All you need to test things yourself is a home bp monitor, some caf and some decaf, and a willingness to give up coffee for 7-10 days before each round of tests.

hopefully you will find that coffee can be, for you, eliminated as the cause of you raised bp.
 
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Talking of coffee and BP, someone told me form his personal experience that using instant coffee does raise BP/BG both but using freshly ground coffee does not. Not sure @Brunneria if you have tested both instant and freshly ground ? This is worth giving a trial for those coffee lovers like me to have an option of still enjoying rather expensive coffee off and on :)
 
Brunneria said:
no.
I had been low carbing (c.80g carbs/day) for years before I started keto (less than 20g carbs/day), and my bp was always high, and I drank 1 cup of coffee, usually decaf, each morning, over a 10-15 year period.

I know you are desperate to avoid giving up coffee, but it was definitely coffee that sent my bp high.
Maybe that isn’t the case for you, but you will never know if you don’t test it.

I did an exhaustive series of self tests over a couple of months, using both caff and decaf coffees.

They both send my bp high. The rise started about 5 hrs after drinking one cup, was at its highest at around 10-12 hours and then took 3-4 days - yes, DAYS - to drop back down to the start point. The peak was consistently in the 160/105 area, but had never been picked up at docs or at the clinic because I do not attend appts during the early evening. A few times I clocked 185+ and over 110

I ran the test repeatedly, because, like you, I didn’t want to have to give up coffee, and I was very reluctant to accept that decaf was almost as bad as caf.

If you want to know whether coffee affects you, then you need to run similar tests. Doctors won’t run then for you.

I was happy to run them because I would rather drop coffee than have a series of totally unnecessary, debilitating and possibly terminal strokes.

All you need to test things yourself is a home bp monitor, some caf and some decaf, and a willingness to give up coffee for 7-10 days before each round of tests.

hopefully you will find that coffee can be, for you, eliminated as the cause of you raised bp.
Click to expand...

Reading this makes me feel doomed - I start my day , every day with a pot full of freshly brewed coffee. I’ve read papers where eating before drinking has less of a critical impact but mostly I don’t eat till I’m feeling the need which mainly isn’t first thing. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective For me the coffee at that time of day is both a medication and meditation.
 
Hi @OrsonKartt - I understand how it can feel like bad news but I see it a bit differently. At this stage I don't have an issue with my blood pressure b ut if I do I will definitely look at my coffee intake. While I would definitely miss coffee particularly now I enjoy it with cream I would like @Brunneria prefer to give it up than to have a stroke. I see this as useful information.

For me that is part of what this forum gives us all- information that enables us to make decisions about our health. My decisions won't be the same as yours as there are a lot of factors but both of us have more information which allows us to make better informed choices. Some here as type 2s are happy to go onto insulin others not but whatever decision we make at least we have the option of making them.

So thanks @Brunneria I would never have considered coffee so that is something I will think about!
 
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