bloodwork back....discouraged

[Duma]

Got my bloodwork back today....got the whole nine yards done. everything's in check but a few things.

LIPID PANEL
Triglycerides-221
Total Cholesterol-268
HDL- 56 (within normal range)
LDL-168
Ratio-4.8

CBC
Hemoglobin 16.0
Hematocrit 46.8

I'm almost 6'4' and weigh 237 and I don't know my exact bf% but im not fat by any means. I got off mild low-dose cycle about 6 weeks ago and wondering if its possible that the lipid elevations havent dropped yet...does anyone generally know how long it takes for your lipids to reach baseline? Unfortunately I didn't have a pre-cycle blood test so this makes it more difficult to figure out. My Doctor's a friggin jagoff who uses scare tactics to try and motivate his clients. I workout 5X and eat healthy. He told me I'd get metabolic syndrome if my levels dont decline within a short time frame. He's fired! Anyone with knowledge and appreciate to hear from you...input, comments, advice, opinions...Thanks very much...

[Dude-Man]

If you're really that concerned about it you could supplement with taxomifen (nolvadex). 10 mg a day. in 3 weeks, head back and see where your lipid levels are. I'm not a dr, but i've seen enough studies on pubmed to know that taxomifen significantly lowers ldl. It'll also boost your test levels a bit.

Since you don't have a baseline, it's possible you just have high cholesterol, and treatment with statins, or other cholesterol drugs may be neccessary.

[Duma]

my family does have a history of cholesterol problems....ive been taking tamox actually. i really would prefer not to take statins but we'll see....is it possible my levels could still be high from my cycle....like i said its been about 5-6 weeks

[TheChosenOne]

Here is an earlier post of mine on high cholesterol levels.

My suggestions for supps to lower LDL are garlic, red yeast rice, 5-10 oz red wine, niacin, fiber.

Foods: almonds, olive oil, garlic, oat bran, beans (kidney, pintos, black, navy, etc.), onions, fatty fish, and flax seed. Blueberries (thought to act as statins) soy protein fruits and veggies.

Keep in mind you are probably taking in a great deal of cholesterol being that each meal contains some form of meat protein source. You arent going to get cholesterol from plant sources so unless you have a genetic disposition to cholesterol production it is likely from high sat/trans fat intake or dietary cholesterol.

Smoking is also a leading cause of high LDL so obviously if you smoke then quit.

If you are concerned about cholesterol build up and therefore MI, I would recommend you could also try to thin your blood with 81mg Aspirin, 400iu Vit E, Red wine, and Selenium.

[TheChosenOne]

Monounsaturated Fat HDL/LDL effect
High intakes of saturated fats in the diet are linked to high levels of blood cholesterol, particularly low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (bad cholesterol), and increased risk of heart disease. As a consequence, dietary guidelines universally recommend that saturated fat intake is reduced. Replacing saturated fat in the diet by increasing the intake of carbohydrates reduces LDL cholesterol levels, but also reduces the levels of beneficial high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (good cholesterol). As a reduction in HDL cholesterol levels may offset some of the beneficial effects of LDL-lowering, other dietary strategies which reduce LDL cholesterol, without lowering HDL cholesterol are being explored.

Rationale and Objectives

Substituting monounsaturated fats (such as olive oil) for saturated fats lowers LDL cholesterol without reducing HDL cholesterol. However, the optimal amount of monounsaturated fat which should be consumed in the UK diet is not known - this knowledge is important to enable specific dietary recommendations to be made. One objective of this study was therefore to assess the effects of low (~7.8 % calorie intake), moderate (~10.3 % calorie intake) and high (~13.7 % calorie intake) intakes of monounsaturated fat, at the same total fat intake (~32 % calories intake from fat), on the metabolism of lipoproteins (fat and cholesterol carrying particles in the blood), to help inform future dietary guidelines.

While it is well known that increasing monounsaturated fat intake reduces LDL cholesterol, it is not clear what causes this change. We proposed that production by the liver of small very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL2) - the lipoprotein particles which are broken down in the blood to form LDL particles - would be reduced when dietary monounsaturated fat intake was increased, thereby lowering LDL cholesterol. We sought to test this proposal using highly specialised tracer techniques.

Increases in the levels of blood fats occurring during the hours after eating foods containing fat are thought to play an important role in promoting the build-up of fatty deposits on the walls of blood vessels. Thus, another objective of this study was to determine whether increasing consumption of monounsaturated fats would alter the body's ability to deal with dietary fat.



Research Approach
Thirty-five men and women with moderately elevated blood cholesterol levels took part. All subjects consumed three different diets, each for six weeks, which contained low, moderate or high levels of monounsaturated fats. The diets were given in a random order. To alter the amount of monounsaturated fat in the test diets, subjects were given test margarines and baked goods (e.g. biscuits) containing varying amounts of monounsaturated fat and were instructed to consume these in place of their usual margarines and test spreads. Thus the subjects' monounsaturated fat intake was varied in the context of their normal diet.
At the end of each diet, blood samples were taken for analysis. After the high and low monounsaturated fat diets, 18 subjects were given a high-fat milkshake and their blood fat responses were assessed. The other 17 subjects were given an injection of a tracer substance after the high and low monounsaturated fat diets with blood samples taken for 48 hours to determine production and breakdown rates of the lipoprotein particles from which LDL particles are formed.

Results and Findings
Changing from the low to the moderate monounsaturated fat diet reduced LDL cholesterol by 5 % and changing from the low to the high monounsaturated fat diet reduced LDL cholesterol by 12 %. Blood levels of other lipoproteins (including HDL) did not change after any of the diets and there were no differences in the blood fat responses to the test milkshake between the low and high monounsaturated fat diets. Production and breakdown rates for the precursor particles to LDL were also unaffected by the monounsaturated fat content of the diet. This suggests that reduction in LDL cholesterol induced by increasing dietary monounsaturated fat was not caused by a reduction in the production rate of LDL particles. Thus, the LDL reduction was likely to have been a consequence of increased removal of LDL particles from the circulation by the liver.

Conclusions

The cholesterol lowering achieved in changing from the low to the high monounsaturated fat diets would be predicted to reduce heart disease risk by about 13 % - a clinically important reduction for this group of subjects with moderately elevated cholesterol levels. Moreover, this cholesterol reduction was achieved with subjects making relatively small changes to their normal diets, substituting their usual margarines and baked goods with monounsaturated fat-rich alternatives. Thus, this change is likely to be readily achievable in practice.

This study has also shown that the effects of monounsaturated fats on lipoproteins are almost exclusively limited to LDL and has increased understanding about the way in which monounsaturated fats reduce LDL cholesterol levels.



Dissemination information
Sanderson, P., Gill, J. M. R., Packard, C. J., Sanders, T. A. B., Vessby, B. and Williams, C. M. (2002) UK Food Standards Agency cis-monounsaturated fatty acid workshop report. Br J. Nutr. 88, 99-104.
Gill JMR, Brown J, Caslake MJ, Wright D, Cooney J, Bedford D, Highes DA, Stanley JC & Packard CJ. (2003) Effects of dietary monounsaturated fatty acids on lipoprotein concentrations, compositions and subfraction distributions and on VLDL apolipoprotein B kinetics: dose-dependent effects on low-density lipoprotein. Am J Clin Nutr 78, 47-56

[TheChosenOne]

Fiber Lowers Cholesterol

A diet rich in fibre and vegetables lowered cholesterol just as much as taking a statin drug, Canadian researchers reported Monday.

They says people who cannot tolerate the statin drugs because of side-effects can turn to the diet, which their volunteers could easily follow.

David Jenkins of St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto and colleagues created what they called a diet "portfolio" high in soy protein, almonds, and cereal fibre as well as plant sterols — tree-based compounds used in cholesterol-lowering margarines, salad dressing and other products.

They tested their diet on 34 overweight men and women, comparing it with a low-fat diet and with a normal diet plus a generic statin drug, lovastatin.

Writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Jenkins and colleagues said the low-fat diet lowered LDL — the low-density lipoprotein or "bad" cholesterol — by 8.5 per cent after a month. Statins lowered LDL by 33 per cent and the "portfolio" diet lowered LDL by nearly 30 per cent.

The portfolio was rich in soy milk, soy burgers, almonds, oats, barley, psyllium seeds, okra and eggplant. The Almond Board of California helped fund the study, as did several food makers and the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

The researchers said nine volunteers, or a quarter of the group, got their lowest LDL levels from being on the portfolio diet.

The volunteers all felt full on the diets although the "portfolio" diet resulted in more bowel movements, the researchers say.

[TheChosenOne]

How To Naturally Maintain Healthy Cholesterol Levels

Good health is directly related to good eating habits. Most food choices are made for taste and convenience, NOT for good health and nutrition. These bad habits increase the risk of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease from consuming dietary fats, which results in high cholesterol levels. High levels of circulating cholesterol is a major factor leading to clogged blood vessels and heart disease. Heart disease is the number one killer in today's society. Specifically, low-density lipoprotein, "LDL" cholesterol are considered bad because they carry fats out of the liver to the blood vessels.

There are actually two types of dietary problems which lead to high cholesterol levels. First foods which are fried or are high in animal fats will directly raise levels of bad cholesterol. Second, diets high in sugar, bread, pasta, sweets and other simple carbohydrates are converted into bad cholesterol by the liver. This explains how some vegetarians have high cholesterol.

The liver also makes cholesterol for hormonal purposes as a response to stress. It is possible to decrease cholesterol by decreasing and managing stress. Therefore exercise and stress management are an important part of a cholesterol lowering plan.

There are two natural plant extracts, Beta-Sitosterol from soy, sugar cane, or rice and the gugul lipids which, when taken as a supplement, can improve cholesterol metabolism. Beta-Sitosterol is a healthy plant oil, found in all vegetable matter, but in minute quantities, except in sugar cane, soybeans and rice. It can decrease the absorption of cholesterol in the digestive system and decrease the amount of cholesterol produced by the liver. Beta-Sitosterol decreases absorption by locking to the fat molecules eaten and by blocking the fat molecule absorption gates in the intestines. The fats and cholesterol are then excreted rather than absorbed. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed a 42% decease in cholesterol absorbed when taking beta-sitosterol before eating scrambled eggs.

The liver actually manufactures more cholesterol than is typically absorbed from food Beta-sitosterol acts on the liver enzymes in a way which inhibits cholesterol production. An important enzyme for the manufacture of cholesterol in the liver is broken down rapidly in the presence of beta-sitosterol. Cholesterol is also better metabolized or broken down by the liver in the presence of beta-sitosterol. The specific liver enzymes which break down saturated fats are significantly more active. There are possibly even more benefits to taking beta-sitosterol including aiding in weight loss, protecting the lining of the digestive tract and decreasing the risk of gallstones.

The gugul lipids are plant fibers.The gugul lipds have both cholesterol lowering properties and directly inhibit cholesterol from forming sticky plaque, clogging the walls of blood vessels. Like beta-sitosterol, it has the effects of decreasing cholesterol absorption and decreasing enzymatic cholesterol production in the liver. The fact that the gugul lipds also works at reducing plaque out in the blood vessels is an added bonus. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Cardiology showed gugul ipid supplementation significantly decreased blood cholesterol levels without altering patients diet or lifestyle. Even greater results may be expected with proper diet and lifestyle changes.

Beta-sitosterol and gugl lipds should be consumed in equal divided doses, 30 minutes prior to all meals. The plant substances can then disperse throughout the digestive system during that 30 minutes to maximize its effectiveness on blocking cholesterol absorption. Taken regularly before meals containing cholesterol rich foods, can result in a significant decrease in cholesterol absorption and improved processing of cholesterol by the liver.

Commonly prescribed drugs which lower Cholesterol are expensive and have many undesirable side-effects. These drugs are very burdensome to the liver and kidneys. In contrast, these safe and natural plant based cholesterol fighters are actually beneficial to the liver.

In summary, supplementation with the combination beta-sitosterol and gugle lipids can be a safe and effective part of a healthy plan to naturally lower serum cholesterol levels.

The proposed mechanisms of action are;

1) intestinal binding and excretion of free cholesterol

2) blocking of absorption sites in the intestinal walls

3) an enzymatic shift decreasing liver cholesterol production

4) increased liver enzyme functions on the breakdown of fats.
Controlling body weight and cholesterol levels are keys to a healthy cardiovascular system. Therefore a consistent health plan to control body weight and cholesterol levels is needed. Beta-sitosterol with citrus pectin can lower cholesterol absorption in the intestine and lower cholesterol production in the liver. This should lead to lower circulating bad cholesterol levels in the blood. Taking beta-sitosterol with gugul lipids pectin before meals is an excellent strategy in any plan to help maintain healthy cholesterol naturally!

[Duma]

dude thanks for all the info, appreciate it....and i didnt know i made 2 threads sorry all. does anyone know how long it normally takes for cholesterol levels to get back to normal after an 8 week cycle (var and primo)?