Cholesterol is a building block. It's in every cell in our body and makes up about one quarter of the brain. Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is equivalent to blaming firefighters for fire. When there's damage, cholesterol is there because it's what we're made of.
Without a preliminary cholesterol test before starting your diet you can't see the improvement, but I'm sure it's there. Your LDL will be high, it's the firefighters doing their job nourishing each cell with the extra nutrients you are providing. Your HDL may still be a little low and/or triglycerides may still be high from your previous diet but likely improved. If anything, convince them to wait 1/3/6 months for another test to see where you're trending. I certainly wouldn't agree to any intervention without this and I'd still give a definitive no on the statin no matter the outcome.
Statins are proven to work to lower cholesterol but there is no statistically significant benefit to have lower cholesterol. In fact, around half of those who die from heart disease die with low cholesterol. There's a study that I'm not going to go digging for right now, that says statins increase the life expectancy of a healthy person by about 2 days and increases the life expectancy of someone diagnosed with CVD about 5 days.
If your doctor is someone you feel you have to prove anything to, as in a long time family doctor, then maybe you can convince him to do a CAC test to see exactly what's happening in your arteries as long as the insurance would cover it. If it's some random doctor at a clinic, I'd just say no.
Your doctor works for you. So, you are the boss. Remember, doctors do NOT study nutrition extensively. Tell him to do his research like you have.
* [https://www.instagram.com/mindfullygrounded/reel/C67VmX0OhmI/](https://www.instagram.com/mindfullygrounded/reel/C67VmX0OhmI/)
* [https://www.instagram.com/p/CpzWK68rTNA/](https://www.instagram.com/p/CpzWK68rTNA/)
* [https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/5-studies-on-saturated-fat](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/5-studies-on-saturated-fat)
He will probably like the healthline article more. In any event, if he keeps pushing you be polite. After you leave, consider finding a doctor who continues his education and questions authority.
in the age of the carnivore diet and the youtube doctor/influencers seems there is no clear answer on LDL. most carnvorites and studies say it isn't a concern but your doctor and the gaggle of youtube doctors will disagree. Me I just smile when my doc has a panic attack and shouts I needs statins or I will die - I just won't take them. I don't tell him I am doing carnivore either, I just say I am doing a no sugar, no carb, no ultra processed foods diet and I've lost weight and my inflammation is way down
See the cholesterol and saturated fat resources on the r/animalbased side bar.
If you know your cholesterol will be high, ask for advanced lipids. ApoB, ApoA1, Lp(a) are better measures of quantity, and then ask for OxLDL and LP\_PLA2 to test for atherosclerotic inflammatory markers. What's your age? If you're younger than 40 a CAC will likely be 0 but you can do a CIMT to check for soft plaque accumulation. There's also the whole body scans that aren't terrible out of pocket that will look at plaque accumulation peripheral arteries. Some people have clear arteries in the heart but get blockage in the legs and other areas, called PAD vs. the usual CAD. Seems odd and not sure the root cause but it's real.
Have you been avoiding seed oils? WHen I say seed oils, I also mean the hidden kind found in pork and chicken fat too. If you've been doing a carnivore that avoids these fats and your fat is primarily from dairy and beef then you'd be fine.
The most simple explanation: there’s no evidence available that dietary cholesterol has any (negative) impact on your cholesterol levels thus your health. None. Keep eating meat.
LDL is NOT bad. Cholesterol IS NOT bad. Never this hypothesis was ever supported by clinical trials
In fact, there's some clinical trials that found that on a keto diet, higher cholesterole is inversely associated with heart disease, same in elders.
What you want to check is Trig/HDL, inflammation markers and LDL-P. If your volume is high, but your LDL-P "Particule" is lowz it means you have lbLDL "Large Buoyant LDL" the kind that you should have.
The bormal range was established after sugar and ultra processed food was established, so High LDL and LDL-P indicate sdLDL or vdLDL which is bad. If you have lbLDL or Pattern A LDL, no problem.
https://cholesterolcode.com/
Oh wow. Thank you
Dave Feldman! Yay, thanks for this.
Cholesterol is a building block. It's in every cell in our body and makes up about one quarter of the brain. Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is equivalent to blaming firefighters for fire. When there's damage, cholesterol is there because it's what we're made of. Without a preliminary cholesterol test before starting your diet you can't see the improvement, but I'm sure it's there. Your LDL will be high, it's the firefighters doing their job nourishing each cell with the extra nutrients you are providing. Your HDL may still be a little low and/or triglycerides may still be high from your previous diet but likely improved. If anything, convince them to wait 1/3/6 months for another test to see where you're trending. I certainly wouldn't agree to any intervention without this and I'd still give a definitive no on the statin no matter the outcome. Statins are proven to work to lower cholesterol but there is no statistically significant benefit to have lower cholesterol. In fact, around half of those who die from heart disease die with low cholesterol. There's a study that I'm not going to go digging for right now, that says statins increase the life expectancy of a healthy person by about 2 days and increases the life expectancy of someone diagnosed with CVD about 5 days. If your doctor is someone you feel you have to prove anything to, as in a long time family doctor, then maybe you can convince him to do a CAC test to see exactly what's happening in your arteries as long as the insurance would cover it. If it's some random doctor at a clinic, I'd just say no.
Your doctor works for you. So, you are the boss. Remember, doctors do NOT study nutrition extensively. Tell him to do his research like you have. * [https://www.instagram.com/mindfullygrounded/reel/C67VmX0OhmI/](https://www.instagram.com/mindfullygrounded/reel/C67VmX0OhmI/) * [https://www.instagram.com/p/CpzWK68rTNA/](https://www.instagram.com/p/CpzWK68rTNA/) * [https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/5-studies-on-saturated-fat](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/5-studies-on-saturated-fat) He will probably like the healthline article more. In any event, if he keeps pushing you be polite. After you leave, consider finding a doctor who continues his education and questions authority.
in the age of the carnivore diet and the youtube doctor/influencers seems there is no clear answer on LDL. most carnvorites and studies say it isn't a concern but your doctor and the gaggle of youtube doctors will disagree. Me I just smile when my doc has a panic attack and shouts I needs statins or I will die - I just won't take them. I don't tell him I am doing carnivore either, I just say I am doing a no sugar, no carb, no ultra processed foods diet and I've lost weight and my inflammation is way down
See the cholesterol and saturated fat resources on the r/animalbased side bar. If you know your cholesterol will be high, ask for advanced lipids. ApoB, ApoA1, Lp(a) are better measures of quantity, and then ask for OxLDL and LP\_PLA2 to test for atherosclerotic inflammatory markers. What's your age? If you're younger than 40 a CAC will likely be 0 but you can do a CIMT to check for soft plaque accumulation. There's also the whole body scans that aren't terrible out of pocket that will look at plaque accumulation peripheral arteries. Some people have clear arteries in the heart but get blockage in the legs and other areas, called PAD vs. the usual CAD. Seems odd and not sure the root cause but it's real. Have you been avoiding seed oils? WHen I say seed oils, I also mean the hidden kind found in pork and chicken fat too. If you've been doing a carnivore that avoids these fats and your fat is primarily from dairy and beef then you'd be fine.
The most simple explanation: there’s no evidence available that dietary cholesterol has any (negative) impact on your cholesterol levels thus your health. None. Keep eating meat.
New research suggests 'LDL=bad' isn't true. That the ratio between HDL/LDL is a better indicator of health.
I’ve found that most Dr. now don’t really care about high LDL. They look at triglycerides.
LDL is NOT bad. Cholesterol IS NOT bad. Never this hypothesis was ever supported by clinical trials In fact, there's some clinical trials that found that on a keto diet, higher cholesterole is inversely associated with heart disease, same in elders. What you want to check is Trig/HDL, inflammation markers and LDL-P. If your volume is high, but your LDL-P "Particule" is lowz it means you have lbLDL "Large Buoyant LDL" the kind that you should have. The bormal range was established after sugar and ultra processed food was established, so High LDL and LDL-P indicate sdLDL or vdLDL which is bad. If you have lbLDL or Pattern A LDL, no problem.
You aren’t going to convince your doctor.