Triglycerides

[maxpot46]

I just got back the results of my bloodwork, and everything looks good except for my triglyceride level (Total: 194, HDL: 68, LDL: 81, Tri: 223). However, I'm wondering if my high triglyceride levels is due to the fact that, for 3 days prior to my test, I'd been undergoing a monstrous refeed, which included a lot of calories and lots of carbs. I lift weights and play basketball, so I occasionally "carb up" to replenish the glycogen stores in my muscles. I wasn't really thinking about the doctor's appointment at the time, or I probably would have delayed my carb-up until after.

In any case, my current assumption is that the refeed led to temporarily elevated triglyceride levels, meaning that I should assume that they are normally a lot lower, and that my LDL is actually a bit higher. Is this a reasonable assumption, or should I be worried?

Thanks!

[Mitra]

Triglycerides can take weeks/months to drop after adopting an LC diet, but I don't know how fast they go up when you add carbs. Maybe somebody else can chip in here who has more knowledge. Would you have to pay to have another test done, while following your more normal diet?

[lczeledoc]

Triglyceride level is the first thing to drop in a LC diet. I would assume that re-introducing carbs would bring the TAG level up fairly fast.

[dvdmon]

Triglyceride level is the first thing to drop in a LC diet. I would assume that re-introducing carbs would bring the TAG level up fairly fast.

Yes, but doubling (or more) in just 3 days? I'd just take the test again after another 6 weeks of staying on plan and see what happens...

[Mitra]

It says in Life Without Bread that, "The levels of triglycerides in 118 patients in Dr Lutz's practice dropped an average of more than 50% after only three months on a low carbohydrate diet." As with many of his observations, the changes were bigger and faster for younger patients, and, of course, it doesn't preclude a substantial change happening very fast, but it suggests that they were looking for something after weeks rather than days.

[maxlharris]

Most docs will not run mutliple cholesterol tests within weeks of each other, because it's traditionally thought to be very slow to move. So, it's possible that they didn't test after days. But think about this. How long does it take to go into ketosis? And what's that mean, anyway? From a serum cholesterol/TAG point of view? It would seem to me that it would be possible to move it by reasonably large amounts in reasonably short time, assuming a non-impaired metabolism, and significantly large dumps one way or the other.

That said, back to the OP. Carb loading is just keeping you locked in the cycle. It shouldn't take 3 days to reload, if you in fact do need to reload.

[Mitra]

This was a comment and Dr Mike's response on his blog (Elevated triglyceride levels are driven by carbohydrate consumption (http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/cardiovascular-disease/elevated-triglycerides-are-driven-by-carbohydrate-consumption/)):
Dr. Mike,

You mention in this article that “if you go on a rigid low-carb diet, you will lower your triglycerides dramatically long before you lose much weight.” How quickly does human physiology react to the low carb diet in respect to triglyerides? And what do you consider at dramatic change.

Best wishes!

I checked one patient - a 55 year old male advertising exectutive - who had a trigylceride level of 1500 mg/dl that he lowered to under 100 mg/dl in 11 days. I’ve never checked anyone in under 11 days, but I have seen many, many patients who dropped their levels dramatically within six weeks, which is the typical length of time I wait before rechecking.

[HAdriven]

I had trigs move from 1359 to 97 in seven weeks. (None of those numbers are typos.)

So I'm a believer that the numbers can move fast. My other numbers were just as dramatic, and frankly I'm not sure I should be to happy about that. But I'll save those concerns for another thread.

I didn't just do low-carb though. I also started exercising (aerobic and resistance) and added supplements-- mostly based on Pauling's therapy (6-18g of C, L-lysine & L-proline) with added Omega 3s and Niacin. Hell, I even started eating hazelnuts because of their reported ability to make a huge difference in trig numbers.