PP and how it affects Blood Press and Cholestrol

[gapwedge]

I know losing weight aids in the lowering of blood pressure and sometimes helps with cholestrol levels. My question to the experts here is there something with this PP plan that also is at work to lower both BP and cholestrol? Please help the uninformed. Thanks.:)

[NOTE: I copied this question over to the Science of PP forum]

[lczeledoc]

I am no expert, but i have read the PP books. One reason for high BP is the increased fluid retention caused by the excess insulin. A low carb diet will remedy that by lowering your insulin levels, reducing fluid retention, in addition to losing fat. A cholesterol level of 220 of itself dosen't say much about health. The lipid parameters of importance are the HDL level (you want that high, and a PP style diet should help) and lower trygliceride levels, which again a low carb diet helps to bring down.

[maxlharris]

Here you are, eating carbs like a typical American. You wind up with a full store of glycogen, which is bound with water. Without expanding your skin or your fascia or anything else that keeps your insides in place inside, you are holding a bunch of extra fluid. As a result, things constrict. Blood vessels for instance. Tighter tubes with the same volume of fluid = higher pressure. I think, if we were talking gases, this might be boyle's law.

Now, you start LC. A couple of days sugar free, and you burn through your glycogen, particularly the stuff that's hanging with all the water in your liver. Internal pressure drops, unconstricting blood vessels, resulting in a drop in blood pressure, frequently in the first few days.

[Mal Lady]

When I first start pp, my cholesterol was 213 and I was on 2 bp pills. Now, my cholesterol is 165 and I'm on only 1 bp pill. I believe that when I reach my goals and am at my full potential with exercise I hope to be off of all bp meds. I'm not sure that it will happen but, I took my bp this morning it was 116/78. I will be starting an aerobic exercise on the off days of my weight routine and that will help immensely. I believe if it were not for lc, my cholesterol would not have dropped like it did and it happened before I added any type of exercise! It only gets better from here! The American Diabetes Association now says that doctors should suggest a lc diet for diabetics as an alternative. I don't believe they though it would raise bp or cholesterol. JMHO!

Sharon

[gapwedge]

Here you are, eating carbs like a typical American. You wind up with a full store of glycogen, which is bound with water. Without expanding your skin or your fascia or anything else that keeps your insides in place inside, you are holding a bunch of extra fluid. As a result, things constrict. Blood vessels for instance. Tighter tubes with the same volume of fluid = higher pressure. I think, if we were talking gases, this might be boyle's law.

Now, you start LC. A couple of days sugar free, and you burn through your glycogen, particularly the stuff that's hanging with all the water in your liver. Internal pressure drops, unconstricting blood vessels, resulting in a drop in blood pressure, frequently in the first few days.

Man, I have not heard of Boyle's Law since my younger days as an engineering student. No wonder I decided to become an electrical instead of mechanical.:D

I have a good BP cup at home. I will check it after week two ends next Monday and see if there are any changes. Ahhh, the benies of LC living.:)

[gapwedge]

When I first start pp, my cholesterol was 213 and I was on 2 bp pills. Now, my cholesterol is 165 and I'm on only 1 bp pill. I believe that when I reach my goals and am at my full potential with exercise I hope to be off of all bp meds. I'm not sure that it will happen but, I took my bp this morning it was 116/78. I will be starting an aerobic exercise on the off days of my weight routine and that will help immensely. I believe if it were not for lc, my cholesterol would not have dropped like it did and it happened before I added any type of exercise! It only gets better from here! The American Diabetes Association now says that doctors should suggest a lc diet for diabetics as an alternative. I don't believe they though it would raise bp or cholesterol. JMHO!

Sharon

Great results Mal Lady. Thanks for sharing that.:)

[Gabriel Guzman]

One of the reasons why a low-carb diet helps lowering cholesterol levels to 'normal levels' (not that it is not the 'normal' levels recommended by physicians) has to do with the action of insulin on the enzyme that controls the synthesis of cholesterol.

For years there has been a discussion on what exactly is the mechanisms by which cholesterol synthesis is regulated. I wrote small piece a few years ago for an online magazine speculating (because there was no data at the time), that since the enzyme that regulates cholesterol synthesis is activated by insulin, then reducing the amount of insulin would in turn regulate the enzyme's activity. At the time, Protein Power LifePlan came out and Mike Eades suggested something similar. But there were no studies looking into the direct effect of insulin on the enzyme, which name is HMG-CoA reductase.

As it turns out, a study published last year showed a decrease in the actual amount of the enzyme in response to a low-carbohydrate diet. Although in my opinion, the study could have been more solid in the type of technique used to measure the decrease in the amount of the enzyme, the results are still solid enough so we can conclude that a low-carb diet helps in the reduction of cholesterol by controlling the amount of HMG-CoA reductase. In this study, however, there was no group on a low-fat diet because the purpose was to see what happens with those on a low-carb diet that either had extra cholesterol by adding more eggs in their diet or egg substitute. The group eating extra cholesterol from eggs actually had lower levels of enzyme than those eating egg substitute.

That kind of effect is far superior to any effect of a statin drug, which inhibits the enzyme and doesn't do anything to control the amount of enzyme available for cholesterol synthesis. Moreover, once the drug is discontinued and without life style changes (i.e. diet), the enzymes goes back on its business of making cholesterol. The trick is not to limit the amount of dietary cholesterol, which doesn't seem to do anything with respect to how much cholesterol is made by the cells, but to control the enzyme that regulates the synthesis of cholesterol.

With respect to how low-carb diets affect blood pressure, there is mounting evidence that blood pressure decreases when carbohydrate intake decreases. the Eadeses proposed that one of the reasons is insulin which may act in different ways: 1) decreasing tissue growth (so the veins and arteries are not so 'thick'), 2) by inducing the loss of sodium, therefore inducing the loss of retained fluid. A study published in 2006 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that blood pressure in hypertensive individuals decreased when they ate more protein (animal source) at the expense of eating less carbohydrate (i.e. lower-carb diet with more protein to compensate for the amount of calories reduced by decreasing carb intake). The reasons discussed did not include the role of insulin directly, although the authors mentioned that the decrease in carbs may have also contributed. Rather, their discussion focused on the relative abundance of two amino acids present in meat protein. One of those amino acids is used in the synthesis of nitric oxide, which has a vasodilating effect and the other induces a diuretic effect, so it is perhaps the combination of those effects which contributed to the decrease in blood pressure. The study was carried out for 8 weeks.

[gapwedge]

Great stuff. Thanks all for the information.:nod:

[majordude]

I am on a beta blocker and a water pill right now (I'm not low carbing yet). I should expect my BP to come down?

[Mitra]

Welcome, Majordude. In some people BP can come down quite quickly, so it is something that you and your doctor will need to monitor, to be able to adjust your meds if necessary.

[Karole]

What Mitra said !!

Sometimes bp can come down fast and you want your doc involved to monitor the meds. Don't do it yourself as that could be dangerous.

I had to take as high as 4 different bp meds daily , not so long ago, but now I am down to only one. I know it works. Good luck.

[bigdawg_SLC]

I just gave blood to the red cross, and my BP was 130/70 ... that's the best it's been in YEARS!

[Karole]

Great bp numbers Dean. This woe works , I tell ya.

[Ammy]

yea Dean!! Congrats!!!!!!

[bigdawg_SLC]

Great bp numbers Dean. This woe works , I tell ya.


yea Dean!! Congrats!!!!!!

With results like that ... I can't believe that I've let myself relapse so many times back to the state of unhealthiness.:exclamation::exclamation::exclamati on:

[nrobles]

Carbs raise blood pressure. I was very weak one day after starting low carb. My BP was 80/60. I was on BP meds. My doctor halved the dose but I finally needed to discontinue the meds to get a normal BP reading. Normal since then. My BS as well. Free at last...
Good luck.

[gitfiddle]

Nrobles, you've been doing a great job. I've been following your story and cheering you on.

[gitfiddle]

With results like that ... I can't believe that I've let myself relapse so many times back to the state of unhealthiness.:exclamation::exclamation::exclamati on:It's amazing, isn't it? I did it too, with my eyes wide open and the bag of denial pulled over my head. :peeved: This time you've got it right and you'll never relapse. A slip is common, but guard against relapse. Yay for you, too!

[bigdawg_SLC]

It's amazing, isn't it? I did it too, with my eyes wide open and the bag of denial pulled over my head. :peeved: This time you've got it right and you'll never relapse. A slip is common, but guard against relapse. Yay for you, too!

As long as I stay focused and have good E-friends to cheer me on and keep motivating me... like you of course!;);)