This is a fantastic video if you really want to get in to the weeds about cholesterol. The subject is the effect of dietary cholesterol, but that is not the point of the video. It goes into great detail about cholesterol/APoB and how to lower APoB.
The answer to the question – is dietary cholesterol harmful? — is it depends. Are you a hypo responder or hyper responder or in between. My HDL is 82 so for me the answer is probably yes, harmful.
And:
If you do the following in addition to good nutrition and exercise, you probably won’t have to worry about cardiovascular disease
Low dose statin
Ezetimibe
Empagliflozin
Nebivolol
ARB like Telmisartan or ACE like Lisinopril
Ubiquinol + selenium combo
Probably a good idea to take Rapamycin too
I am not convinced that HDL is a “poor man’s” indicator. Even though I try to stay on the same diet and exercise routine, my HDL varies quite a bit.
Have you tested your ApoB? I think that along with your HDL would be a better indicator.
If your ApoB is okay, I wouldn’t worry too much about your HDL as:
“HDL cholesterol is often referred to as “good” cholesterol. HDL picks up excess cholesterol in your blood and takes it back to your liver where it’s broken down and removed from your body.”
The other thing the good doctor does not really mention is BMI. The fact is that lowering BMI normally will reduce cholesterol.
It always amazes me when a healthcare advisor tells us how to lower our lipids, in general, and is obviously overweight. That is why he doesn’t mention the correlation between BMI and cholesterol levels. Yes, I know that there are exceptions due to genes, and some fat people have low cholesterol levels, but generally speaking, when you lose weight your cholesterol levels will drop.
“High BMI is associated with increased levels of LDL and cholesterol and decreased levels of HDL”
“The first step an individual can take to lower cholesterol is reaching or maintaining a moderate weight. Reaching a moderate weight decreases triglycerides in the liver and the amount of cholesterol it makes.”
First drug ever approved for prevention of vascular events based on an anti-inflammatory mechanism. Standard dose of cheap generic colchicine is 0.6mg, but the pharmaceutical company used a 0.5mg dose so they can patent it (granted, that’s probably the only way the studies could get done on an old medication to get it approved in the first place).
I don’t think there is any evidence that increasing your HDL benefits you in any way.
FWIW
During the early part of COVID,.
I recall a small study/treatment using colchicine to treat the “inflammatory mechanism”.
The person who published/did the work was discounted and ostracized.
He was correct, yet will not be recognized.
I saw an article around six months ago citing various studies where 0.5mg colchicine in combination with statins showed benefits for people suffering with atherosclerosis including some potential plaque reversal.
https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2020/8/colchicine-reduces-stroke-in-heart-attack-patients
On that basis I decided to give it a go and purchased some generic 0.5mg colchicine OTC without problems whilst on a trip to Brazil in March. I should have bought more really because I will be running out in just over a month and I can’t legally source it in the UK without a prescription. I will try to import from India in the meantime. I intend to have a further CAC scan in a few years to see whether there has been any improvement in my score.
From the above posted article, link to copy of on of the referenced papers, titled;
I’ve seen a nice drop in ApoB, first by adding Zetia (brought me into the 60’s) then by adding Bempedoic Acid. My latest ApoB is 46mg/dL.
What was the cost of bempedoic acid? Side effects?
46 gives me apoB envy. I’m at mid 60s with 5mg/d rosuvastatin and ezetimibe. I’m experimenting with 10mg every other day rosuvastatin to avoid the post resistance training fatigue I get since starting rosuvastatin. The only impact of rapa in 8 weeks is my HDL increased from 40 to 60. No change to diet.
200 tablets Bempedoic acid 180 mg $ 60 USD. Shipping charges $ 35 USD. Total $ 95 USD from our friend Anil
Sides - I have noticed mild joint pain in my elbow (which I dislocated when I was a child), but I’m not convinced it’s from the Bempedoic Acid. No other sides that I notice
Mid sixties is good. When an oral PCSK9 inhibitor becomes available I’ll probably switch to that.
Have you reviewed the common side effects of Bempedoic Acid?
but…
Here is a great video clearing up myths about CAC scores, including why are you should not take too much comfort in a CAC score of zero. One interesting point is that if you are taking a statin, it often will raise your CAC score, but that’s a good thing.
LaraPo, This is a paragraph from the Cologuard website:
“False positives and false negatives do occur. In a clinical study, 13% of patients without colorectal cancer or advanced adenomas received a positive result (false positive) and 8% of patients with cancer received a negative result (false negative). The clinical validation study was conducted in patients 50 years of age and older. Cologuard performance in patients ages 45 to 49 years was estimated by sub-group analysis of near-age groups.”
One way you can reduce your overall chances of false results is to take the test multiple times. If the results from multiple tests are the same, you have less of a chance of an error. If the tests contradict each other, then you can investigate further.
Thanks for the info. I’ll add 0.5mg colchicine daily with my statin.
FYI colchicine is highly toxic, even a 7 mg dose will kill you. So make sure you get it from a reputable source that doesn’t dose it wrongly and keep it away from children etc.
Thanks for the warning. I’m not sure I trust my source that much 
. Guess I’ll just keep it on my consideration list for now.
