This conversation with Dr Twyman (https://drtwyman.com/) has led me to stop taking my statin which was lowering the quality of my life and, I believe, injuring my health via damage to my mitrochondria. Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps this only happens to susceptible people. But I have moved on to better tools to lower my risk of cardiovascular disease. I hope you like the podcast.
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I am running to listen to this now!!! TY!!!
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The biggest argument for statins is that they didn’t have any effect, negative or positive, in the ITP mice (who don’t die of heart disease) meaning that the impact on CoQ10 is not really an important factor for longevity. Also, CoQ10 can be supplemented.
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There’s more to life than longevity. A statin made me feel fragile, and over 12 months it killed my muscle power. GG helped but Coq10 did nothing. Now that I’ve been off the statin for almost a month, I feel like my old self who I had thought gone forever due to aging. I have learned several important lessons including a big one about having faith in “experts”.
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Thanks for another great episode, @Joseph_Lavelle. I enjoyed learning about the roles played by the endothelium and glycocalix.
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The only other place I’ve heard much about the glycocalix is from Malcolm Kendrick. He says it’s made of the same proteins as glucosamine,chondroiten and MSM. Also people that take these have been shown to have less heart disease. So he claims they can make your glycocalix stronger. So cheap insurance.
These things are also lectin binders and should be taken with meals. There sure is a lot to know.
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That was excellent, thank you
Ok, I’m sure I’m the last to the party around here, but this was the first time I heard Berberine might be protective for heart disease! I already take metformin, so I’ve never paid any attention to Berberine. I simply assumed it was for people not taking metformin but wanted a similar glucose lowering effect.
Also, due to my high CAC score, I do take baby aspirin. I take it 3x per week. Did he happen to say if one is high risk, which I am, that he advises daily?
TY for being just a great source of info.
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@Bicep Thanks, I never heard that before. I used to take glucosamine and chondroitin for knee pain but quit when I stopped needing it. Maybe I should add it back. I’ll check it out.
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@Beth thanks!
Berberine is good for many benefits. I was surprised to learn about this latest benefit (increase ldl receptors) but I use it for blood sugar and gut health benefits already.
Baby aspirin also seems to have several potential benefits but also has risks related to stomach irritation and bleeding risk. Dr Twyman said a daily baby aspirin was a net good idea if you had an event of have a high CAC score. I don’t know the half-life of aspirin.
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@Kandice Thats great. Today I recorded my follow up with Dr Loh on retaining or gaining muscle while losing excess body fat. Several surprises for me in this one. I’ll get it out as quickly as possible.
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I just did a quick search on here to see if anyone recommended a particular brand or even dosage of Berberine, and I saw you might take Dihydroberberine…… talk to me… 
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Here’s some info…
I don’t know if the results are better but I now take 1 tab a day (150mg) vs. 2 tabs (400mg each) previously.
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Just on the half life of aspirin… not actually the right question on that medication.
Aspirin irreversible inactivated platelets from forming clots. Platelet aggregation is part of the pathway to stroke or heart attack, especially when a plaque ruptures.
You make about 15-20% of your circulating platelets daily and a similar amount are out of function daily.
About 300 mg once will inhibit all your circulating platelets. Adding around 50 mg or more daily will inhibit all new ones made in the last 24 hours.
The data is that for most people, daily aspirin causes more harm than good, unless there is a clear vascular risk to be treated.
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There are different strategies to minimizing vascular risk. The ability to objectively measure if you actually have disease should modify one’s desire to aggressively treat.
I take Atorvastatin and have no side effects that I can identify. This is probably the case in 90% of people. However the core question beyond side effects, is whether you need it.
If you are 65 and have a CAC of less than 100 without a focal lesion accounting for all one’s score, do you need lipid mitigation? Maybe if you are going for 130, maybe not if goal is 80.
Obviously, other options can be used beyond statins.
Curious if others have used AMLA … a gooseberry extract … looks pretty solid as an option in this space for moderate lipid impact.
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I noticed that there was no discussion of psychological stress as a cause of endothelial dysfunction. I think this is very under-appreciated, especially because the health effects of stress may only manifest themselves many years later.
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@DrFraser Thanks. I used to take a baby aspirin everyday, 87mg I think. The only bleeding consequence was if I cut myself shaving it would take an extra 5 minutes to clot. How does that jive with your 50mg kills all platelets made in last 24 hours? Did I clot without platelets? (I honestly do not know how that works). Or do you mean 50mg added to 300mg everyday (350mg in total)? If so would a person taking >350mg of aspirin everyday have zero platelets (will bleed out)?
I remember seeing a news piece about reporters who chewed aspirin like candy for headaches. They also smoked cigarettes stuck in their nostrils so they could talk on the phone while they smoked. Hard core dudes with short lives, I guess.
Aspirin comes as 81mg and 325 mg typically. A loading dose of 325 mg is typical then 81 mg per day in the U.S.
The platelets aren’t completely dysfunctional due to aspirin, but are inhibited. So yes they still participate in clotting, just more slowly and less effectively.
Taking more aspirin than this adds toxicity, but no better platelet inhibition.
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The podcast mentioned “lozenges or capsules” that give you NO if your body isn’t producing it. What are they talking about there? Has anyone tried them? Do they actually work?
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@Dexter_Scott I believe he was referring to the Humann brand…they have nitrate test strips, beet root products and a lozenge that somehow gives you NO. I just take a Berkley Life brand nitrate / nitrite supplement in the AM plus eat celery with dinner everyday. Of course I had to figure out how to stop killing my oral biome but I’m good now.