As of today I will have been on a low carb, ketogenic diet for two years.
If you had told me when I started that (A) my cholesterol would skyrocket, (B) I’d become obsessed with researching new patterns around it, and (C) I’d get the data from these patterns by intensive self-experimentation and frequent blood draws (55 so far) — I’d have said you were out of your mind.
In some alternate universe where the Inversion Pattern didn’t exist, I’d have noticed nothing new beyond the research already out there and would have likely found some alternate, middle-ground diet that mitigated my lipid numbers while staying relatively low carb. Hey, I might yet do that anyway.
For now I’m obsessively punching though these experiments to isolate key variables that I hope will get me closer to the data I’m looking for. And yes, I’m a bit behind in reporting them here, but I promise they are on their way. Here’s a running slate of what I’ve already done and will be posting on soon:
- The Effect of Endurance Running on my Cholesterol – I’ll detail what happened between August of 2016 to January of 2017 when I both trained and ran several races.
- The Egg and Cheese Only Experiment – Just like it sounds, but even more controlled in that I ate to specific quantities and on a very set time table.
- The Fasting Experiment – I did it, but I won’t be doing it again. You’ll see why soon…
- The Egg, Cheese, and Whole Milk Experiment – Intentional addition of lactose to test impact on glucose, insulin and the lipid profile.
- The Meal Replacement Experiment – 10 days of a keto meal replacement which started yesterday.
And yes, I know I need to wrap up Part III of my Simple Guide to Cholesterol Series as well. But that may still be a bit further down the road given current responsibilities.
Speaking of current responsibilities, I should note my next speaking engagement will be on the Low Carb Cruise sailing for Alaska next month (May 19th).
It should be emphasized once again that I actually don’t make a dime from this life pursuit, my income is from my career in software engineering. Most of the blood testing I’ve done to this point has come out of my own savings and easily qualifies as the most expensive hobby I’ve ever had. (Which is pretty funny when you think about the fact that it involves so many challenging experiments and painful blood draws… there are probably more enjoyable pastimes to blow money on!) The point being, while I’d love to do this 24/7, I still have to take a significant amount of time to add back to the funding I need to move forward. So when I have drop off periods, this is usually the reason why.
Thanks for all you do Dave…None of this goes unappreciated, I too am a “hyper-responder” 223 before LCHF (in good shape but bro science lifestyle) 373 a year after starting LCHF and use your data to ward off my Doc and her want to put me on statins. I have been LCHF for a year now, lost 40 lbs, kept my muscle and am still gaining at 49…Here comes 50 so making a run for the positive…Is there somewhere to donate to the cause? Would love to help where I can because your data is PRICELESS!!
Thanks…..Joe
Thank you so much, Joe. I am in fact setting up a donate button soon, and obviously I’ll appreciate any support. Pretty much everything will be going to the hard costs of the blood tests.
Dave, keen to donate to the cause, if you are going to write that Nobel winning research. Before the “old guard” squashes you down. You know, the guys who believe they have “done it all”
Really appreciate it, Helena — I’ll have a button up soon. 🙂
Happy to donate as well Dave. Your research is invaluable.
Hi Dave,
My son LdL rose from 85 to 570 after 3 months on keto diet (4 years old). We kept the diet on, an I did my DD reading a lot on FH as we were at those range with TC ~850… today it dropped to ~450 but trigs are still very high,
After learning about APOE, I learned my son is E4,E4….
I seen Ivor C. has a page on this but it was rather scarce, since you noted you are E4, maybe you hold more references … if you can provide more links and data i will appreciate it.
Thanks,
Ran.
There’s a great community around ApoE4 at ApoE4.info and they are extremely responsive. I highly recommend going there and bringing them the same information.
It’s definitely possible your son has FH. I’d highly suggest getting genetic testing to confirm.
Could you list the remaining markers? What were his triglycerides and HDL-C?
He tested negative for genetic FH…
Here his unique results (you won’t fill hyper….) : )
Before we started the diet (which surprised me if he is truly e4/e4) :
Time TC HDL LDL Trig
Before diet 167 67 87 66
2 Months in 684 105 533 227
3 months in 723 109 571 240
9 months in 446 85 330 150
WE are on a keto diet 2:1, doing it with saturated fat unlike hospital requested.
It went to a point I had to hand in a letter we take full responsibility for the diet we are doing as hospital felt we are putting our child at risk…. doing my reading mainly on FH I felt I have time to think about it, I seen FH can survive quite many years before problem arose… so I am taking my time.
Still now that APOE4 pair seems to be confirmed, I need to go back to my reading.
Anyhow thanks for the reference to the APOE4 community.
Myself an Industrial Eng. master… if you need help with statistics or software design let me know.
Thanks,
Ran.
– Very, very interesting. That 3 months score probably gave *you* a heart attack!
– Naturally I should mention I have next to no experience with the lipid studies and characteristics of children. And for that matter, there’s even less I’m sure with the subset of low carb.
– On his next test, I’d suggest also getting fasting insulin, a thyroid panel (check possible hypothyroidism), hsCRP and ferritin (possible inflammation first checkers, can lead to more specific tests), LP-Pla2 (possible athero signal), along with Comp Metabolic Panel (CMP) and Complete Blood Count (CBC) for top liners. However, this might add up to four or five tubes drawn which might be too much for his age, I’m not sure.
– You may find my upcoming development of great interest, which I hope to have up very soon.
– Thank you for your offer to help. I may indeed need some statistics assistance soon (you’ll know why in the near future).