Light Buoyant LDL versus Small Dense LDL.

[cwm66]

I've heard 'Light Buoyant LDL' (Pattern A) is not a dangerous form of LDL and it is 'Small Dense LDL' (Pattern B) that can cling to the artery walls. Also, it is possible to ascertain from measurements of Triglycerides and HDL, whether or not ones LDL value is high in 'Pattern A' and low in 'Pattern B', which is the most desirable 'mix'.

Low Triglycerides/High HDL means high (Pattern A) LDL and low (Pattern B) LDL.

High Triglycerides/Low HDL means low (Pattern A) LDL and high (Pattern B) LDL.

Is it possible to get ones triglycerides measured at the same time that LDL and HDL is measured?

[DakCB-UK]

Yes. If I'm right, they don't actually measure one of the other ones - HDL I think - and work it out from the other and the triglycerides somehow, so the number should be available. There's also more work going on about sizes of lipoproteins, but that's a test that's not widely available in England yet.

I might be wrong.

[patch14]

Whenever I have had my cholesterol done I have asked for ALL measurements, and that has included my Triglicerides. I have been told that any figure under 1.5 is very good for triglicerides. I am intrigued by the "light buoyant" LDL. My triglicerides measurement is 0.7, my LDL 3.8 and my HDL 2.3 so I could be in the Pattern A category. Where can I read up on this?

[cwm66 in reply to patch14]

This is the best link I can find, from an anti-Statins website and the article instances the benefits of a high-fat diet over a high-carb diet. I am on board with Gary Taubes at the moment and am watching a great number of internet videos, where he is proposing high-fat diets to cure obesity and all associated ailments, including cholesterol problems: thecholesteroltruth.com/how...

[Withattitude in reply to cwm66]

Thanks for naming this link. I'm glad to see a UK anti statin site that has a doctor on board. The info looks positive, helpful and realistic, with dietry advice based on healthy eating - I don't completely agree with their view on saturated fats as I think fats like coconut oil is very healthy to cook with. I will check out Gary Taubes and I would be really interested to know how things go for you with you after switching to a high fat diet. Over the last five months I've increased protein and fats (chicken, fish, avacado and cocnut oils plus lots of fruit and veg) and excluded all wheat and processed carbs. I've lost a stone in weight and feel better health wise than I have for years. I'm waiting to hear how my blood lipids are faring. Good luck with your health and research.

[patch14]

A fellow sceptic!! Welcome! I will certainly look into the above and many thanks. I have always wanted to steer clear of medication and look at the diet route. I am happy to do anything that keeps me healthy and away from the GPs' surgery!!

[cwm66 in reply to patch14]

I dropped Statins a couple of years ago and 'researched' dietary control of cholesterol. I've maintained good health and have arranged through my GP to have cholesterol checked every 6 months - so far I have been reasonably successful.

However, Gary Taubes is very persuasive with his studies of switching to a low (refined) carb and high-fat diet to literally 'cure' all the ailments of 'modern society' including dangers from the wrong kind of cholesterol. Switching to a high-fat diet is a leap of faith for a cholesterol 'sufferer', but I think I'm going to give it a go after another week or two of looking at the information from various sources.

Incidentally, the primary research on another dreadful 'modern society' illness - Alzheimers - is piling up against refined carbs being the major culprit.

[patch14]

The problem with the 21st Century diet is that we have exchanged healthy food for cheap food. From the chemicals that farmers are encouraged to put on their fields, the additives put into processed food to lengthen shelf life and the chemically grown food that is given to animals to prolong productivity (which incidentally reduces their lifespan by up to 50 percent - especially in dairy cows) all contribute to our state of health today. "They" are now saying that organic food is not healthier than "ordinary" food but they are missing the point. It is the soil it is grown in and the animals that eat the foodstuffs that increase their productivity that is to blame. (Do you know that the majority of dairy cows that produce our milk and milk products today never feel the sun on their backs? They are kept in large barns and can see the sun shining outside and never get out to eat a green blade of grass or sit in the buttercups chewing their cud. I know it is the idillic scene and many farmers would say that that is the only way they can meet demand so perhaps we are to blame wanting cheap food at any price!!) The food itself may be just as good, but at what price to the environment.

We may be a healthier species thanks to medical science but maybe now we have to be careful that science does not get carried away with itself and look to cure things that are not needed to be cured (GM???) Why do we need strawberries to grow outside in December? Fruit and vegetables are imported from half a world away and flown here by air, when we have the same crops available in this country? (COST AGAIN - I could buy Peruvian asparagus at half the price as English asparagus this May in my local grocers but I would rather buy English and have less)

Sorry, I could go on and on. We have to look at our own behaviour and the foods that we buy to lessen this rush to cheap and over commercialised food because it is OUR FAULT that things are the way they are. We are the culprits. We have the solution in our hands.

[betabalance]

Really interesting stuff on cholesterol patterns - thanks for sharing.

betabalance.com