New egg and cholesterol study - worried?

[Sarah Stewart Holland]

Does this new study worry anyone but me?

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/08/study-eggs-are-nearly-as-bad-for-your-arteries-as-cigarettes/261091/

[JohnnyT]

Interesting study indeed. After reading studies, I always revert to the "Butter is bad, Margarine is better, oooops, Butter is OK again" study.......Hard to know who to believe.

[TheRealAndra]

I'd like to know what the rest of the study participants diet was comprised of? Lots of sugar and grain based food? Margarine and industrial oils?

Demonizing eggs is just another way to keep us from gaining and maintaining vibrant health!

[Jennie Longstaff]

Please see today's perfectly timed post from Mark's Daily Apple

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/are-eggs-really-as-bad-for-your-arteries-as-cigarettes/#more-30830

[Tom Denham]

After awhile, you realize that a lot of the research that makes it to the popular press is biased, flawed, out-of-date, wrong, worthless. Here are a few more links to good critiques of the eggs are bad theory...

http://www.drbriffa....ience-and-bias/

http://www.drbriffa....rove-causation/

Note: I eat about 24 eggs per week and have been doing so for several years.

[Sarah Stewart Holland]

Super helpful and feeling much better! Thanks everyone!

[jonazorg]

I am a 72 year old retired long distance runner (marathons), who at 150 lbs. was lean and blessed with good health; but determined to avoid my doctor's insistence that I go on statins. I began the Whole 30 on the 4th of August with Total Chol of 220, HDL of 109 and LDL of 127. My goal was to reduce my cholesterol levels. I am a very regimented guy and strictly followed the Whole 9 guidelines in "It Starts with Food". Labor Day was also Graduation Day as I had finished the Whole 30 without deviating from the program. I ordered another Lipid Panel for comparison and am now in a state of shock. My current Lipid Panel shows Total Chol up 68 points to 288, HDL up 27 points to 109 and LDL up 41 points to 168. That's approximately a 33% increase in 30 days! The relevance to your thread is that my morning breakfast consisted of two cups of steamed broccoli blended with three scrambled eggs, 1/4 cup of salsa topping and one 2.2 ounce lean ham slice. I guess I will have to start the Whole 30 again and give up the eggs and cross my fingers for better results next time. Bear in mind that I am a newbie at this and would love anyone's comments.

[Susan W]

I am a 72 year old retired long distance runner (marathons), who at 150 lbs. was lean and blessed with good health; but determined to avoid my doctor's insistence that I go on statins. I began the Whole 30 on the 4th of August with Total Chol of 220, HDL of 109 and LDL of 127. My goal was to reduce my cholesterol levels. I am a very regimented guy and strictly followed the Whole 9 guidelines in "It Starts with Food". Labor Day was also Graduation Day as I had finished the Whole 30 without deviating from the program. I ordered another Lipid Panel for comparison and am now in a state of shock. My current Lipid Panel shows Total Chol up 68 points to 288, HDL up 27 points to 109 and LDL up 41 points to 168. That's approximately a 33% increase in 30 days! The relevance to your thread is that my morning breakfast consisted of two cups of steamed broccoli blended with three scrambled eggs , 1/4 cup of salsa topping and one 2.2 ounce lean ham slice. I guess I will have to start the Whole 30 again and give up the eggs and cross my fingers for better results next time. Bear in mind that I am a newbie at this and would love anyones's comments

I hope someone more into the science of it than I am chimes in soon for you, but did you eat grass fed beef, pastured chickens and eggs from pastured eggs? My total Cholesterol went up after my first Whole30 a year ago, but the good went up and the bad went down, so my doc was very happy with my numbers.

[Renee Lee]

joazorg, while we're not here to give medical advice, the results that you have listed give a very limited picture of what's going on with you, and I don't think that you've fully taken your context into consideration, since you didn't give any other pertinent details, I have to assume that you didn't realize that they WERE pertinent.

a) what were your triglycerides before and after?

did you lose any weight (specifically fat) during your whole30?

c) how long did you wait between tests?

d) were you particularly low carb during your whole30?

e) how is your sleep and stress?

f) what is your activity level?

g) what is your LDL-P vs. your LDL-C?

h) do you have any thyroid issues?

All of the above have an impact on your overall health and cardiovascular risk. The body makes MANY MANY times more cholesterol per day than anybody could hope to ingest by eating 3 eggs a day. It is an INCREDIBLY strictly regulated system. When the number goes out of whack, the answer should NOT be to stop providing your body with 1% of its source of cholesterol (and you also lose a whole bunch of heart protective stuff like choline in the process)...rather it should be to figure out what in your body has gone out of what.

dyslipidemia (bad lipid numbers) is not a disease to cure with statins, it is a _symptom_ of a potential larger problem.

[jonazorg]

First I would like to thank those who responded. And for more detail I was not eating grass fed beef, nor pastured chicken, nor eggs from pastured chickens, just eggs from vegetarian fed hens. Now to answer Renee's questions in their respective order:

a) triglycerides 54 on 8/3/2012; 56 on 9/5/2012

9 lb weight loss, from 155 to 146 in 30 days and 2 inch loss around the waist; the belly fat (what there was) is gone, Hoo Rah!!!

c) 30 days, I was anxious for my results

d) I did keep an itemized log of everything I ate, the typical day's macronutrients were: Carbs 3 lbs 10 oz, Protein 1 lb 4.9 oz, Fat 6.65 oz.

e) for many years it has been to bed by 10 pm and up at 4:15, I know I need to do better; stress level is very subjective, I would say moderate

f ) activity level is high: run 3 days a week (20 to 22 miles total); strength training 2 days a week; lots of time landscaping our yard

g) unfortunately my lipid panel only provides Chol Total, HDL-C, LDL-C, VLDL (was 11 both before and after) and triglycerides

h) no thyroid issues

Let me also say that after reading your reply I went to "It Starts with Food" and read pages 147 to 152. Now I really feel guilty putting you through this exercise since I see where you are coming from and I could have done this on my own. Maybe! Anyway I feel you deserve the answers to the questions you proposed. I am very appreciative of your gracious giving of your time and knowledge. Thank you! My wife and I will be at the Seminar in Miami in November.

Have a great Paleo Day!

John O

[Renee Lee]

John, g) is really the major problem here. The numbers on a standard test, the ones you listed above, are incredibly inadequate for determining true risk of cardiovascular disease. Not only should you not start panicking with these numbers, but you really shouldn't change anything you're doing based off JUST these numbers. It's like you running out and buying a brand new car because it didn't start one morning. Isn't the first thing you do before you do all that is ask more questions? get more information? is there gas in the car? is the battery dead? is the key in the ignition? It's the same thing here. Not enough information. Additionally, nobody can/should give you any medical advice based solely on these numbers. The fact that your doctor is pushing statins on these numbers alone infuriates me. (it doesn't surprise me, but it still infuriates me)

Oh, were these numbers directly measured? or were they calculated? The LDL calculation formula has triglycerides as the denominator. If you have very low tris (which you do), it artificially inflates your LDL number. Just another things to consider

Anyway, your triglyceride numbers are pretty awesome AND your HDL went up which suggests that as a whole, you have a lot of heart-protective stuff going on.

Additionally, losing a lot of fat (congrats, btw!), dumps a lot of LDL particles into your body. You have to wait 2-3 months after your weight stabilizes for your values to settle down.

The last big thing to consider is the efficiency/performance of your LDL receptor sites. These are the docking stations of LDL particles in your blood stream, and they're controlled mainly by thyroid hormone. I don't actually know how many grams 3lbs 10oz of carbohydrate works out to, because one is adjusted for water, the other isn't...but it may still be lowish. being carb restricted can mess with thyroid function enough that it can throw off the LDL receptors. If you are lowish carb, this is one of the potential fall outs from that. This isn't a disastrous thing...but it IS something to keep in the back of your mind: that a message that your body's trying to send (or should be sending) is getting lost for one reason or the other.

So here's my non-medical advice take aways:

a) get better values tested, in a better manner

give it a few months of weight stabilization before you get your values tested again

c) If you're going to change any of your food choices, I'd spice your food with some turmeric while you wait for your weight to stabilize. turmeric activates/stimulates the LDL receptors, and it's an easy addition to make, that doesn't have you cutting out important stuff like cholesterol and choline, etc.

[jonazorg]

Renee, You are awesome! I will work with your suggestions and will post back in a couple of months!