The FastDay Forum

[carorees]

No the hormesis of fasting acts through a variety of mechanisms, not TGs! I mentioned it because I am not yet clear in my mind whether ADF or low carb as a long term lifestyle is safe.

The different forms of cholesterol can all be used for energy. Fatty acids are transpired around the body in these different forms. LDLs are taken up into peripheral tissues to be used for energy.

Wikipedia explains how this works:

Fatty acids synthesized by the liver are converted to triglyceride and transported to the blood as VLDL. In peripheral tissues, lipoprotein lipase digests part of the VLDL into LDL and free fatty acids, which are taken up for metabolism. This is done by the removal of the triglycerides contained in the VLDL. What is left of the VLDL absorbs cholesterol from other circulating lipoproteins, becoming LDLs. LDL is absorbed via LDL receptors. This provides a mechanism for absorption of LDL into the cell, and for its conversion into free fatty acids, cholesterol, and other components of LDL. The liver controls the concentration of cholesterol in the blood by removing LDL. Another type of lipoprotein known as high-density lipoprotein, or HDL collects cholesterol, glycerol and fatty acids from the blood and transports them to the liver. In summary:
Chylomicrons carry diet-derived lipids to body cells
VLDLs carry lipids synthesized by the liver to body cells
LDLs carry cholesterol around the body
HDLs carry cholesterol from the body back to the liver for breakdown and excretion.

The overall effect of intermittent calorie reduction is a lowering of cholesterol and TG levels :-



http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 1-98-4.jpg

[carorees]

Phil, I can't quite see the right hand side of the graph, can you resize the picture? (I expect I could as a mod but I don't have the knowledge!)

I went for my routine thyroid appointment yesterday and was thrilled to learn that all my cholesterol results put me in the low risk catagory.
My previous total cholesterol was 228 mg/dl normal range is (140-200)
This time it was 148mg/dl.
Go me!

Oops. Triglycerides were 77mg/dl normal ( 40-140)
New 76 mg/dl.
HDL now 42.3 normal (40-60)
LDH now 106. Don't know what normal is....the results just say low risk!!

Phil, I can't quite see the right hand side of the graph, can you resize the picture? (I expect I could as a mod but I don't have the knowledge!)

there's a link under it

[carorees]

Oops. Triglycerides were 77mg/dl normal ( 40-140)
New 76 mg/dl.
HDL now 42.3 normal (40-60)
LDH now 106. Don't know what normal is....the results just say low risk!!

The most important measure of risk is the Total cholesterol to HDL ratio. In your case this is 3.4. It should be under 4.5 so you are doing great there!

Well, I'm going to act as a Guinea Pig for myself with regards to the effects of 5:2 fasting on Cholesterol levels...

For the past 10 years or so, I've been taking Lipitor daily to control my Cholesterol, which was sky-high when first discovered during a medical. After losing some weight and getting a lot fitter, my Dr reduced my dose to half its previous value, but I still take a pill every other night.

However, having been on 5:2 for over 6 weeks now, I've decided to do 2 things:

1. Have my cholesterol levels professionally checked later this week (after 2 days of non-fasting)
2. Stop taking my Lipitor for 1 month
3. Have my levels checked again to see how they're going without the meds.

The only question I have is whether a month is the right time period to leave before re-testing? If it isn't working, I obviously want to get back on the meds as quickly as possible (no point endangering myself unnecessarily), but equally I want to give it chance to fail if that's going to take time.

Any thoughts?

Any numbers ? (especially total/HDL cholesterol ratio)

A month seemsm reasonable to me, the risk increase isn't large and is largely unproven in healthy people.

http://www.drbriffa.com/2013/03/07/some ... s-suggest/ has an opinion on statins.

[carorees]

Atorvastatin has an approximate elimination half-life of 14 hours. Noteworthy, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitory activity appears to have a half-life of 20–30 hours, which is thought to be due to the active metabolites.

This means that the action of the last tablet you take will reduce by half every 20-30 hours, so it will take a few days to clear your system. A month should be enough for your underlying cholesterol levels to show I should think.

Thanks - I figured a month would be a reasonable test period, but it's nice to get some factual correlation!

I haven't got current readings - haven't had them tested in over a year, so it'll be interesting enough to see what they are when I have them checked at the start of my month without pills...

There's some pretty good evidence that the lipid ratio to watch is the TG/HDL ratio, which should be below 2. The reason for this is that LDL cholesterol is considered "bad" only if it consists mainly of the small-dense particles. Routine screening doesn't tell you whether your LDL is mainly small-dense or large-fluffy, but it turns out that your TG is directly correlated with small-dense LDL.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664115/

http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/96/8/2520.long

I think the Gaziano study was the first to call attention to this.

I think 5:2 should have a beneficial effect on these numbers, especially if we don't go off the rails on carbs during feast days. But then again, maybe the two fasting days are sufficient to make carb intake during feed days irrelevant.

I'm booked in for a fasting blood test tomorrow, and today is a fast day, so we'll see what turns up. A year ago my total cholesterol was 5.1; I started using benecol and it fell to 5.0. Since being on 5:2 I've stopped the benecol, so the results should be interesting.

I'll keep you posted.

Mike

I'm booked in for a fasting blood test tomorrow, and today is a fast day, so we'll see what turns up. A year ago my total cholesterol was 5.1; I started using benecol and it fell to 5.0. Since being on 5:2 I've stopped the benecol, so the results should be interesting.
Mike

Be interesting, mine was 5.1 on the only measurement I've ever had, perfectly normal.

The ratio Total / HDL features in all the risk charts as the x-axis, so try to get as many numbers as possible not just the total !

http://heartuk.org.uk/health-profession ... isk-charts

[carorees]

Yes, total doesn't mean much without HDL. High HDL is good but contributes to the total figure.