No one is recommending niacin. Which drug to take (even which statin to take among the several statins) should be decided by the person looking at your cholesterol profile, not whatever Esselstyn has done in his trial. These are individual decisions.
What you say makes sense, except that ime, when going to the doctor, following your criteria, one quite often end up seeing the wrong person. Most obvious example would be the hospital nearest my house, where the treatment offered to most conditions will be Rest and some plant based concoction, no matter if exercise is actually advised to fight that specific condition most of the world over. But I also recall one of the most expensive surgeons in France, operating among other places in the American Hospital of Paris, sending me a waiver to sign where I would declare he had talked me about alternative procedures when in fact he hadn't even hinted at them. Ended up going to another surgeon who seemed to be better specialized in that particular procedure as well as its alternatives, and go for an one of the other surgical options, apparently a bit more complicated for the surgeon but which allowed the patient to be fully functional faster. I've had over the years quite a few unconvincing meetings with doctors in various countries, and would actually recommend one to research the issue online before visiting one (I wished I had earlier on, and am very appreciative of the info in this thread). At least one will be able to ask related question to the doctor or ask for specific medication and dosage- change country and u might find out not only favored treatments are different, but also normal ranges on a number of tests and advised dosages when the medicines are similar . It is not like all doctors keep updated with the latest research, are always following unbiased advice from pharmaceutical vendors or don't have to follow directives from their authorities (which can vary widely from country to country, sometimes within the same country ). Actually tomorrow will travel to visit an ENT, spending half day for a single visit, wished we had good doctors closer to home I could visit without an interpreter, i'd sure visit them more often. Keener on seeing a specialist than a family doctor though.
For the most part, a great way to maintain a healthy lipid profile is simple. Dont smoke Cut down ( alot) on refined carbs Eat more white meat and fish for protein. Cut down on red meat to once per week Eat more fiber and green veggies Excercise. You do that for one month and you will see a nice change. Problem is most arent disciplined and they fall off the wagon rather quickly.
Ok, so got a new blood test, about 70 days after the first, TG shot up for some reason while HDL increased and LDL decreased significantly, all are now within the local normal range although HDL in american medical litterature should be over 40. Below are the new numbers : TG : 134 mg/dl CHOL: 183 HDL: 37 LDL: 112 The test this time also checked APOA and APOB which are both around the middle of the normal range, I still need to read why TG shot up while HDL and LDL values went down, if you have any idea it will be welcome fwiw below are the previous numbers. TG : 87 mg/dl CHOL: 186 HDL: 30.50 LDL : 154 I slowed down a lot on cardio 3 weeks ago and didn't work out for the last 10 days, will probably start again after Xmas holidays, diet has been as usual mostly, just seem to have increased eggs intake. Besides I'm a bit disappointed with Test level @745, might be taking a lot of drugs for the result (Clomid, HCG and exemestane) Last test was about 875, not sure how levels change from day to day. Have lost quite a bit of energy since hurting my back again, although all pain has now completely disappeared. A bit talking to myself here, but will come back to this thread later on and those notes might end up useful.
Are u supplementing with zinc at all? If so, how much? Large doses can lower hdl and increase ldl. When u say u increased eggs consumption what we talking ? Personally I eat 3 extra large eggs a day. My hdl levels are excellent and ldl is low to medium. Stick the cardio in the bin where it belongs and workout with weights 3 to 4x a week.
Thanks for the tip Visaria, just looked up the meta analysis below, conclusion goes along the line of what you wrote about Zinc. I read only a small part of it, including results of studies that apparently had different findings, but the conclusion is : "The present meta-analysis demonstrates that Zinc supplementation has favourable effects on plasma lipid parameters. Zinc supplementation significantly reduced total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. In addition to that, Zinc supplementation in non-healthy patients demonstrated a significant elevation of HDL cholesterol. Therefore it may have the potential to reduce the incidence of atherosclerosis related morbidity and mortality especially in non-healthy patients who are at risk of atherosclerosis." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4523910/ At the moment supplementing with 15mg a day of Zinc, shall I increase ? I don't count eggs, but probably eat over 15 per week, they don't look that big though. Noted you mentioned eggs and thought it was worth a try anyway, plus my diet could probably do with more fat and less carbs, so eggs wouldn't hurt. I didn't reduce much if at all consumption of red meat btw. About the cardio in the bin, I prefer way more lifting weights, especially I can't really practice anymore the cardio intensive sports I enjoy, but will try to get back to cardio. Not sure lifting weights only while going around around 220lbs (i'm fairly happy around 220lbs, but would/will go for more if blood pressure and other markers stay in check) is good for fat control, blood pressure, cholesterol and overall health.
15mg is fine. My point was not to overdo it since there is evidence that overdosing decreases hdl and raise ldl. Are u overweight I.e. you have too much bodyfat? If so then reducing that should be your top priority. By doing so this should improve your cholesterol numbers significantly.
Oups, i'd read your point about Zinc the other way around.... Besides i'd need to shed a few % body fat if I wanted to pose as a fitness model, but looking at picture of bodies with the attached dexa scans results i'm probably below 20% when training including cardio , which i don't mind esthetically, although getting leaner is probably healthier. More like the 10-14 range if one follows the body fat pictures lists on the net like the one below. Quickly get fatter if I don't work out though, also last year when working out low reps only and without cardio. https://ketogains.com/2015/09/how-to-estimate-your-body-fat-percentage-bf/ I'm a bit lazy to look them up and post links but bodybuilders come up with Dexa results @10-11% with dry 6 packs crossed by visible veins. Quite another story, they leaner than the guy showing 5-9% in the link above. not trying to teach u anything abt Dexa scans btw, as u seem you do them.
Need to be careful about big but very lean guys, I like surfing steroids' forums and the lean guys tend to take large amount of drugs, larger than those who are not crazy about single digit body fat. Not sure being massive and very lean is the healthier way to go. I actually doubt being massive is healthy at all, but happen to like it. Still considering going on a steroids' cycle later on and grow quite a bit, but would rather be in Europe with good medical care available.