So this blog follows on from the a previous one, if you missed that one, just go HERE
Let's have a look at some of the blood markers for heart health.
NOTE: if you are hypothyroid or on thyroxine and it is not really ‘cutting it’, then your blood parameters (ones mentioned below) can show up out of balance, if this is the case, I would suggest working with your practitioner on your thyroid health. If you have had an infection or ongoing chronic infection then your blood parameters mentioned below can also be out of balance
Total Cholesterol - this is an utter waste of time on it's own
HDL - the 'good' cholesterol because it 'escorts' the 'fat' back to the liver, this is important to know
LDL - so this one matters BUT one needs to know which LDL? It is like having a group of children, they are all children, but some may have a deathly disease, so what are we looking at here, just the total number of children? Or the ones that need help? So if your LDL is high...which one is high? If you are put on statins because your LDL is high yet all the children may be healthy children, not dis-eased then what exactly are we doing here? Putting someone on un-necessary medication and one that depletes a vital energy making ingredient called CoQ10 (and the heart needs plenty of CoQ10 as it is a pump, it needs that energy)
Triglycerides - VERY important marker. Triglycerides are basically an indication of your sugar intake …and actually how your liver converts the sugar into fat
So you have the above 4 markers...the triglycerides (TGs) build up as the diet is high in sugar, sugared drinks, alcohol, white refined carbs ...you get the picture...
So these TGs are actually something called VLDL (Very Low Density Lipoprotein is simply sugar packaged as fat),…so this VLDL gets converted to LDL…as it drops off it’s cargo. LDL is just slightly 'heavier' than VLDL.
Now LDL …it is not ‘bad cholesterol’ this is a mis-understanding or mis-education. There are two LDLs, one is the light bouncy one which is neutral, the other LDL is the smaller dense one and this is atherogenic, not heart kind or cardio kind. So what is your overall LDL made up of, the former or latter?
There are tests that can look at this (called lipograms), and these sadly are not used on the NHS or generally by medically qualified main stream doctors, as the test is expensive. BUT some nutritional therapists who are versed in this can order these for you.
Before you decide to book in for one of these tests….
Let’s go back to TGs the sugar that gets packaged into VLDL that becomes LDL……so if your TGs are high…then can you guess? …….…If your TGs are high, which LDL will be more than likely high, the light fluffy one (the neutral one) or the small dense one (not so heart kind)? …..
The TGs increase the small dense, not so heart kind LDL….so what does a nutritional therapist or functional medicine practitioner advise? ..
Cut out the sugar ....not rocket science, right?
Oh my all that information just too say ‘cut out the sugar’
Someone with higher triglycerides has a higher risk of heart attack than high LDL, actually with high TGs it is about-ish 80% higher risk of a heart attack, and with high LDL it is about-ish 30% higher risk of getting a heart attack (if you do not believe this, check out pub med articles, it is all there)…..so wait…..
Why are we not prescribing drugs to lower TGs rather than LDL? (If one wants meds) ….it is because there are not many TG -lowering drugs and not to mention their not so kind side effects….but hold on…why not just cut down the sugar? Follow?
….if you have followed this far, then you may just want to continue to the end.
So what about HDL……High Density Lipoprotein (it is all in the density and the density is all in the make up of the proteins and the fat). Now HDL is known as the ‘good’ cholesterol because it takes fat back to the liver, consisting mostly of protein than fat. This one does give cardio-protective effects.
So does one look at HDL alone? No, look at your TG:HDL ratio.
Take your TG reading and divide it by the HDL …if it is greater than 2, then ‘Houston you have a problem’, this problem can be resolved with healthy nutrition, exercise and some intermittent fasting. The intermittent fasting gives that insulin spiking a rest. And give your body and give your liver some love. Ideally one wants a ratio of less than 1.5
At the New School of Nutritional Medicine, we teach this vital heart health science. Cardiovascular dis-ease is killing more people than Covid ever will or has.
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To WHOLE-ness!
From the team at The New School Of Nutritional Medicine
Learn about the Founder & Principal of the New School of Nutritional Medicine, Dr Khush Mark PhD HERE.