Ron Put

These are all high-risk patients, so I guess that while such high LDL-c values may be optimal for their condition, it doesn't mean it's so for healthy individuals.

Thanks, Mike. This was a fascinating interview. It piqued my interest because I seem to have weird Amylase values: My pancreatic amylase is OK at around 55 U/L, but my salivary amylase is high, between 90 and 120 U/L. Lipase is normal at around 35 U/L. There is an upward trend over the years, though, although slow. I have never been able to figure out what is the reason for such high salivary amylase values, maybe one of my ancestors really liked starch 😄

Who knows... I was born in the 1960s and have lived in plenty of old buildings in NYC and the West coast, plus a few years in Europe and the Southern Hemisphere. My point is that unless one grew up pealing and eating lead paint, it doesn't appear that lead or cadmium, or whatever, is a major concern compared to diet and lifestyle. After ConsumerLab used cacao cadmium in their highly successful PR campaign, I started testing and none of my levels are detectable, even though I was consuming daily 40+ grams of cacao nibs at the time. Going whole-food vegan and cutting out stuff like olive oil (or stopping DHA/EPA supplementation) has had a far more pronounced impact on my bloodwork.

Thanks for the video, Mike. I am, however, inclined to see it mostly as a correlation, at least extrapolating from my own results. My lead levels are below detectable, despite the fact that I have drunk tap water for 6 decades and have consumed large amounts of cacao nibs and cacao powder for at least the past decade. Thus I am a bit leery of attributing your low levels to water filter use.

Relative to diet and exercise,I have decided not to fret about tap water. I rarely drink bottled water, unless in an area where there is no potable tap water. I figure that the chlorine and chloramine can't kill all of my gut bacteria, since I feed them with between 60+ to 100+ grams of fiber daily. As to plastics, there are everywhere, from the bags that contain the legumes and grains I buy, to my toothbrush.

Thanks for the update, Dean! I was wondering where did the site go... Sad to hear about a member's death, RIP. Good to see everyone else in here, amazingly, you all still look the same!

It sounds plausible, yep.

Not necessarily. It's a rapidly fading theory. Dense LDL particles are associated with those with more severe CVD, but by themselves do not appear to have predictive value. Low-Density Lipoprotein Size and Cardiovascular Disease: A Reappraisal | The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

I just tested lipids again, after a period of a bit lower fat consumption, and months after I stopped Omega-3 supplementation. Back to where I want to be: C-Total: 143 mg/dl HDL-C: 69 mg/dl LDL-C: 64 mg/dl VLD-C: 10 mg/dl Apo B: 60 mg/dl Triglycerides: 39 mg/dl Based on my experiment of 1, the low-fat diet proponents appear to be on the right track, and dietary fat/cholesterol matters in those who have not reached a saturation point. I consumed about 30g of flax daily and reduced nuts (walnuts or almonds) to about 12-14g per day. An avocado once every five days or so. Raw cacao powder of about 10g daily. This confirms my guess, based on reading the published studies, that in healthy people, Omega-3 supplementation may be detrimental to what is currently considered an optimum lipid profile.

Haha, this is our endless argument 😄 I used to be a proponent of olive oil until I started reading the actual studies and noticed patterns that raised questions for me. I experimented with eliminating olive oil from my diet at home, and my lipid markers improved significantly. As Greger says, you don't know until you put it to the test. I strongly suggest that you test eliminating olive oil yourself for a couple of months.

As noted before, red wine studies are almost always influenced by the wine industry. Neither the Okinawans nor the Adventists drink red wine, yet they are (or were, in the case of the Okinawas) the longest-living groups in the world. I used to believe the headlines when younger, then started paying attention to details in the studies, and the final push to almost stop drinking was the tracker data staring me in the face the morning after I had a glass or two. The data after drinking a glass or two of wine basically mirrors the data after eating a couple of slices of rich cake. I still do both occasionally, but I no longer have illusions that either is beneficial to my health.

I'd seen this a while ago. I like Carvalho. While he is a vegan, he is a believer in olive oil and the "Mediterranean diet," and also believes that most people will be turned off if pushed, so he generally qualifies with talk of "moderation," whatever that means. His main accusation here is that Gregger is against olive oil "despite the mountain of evidence" and against fish consumption. My problem is that based on my own research, that "mountain of evidence" for the benefits of olive oil (including EVOO) and Omega-3s is pretty much all industry generated or influenced, and it is not supported by the evidence, IMO. So I'd argue that Carvalho is wrong on that one, not Greger. For what it's worth, I don't think I agree with anyone unconditionally. But I find Greger (and Carvalho) better than most.

J-shaped association between dietary thiamine intake and the risk of cognitive decline in cognitively healthy, older Chinese individuals "Conclusions This study revealed a J-shaped association between dietary thiamine intake and cognitive decline in cognitively healthy, older Chinese individuals, with an inflection point at 0.68 mg/day and a minimal risk at 0.60–1.00 mg/day of dietary thiamine intake." Weird study that is lighting up the news cycle. At first glance, I am inclined to take it with a large grain of salt. Yes, there is increased cognitive decline in those consuming over 1g of dietary thiamine, but there is also greater cognitive decline in non-smokers compared to smokers, and in the non-boozers vs boozers. Cronometer says I consume about 2.6g of thiamine per day, with the top three sources being wheat germ, flax, and nutritional yeast. Perhaps I am already too stupid to take this seriously.

Well, there is certainly a PR campaign, and also fundraising for the non-profit. But at first glance, it looks like most of the money goes to pay for staff and presumably research: Nutritionfacts Org Inc - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica Greger makes just over $200k a year in compensation, which is less than what Dayspring made back in 2010 shilling fish oil for Lovaza, and almost four times less than what Attia made back when he was trying to prove the miracle of keto. So, Greger is at least less greedy. As I mentioned, the book's 13000 studies are often references to old research and other books and videos he's posted, and I see nothing wrong with touting this rather high number. He is obviously trying to sell books and he does proselytize what he believes, but that's to be expected. I don't agree with everything Greger pushes, of course. Omega-3 supplementation is one such topic.