Vitamin C Forum

Posted: **Wed Dec 09, 2015 6:28 am**

This person was reordering Cardio-C..

My LPa is very high and I've been taking it once a day religiously and the reading actually went up a bit. My doctor advises it is generic but it is still very harmful to me. I don't know what else to do. My cholesterol (ldl and hdl) are in perfect range. I eat vegetarian and are thin framed and have low blood pressure. No other health problems except root canals
Thanks
K

Something doesn't quite add up in your email. You say your LDL is "perfect" yet the Lp(a), a subcomponent of LDL, is "very high." This makes me question the Lp(a) measurement, especially since the FDA allows labs to calculate, rather than actually measure Lp(a).

Would you mind sharing the lab, the actual numbers and the units of measurement?

Assuming your Lp(a) is abnormally high, and you do have a lot of the sticky Lp(a) in your blood, then taking Pauling's therapy (e.g. Cardio-C) is the ideal "treatment" as these nutrients are Lp(a) binding inhibitors, meaning they render the sticky Lp(a) less sticky.

She took a picture of the lab report with her phone, but the Lp(a) was not on the photo. The numbers that I can see are:

Code: Select all

HDL-C  76 mg/dl
Triglycerides 89 mg/dl
Cholesterol Total 187 mg/dl
HDL-P (total)  38.5   umol/l
Small LDL-P  356    nmol/l
LDL Size        21.2  nm

LDL-C    93 mg/dl

LDL-P  1040 nmol/l

Is the Lp(a) on that report? What lab made the measurement?

Oops forgot. The LPa is 352 nmol/L

So you are saying that 352 nmol/l out of the 1040 LDL-P is Lp(a)?

I agree that your cholesterol and triglycerides are almost perfect.

So the question is whether

A) the lab report is faulty (I haven't yet seen the Lp(a) reading as it could be calculated rather than measured) or

B) you do indeed have a genetic defect that causes you to produce abnormally high Lp(a) - even with perfect cholesterol.

If its B) your only rationale course is to stay on the Pauling therapy, which are "Lp(a) Binding Inhibitors" as the only known way to reduce the atherosclerotic risk of elevated Lp(a).

Are you a forum member? I will post this anonymously (post the numbers by hand) and johnwen may comment.

Notes: Since you are a vegetarian the amount of CoQ10 in your food is minimal. There would be no reason why they should recommend a statin drug for you (since statin drugs ELEVATE lp(a) but if they do, make sure you supplement CoQ10.

The root canal is a red flag, but your total cholesterol indicates that you are currently consuming the optimal amount of vitamin C for you as an individual.

Posted: **Wed Dec 09, 2015 7:44 am**

ofonorow wrote:
Notes: Since you are a vegetarian the amount of CoQ10 in your food is minimal. There would be no reason why they should recommend a statin drug for you (since statin drugs ELEVATE lp(a) but if they do, make sure you supplement CoQ10.

Not to mention B12.

Posted: **Sat Dec 12, 2015 6:20 am**

Hi Owen.
What else should I be doing in your opinion. I eat well. Take supplements
Do you think the lab test was calculated ?
Thanks again

The only way to know is to have your Lp(a) rechecked and I believe the Atherotech VAP test is reliable.
However, with otherwise perfect cholesterol, it may be a false alarm.
You didn't show me the range, but the normal is around 70 or 90 nmol/l, right?
So if the number is correct, you have a genetic anomaly.
The very best thing is vitamin C, lysine and proline.
Life Extension found studies that carnitine lowers Lp(a).

Posted: **Sat Dec 12, 2015 4:17 pm**

Posted: **Sun Dec 13, 2015 7:28 am**

This is a woman FYI

Posted: **Sun Dec 13, 2015 11:58 am**

Posted: **Mon Dec 28, 2015 2:08 pm**

Johnwen, after reading you post about diet casuing LP(a) levels to increase I need to ask what kind of diet is recommended? After getiing my calcium score, I have read many contradicting pieces on what the best diet is. To compliment the Pauling Therapy and vitamin K what is the best diet?

Posted: **Tue Dec 29, 2015 5:52 am**

Reading between the lines (double check me) I believe this lady is a vegetarian. Thus the amount of protein she receives (e.g. lysine) may be less than desired. Meats not only contain protein, but CoQ10, carnitine, etc.

Posted: **Tue Dec 29, 2015 8:29 am**

But is there a particular diet that is recommended?

Posted: **Tue Dec 29, 2015 10:24 am**

Posted: **Wed Dec 30, 2015 7:29 am**

hvc wrote:But is there a particular diet that is recommended?

As we have discussed many times over the years, we are all different. People with a very fast digestive tract seemed to be able to tolerate, even favor meats and fats, while those with a slower digestive tract (controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system) do better on carbohydrates. You can predict this somewhat by your heritage/ancestry. If your ancestors are from the far north, then only meats were available during the long winters (no fruits) and likewise, the closer your ancestors were to the equator, the more fruits and vegetables were available almost year round. And there is a "mixed" or in-between 'type."

The idea of a "metabolic diet" tries to account for these differences. (Aside, William Kelly was able to watch the effect of various foods on his own cancer tumors which were protruding from the skin. He developed what he believe was the perfect "anti tumor" diet. He put his third wife on this diet, and she almost died. In desperation, he tried the opposite, and put her on a meat/high fat diet - and she thrived. (Ref: Nick Gonzalez ENZYMES AND CANCER dvd).

Without knowing your metabolic type, I like the Richard Bernstein diet (DIABETES SOLUTION) because it is an Atkins diet on steroids. The idea is to strictly control blood sugar, which is imperative for a Type I diabetic (like Bernstein). Atkins was a cardiologist who noticed that his patients blood worked improved on a low-carb diet (and visa versa). Dr. Grundy (Diet Evolution) is similar, but adjusts the Atkins diet to allow some carbs in an effort to keep the body from tapping its muscles for protein (to make glucose).

On the other side of the spectrum are the Dean Ornish style (low-fat) diets. (I personally went on a Pritikin diet a long time ago, believing that a low-fat diet would protect me from heart disease. I lost a ton of weight. Pritikin himself did not recommend supplementing nutrients, and he died young, which kind of cast a shadow on his diet. (I have long believed that if he had recommended taking, rather than not taking, supplements, he would have lived longer and his diet would have taken hold, at least for rapid weight loss.)

Added Note

With regard to the best diet for fighting heart disease, if you can follow it, a low carb diet will make your blood work look better. Furthermore, we learn from biochemist Sherry Lewin (VITAMIN C: ITS BIOLOGY AND MEDICAL POTENTIAL, 1976) that proteins/amino acids CHELATE (combine with vitamin C) in the digestive tract, thus protecting and making the vitamin more absorbable into the blood stream. On the other hand, vitamin C eaten at the same time as carbohydrates breaks down quicker in the gut and not as much will be absorbed as intact vitamin C. So if your desire is to get more vitamin C into your blood stream - eat it with protein and not carbohydrates.

Posted: **Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:45 am**

Is there any benefit/harm in taking plant sterols?

Posted: **Tue Jan 05, 2016 5:56 am**

This is the first time this question has come up. I have no idea. Why do you ask?

Phytosterols, which encompass plant sterols and stanols, are steroid compounds similar to cholesterol which occur in plants and vary only in carbon side chains and/or presence or absence of a double bond. Stanols are saturated sterols, having no double bonds in the sterol ring structure.

Posted: **Tue Jan 05, 2016 7:27 am**

looks like only benefits unless you have phytosterolaemia then not good for you.

Posted: **Tue Jan 05, 2016 8:27 am**

I was asking because I read that they reduce choleserol.

Vitamin C Forum

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Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)

Re: Perfect cholesterol, but lab reported very high Lp(a)