Evening all

I have a vegan friend and we constantly debate stuff about LC and it's health benefits/risks.

He asked if there is any cases of autopsies done on people who had done LC for a long time, like 10 years or so. Does anyone know of any?

Naturally being a vegan and all in to Dr Furman/Ornish and all that heart disease reversal stuff, he thinks all the sat. fat we take while on LC is bad. "If you can cut sat. fat and cure heart disease then surely that's the cause!".. you get the picture. Does anyone know of any cases of people with atherosclerosis who have cured/improved their condition with LC? I understand that would be difficult as any physician who recommends this could face legal risks for practicing such witchcraft....

Can anyone attest to improving their own lipid profile while on LC? Before and after numbers etc.


Thanks!

Just read through many of the threads here, you'll catch on.

Frapp, it's well established that very low-carb eating tends to lower triglyceride and raise HDL cholesterol levels.

That's always cited by low-carb advocates as being heart-healthy. [I personally have not been too impressed with the link between high triglycerides and heart disease.]

I'm not aware of autopsy studies in which the arteries of long-time low-carbers were compared to typical eaters.

Dr. Ornish seems to have shown some reversal of clogged heart arteries (via dye injection into patients) with his total program, which is more than just vegetarian.

I'm not aware of any low-carb advocates with similar imaging.

The January issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition had an article indicating the lack of association between dietary fat and heart disease. The third author listed was Krauss, a leader in lipid science. This should be a game-changer.

-Steve

I'd like to know too if its true about LC and cholesterol.
My husband is type 2, syndrom X diabetic, has been VERY low carbing for about a year and a half, and very regularly walking. He has lost about 25 pounds.
His sugar is well under control.

Cholesterol: 112
non HDL: 85
LDL: 65
HDL: 27
VILD: 0.18
TRIGL.: 98

Last week he had a heart attack.
90% blockage in one artery.
Go figure!!!
I'm REALLY beginning to wonder about LC BIG TIME.

I hope he's getting better, it sounds like he made it through.

Yup, I suppose I would wonder about LC if I was in your shoes too!

Your post has inspired me to get a heart scan. You just made me realize that 54 years of eating the SAD will not be corrected by weight reduction and LCbing for a year and half. Thanks

I don't think coronary blockages happen all that quickly. How do you know he wasn't 80% blocked for the last 7 years and just symptomless?

Even a healthier diet is no guarantee.

By eating healthier you only improve your odds. You don't get to fix the game.

A vegan can still become diabetic and diabetics have a higher risk for heart disease. Most who have heart disease have normal cholesterol levels. SO you can ask your friend how many autopsied vegans are discovered as having heart disease.

One of the problems with cardiovascular diseases is that we really know very little about what causes them and thus what might reduce their frequency.

It's becoming apparent that neither dietary fat or cholesterol is anywhere near the culprit it was once believed to be.

It's not even really clear that elevated levels of "bad" cholesterol are really that bad in themselves. It may turn out that they are a symptom rather than a cause of heart disease.

It is pretty clear though, that obesity is unhealthy, although just what constitutes an unhealthy amount of extra fat is not clear. There is also some suggestion that the distribution of fat around the body is an issue, but that may eventually turn out to be a symptom too.

Israeli,

I do hope your husband is doing well, I'm sorry to hear that. I did notice that his HDL was 29 and trig were 98 giving a ratio of 3.3. I'm sad that the low carb/hi fat didn't increase the HDL for your husband like it has in other folks. I wish you both the best.

I got back into the Low Carb WOL about seven years ago, and there have been times where I have not followed it very strictly. My cholesterol tests have been ok, but not great, my CRP has been excellent.

I turned 50 this year and last month decided to have a EBCT Coronary Calcium Scan done after reading Dr. Davis' site. This scan measures the calcium in your coronary arteries, as calcium usually makes up 20% of coronary plaque they can then estimate the total amount of coronary plaque that you have.

Anyway, my score came back as 2.3 out of a possible 400. This is not a perfect 0.0, but it put me in the 25th percentile, ie 75% of guys my age have a higher amount of plaque than I do. Given the huge amount of carbs that I binged on before I got back on the wagon, and my continuing lack of exercise, I was pleasantly surprised by my score.

You eat high carb for 50+ years then go low carb and have a heart attack...

Is it the very small amount of time on LC or the lifetime of eating crap that blocked the arteries?

I think it says a lot when the cardiologists, who use heart scans and see reversals of coronary calcium accumulations, recommend a low carb diet. These guys are preventing heart disease.

Most cardiologists aren't doing anything to prevent heart disease, they're just treating it after it happens. Or they think statins are prevention, which is just utterly wrong.

i have been on low carb for about 9 years. I went off the wagon this summer and put on a quick 15 pounds.

In any case, a series of events landed me in emerg where they thought I was having a heart attack (i have an atypical EKG). While treating me, my heart stopped for a bit. Turns out, it was a side effect of taking the nitro and stuff. Since they were not sure, I ended up on the table getting an angiogram.

Good news. I was not having a heart attack, in fact, the doctor told me my coronary system was perfect. They even did some nitro tests to see how my arteries responded and they were perfect.

I told the cardiologist I was on atkins for a long time. He told me to get back on it, keep up the exercise, and just make sure I eat a lot of veggies, not just bacon. He said he has never seen anyone on long term Atkins with messed up arteries and said there was no medical evidence that Atkins will lead to heart disease. As he said, he has had a lot of low fat, high carbers on his table getting stents put in.

There is evidence that belly fat is particularly dangerous. Not the subcutaneous but the visceral fat that surrounds the internal organs and fills the abdominal cavity.

Research shows that these fat cells release inflammatory chemicals into the bloodstream on a continual basis.