Tale of the Tape II: Confessions of a Supplement Addict.
In my never ending obsession to do weird things to my body, I decided to experiment with some supplements we make and their effect on blood markers that weren't optimal at my last blood screening. While none were outside the range of normal, some could be better.
Additionally, after reading a number of papers, particularly "LDL Cholesterol: Lower is Better and Physiologically Normal" and those on FeralChildren.com, I am strangely fascinated by the physical morphology of "Hunters [sic] and Gatherers" who run around forests eating edible plants, jumping from tree to tree, and who do not get heart disease. The Paper on LDL cholesterol concludes heart disease is completely arrested at LDL's below 80 and that the current standards are neither "normal" nor "healthy".
Low iron and high homo-cysteine levels are fairly common with vegans who don't get enough B12 and eat lots of grains. It's still debatable whether low iron is bad, because vegans store more of it in hemoglobin and less as free iron.
Anyway, the goals of this experiment:
1). Reduce LDL, increase HDL, maintain total cholesterol, decrease Total/HDL ratio
2). decrease homo-cysteine below 10
3). increase iron slightly from 98 to around 110.
The supplements (chosen based on strong clinical evidence):
For cholesterol: Enteric coated garlic 1x/day , cinnamon (sprinkled on breakfast flax/oatmeal), almonds (eaten randomly in front of the computer)
For homo-cysteine: Single B12/Folate supplement. 1x day
For iron: full spectrum mineral supplement 1/2 strength daily.
RESULTS:
Test 6/6/200612/9/2006% ChangeLDL Cholesterol7957-27.8%HDL Cholesterol3445 +32.4%Total Cholesterol120116-3.3%Total/HDL Ratio 3.532.58-27.0%Triglycerides4070 +75.0%Homocysteine13.2 6.4-51.5%Iron98178 +81.6%
The results were pretty astounding, more than 50% reduction in homo-cysteine, 33% increase in HDL, 28% decrease in LDL. I now have the blood of a tribal "Hunter[sic] and Gatherer" :D :D
So Yeah, supplementation does work and works well, at least on me. The iron worked a little *too well*, 'cuse now my iron is high. I should have anticipated this, as vegans tend to absorb more iron to compensate for the less bioavailable non-heme iron found in plants. The supplement I took is readily absorbable amino acid chelated Iron . Interestingly enough, all my other blood markers like Cell Volume, Hemoglobin concentration, cell size variance, remained unchanged with iron supplementation, meaning the iron is free iron and unnecessary in my bloodstream in agreement with the literature on vegan blood morphology. A least I found out I don't need supplementation.
My triglyerides went up predictably because of all the nuts I'm eating. It's still pretty low, as the upper limit is 150 according to american standards.
I am seriously thinking of moving away from chemistry and moving into the area of Clinical Nutrition focussing completely on veg*n health and nutrition. Vegans have a completely different metabolism and morphology than omnivores. The body of literature describing what constitutes a "healthy individual" means a healthy omnivore. As I read the literature I see the flaws in using omnivore data and extrapolating to vegans. There's little correspondence.
Doctors and nutritionists are so ignorant in the area of veg*n nutrition. When I talked to our Nutritionists about my cholesterol, I got two different answers with little detail. When asked how I can get my HDL up, one guy said "eat fish & exercise".
Dumbass.
jv
EDIT: For darkcreachr Here's the link to the The Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.
Additionally, after reading a number of papers, particularly "LDL Cholesterol: Lower is Better and Physiologically Normal" and those on FeralChildren.com, I am strangely fascinated by the physical morphology of "Hunters [sic] and Gatherers" who run around forests eating edible plants, jumping from tree to tree, and who do not get heart disease. The Paper on LDL cholesterol concludes heart disease is completely arrested at LDL's below 80 and that the current standards are neither "normal" nor "healthy".
Low iron and high homo-cysteine levels are fairly common with vegans who don't get enough B12 and eat lots of grains. It's still debatable whether low iron is bad, because vegans store more of it in hemoglobin and less as free iron.
Anyway, the goals of this experiment:
1). Reduce LDL, increase HDL, maintain total cholesterol, decrease Total/HDL ratio
2). decrease homo-cysteine below 10
3). increase iron slightly from 98 to around 110.
The supplements (chosen based on strong clinical evidence):
For cholesterol: Enteric coated garlic 1x/day , cinnamon (sprinkled on breakfast flax/oatmeal), almonds (eaten randomly in front of the computer)
For homo-cysteine: Single B12/Folate supplement. 1x day
For iron: full spectrum mineral supplement 1/2 strength daily.
RESULTS:
Test 6/6/200612/9/2006% ChangeLDL Cholesterol7957-27.8%HDL Cholesterol3445 +32.4%Total Cholesterol120116-3.3%Total/HDL Ratio 3.532.58-27.0%Triglycerides4070 +75.0%Homocysteine13.2 6.4-51.5%Iron98178 +81.6%
The results were pretty astounding, more than 50% reduction in homo-cysteine, 33% increase in HDL, 28% decrease in LDL. I now have the blood of a tribal "Hunter[sic] and Gatherer" :D :D
So Yeah, supplementation does work and works well, at least on me. The iron worked a little *too well*, 'cuse now my iron is high. I should have anticipated this, as vegans tend to absorb more iron to compensate for the less bioavailable non-heme iron found in plants. The supplement I took is readily absorbable amino acid chelated Iron . Interestingly enough, all my other blood markers like Cell Volume, Hemoglobin concentration, cell size variance, remained unchanged with iron supplementation, meaning the iron is free iron and unnecessary in my bloodstream in agreement with the literature on vegan blood morphology. A least I found out I don't need supplementation.
My triglyerides went up predictably because of all the nuts I'm eating. It's still pretty low, as the upper limit is 150 according to american standards.
I am seriously thinking of moving away from chemistry and moving into the area of Clinical Nutrition focussing completely on veg*n health and nutrition. Vegans have a completely different metabolism and morphology than omnivores. The body of literature describing what constitutes a "healthy individual" means a healthy omnivore. As I read the literature I see the flaws in using omnivore data and extrapolating to vegans. There's little correspondence.
Doctors and nutritionists are so ignorant in the area of veg*n nutrition. When I talked to our Nutritionists about my cholesterol, I got two different answers with little detail. When asked how I can get my HDL up, one guy said "eat fish & exercise".
Dumbass.
jv
EDIT: For darkcreachr Here's the link to the The Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.