Advanced topics in nutrition

5. April 2011 William Davis (0)
Nutrition in the modern world has become an increasingly problematic topic. From genetic modification to commercialized methods of mass production, we are having to navigate all manner of complex issues in food choices, particularly if ideal health, including maximal control over coronary plaque, is among our goals.

We will therefore be releasing a series of discussions on the Track Your Plaque website in the coming months, a series I call "Track Your Plaque Advanced Topics in Nutrition." These will be, as the series title suggests, discussions for anyone interested in more than the "eat a balanced diet" nonsense that issues from "official" sources. Among the topics to be covered:

1)Advanced Glycation End-products--both endogenous and exogenous, including peripheral issues like lipoxidation and acrylamides.

2)Dietary influences on LDL oxidation--including the concept of "glycoxidation." Protection from oxidative phenomena is not just about taking antioxidants.

3) Foods you MUST eat--We've talked a lot about foods that you shouldn't eat. How about foods you should eat?
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HDL and vitamin D

HDL and vitamin D

22. February 2007 William Davis (5)
I know of no published reports on this question, but I've now seen numerous people experience significant jumps in HDL with raising blood vitamin D to 25-OH-vitamin D3.

Last week, for example, I had a man who had struggled with raising HDL from a starting level of 28 mg/dl. On niacin, exercise, weight loss, fish oil, red wine, and cilostazol (a prescription agent that I use occasionally that raises HDL), his HDL rose to 41 mg/dl--better, but hardly to our goal.

I added vitamin D, 4000 units, and raised his 25-OH-vitamin D3 level from 22 ng/ml to 53 ng/ml. Next HDL: 73 mg/dl! Small LDL improves along with a rise in HDL.

Not everybody's response is this dramatic. I see more typical rises of 5 to 10 mg/dl every day. I'm uncertain of why the response is inconsistent, though people who begin with lower vitamin D levels seem to experience a larger HDL increase. I wonder if the partial normalization of insulin and glucose responses is at work, or some anti-inflammatory effect.

Vitamin D provides so many other benefits, as well as HDL-raising. I hope you've gone to the effort to have your blood level checked to determine your replacement need. If not, now's the time. February represents your nadir (lowest point) for 25-OH-vitamin D3 blood levels.
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Comments (5) -

  • Mike

    2/22/2007 4:49:00 PM |

    If higher vitamin D levels increase HDL, then HDL levels should be higher in the summer and lower in the winter.

    I did a quick Google search and the first two studies that I found showed the opposite.

    http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1059698
    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2459/is_n4_v22/ai_13228867

  • Anonymous

    2/22/2007 6:20:00 PM |

    I am an RN with an interest in nutrition and heart dx. One of my son's has CAD, with blockage in LAD and was recently cardioverted due to persistant a.flutter 4:1 block.  Even though he is on statins, niacin, does exercise, has lost weight,takes fish oil, his HDL has only come up to 37.  

    I am going to suggest that he add the Vit D and maybe that will help.  Thank you for this information.

  • neil

    2/22/2007 11:54:00 PM |

    Hi Dr. Davis,

    It will be interesting to see if these results hold true for other patients, please keep us updated. It certainly sounds hopeful for those of us that struggle to keep our HDL up to a level of 60, and our HDL2 sub-fractions high as well.

    I ran across an article that shows perhaps a vitamin D pill treatment for cancer might be patentable!

    http://tinyurl.com/36dvb8

    Neil

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    Not everybody's response is this dramatic. I see more typical rises of 5 to 10 mg/dl every day. I'm uncertain of why the response is inconsistent, though people who begin with lower vitamin D levels seem to experience a larger HDL increase. I wonder if the partial normalization of insulin and glucose responses is at work, or some anti-inflammatory effect.

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Tim Russert Revisited

Tim Russert Revisited

16. November 2008 William Davis (7)
A Heart Scan Blog reader brought this piece by Dr. MacDougall to my attention.

Dr. MacDougall created a fictitious posthumous conversation between himself and the late Tim Russert. MacDougall paints a picture of a hardworking, hard-living man who adhered to an overindulgent lifestyle of excessive eating. He concludes that a vegetarian, low-fat diet would have saved his life.

Beyond being disrespectful, I would differ with Dr. MacDougall’s assessment. In fact, I’ve heard an interview with Mr. Russert’s primary care physician in which the doctor claimed that Mr. Russert had been counseled on the need for a low-fat diet and, in fact, adhered to it quite seriously. Far from being an overindulgent, overeating gourmand, he followed the dictates of conventional dietary wisdom according to the American Heart Association. The low-fat diet articulated by Dr. MacDougall is simply a little more strict than that followed by Mr. Russert.

What exactly could Mr. Russert have done to prolong his life? Several basic strategies:

--Added fish oil. This simple strategy alone would have reduced the likelihood of dying suddenly by almost half.

--Eliminated wheat and cornstarch—Mr. Russert developed diabetes in the last few years of his life. By definition, diabetes is an inability to handle sugars and sugar-equivalents. Wheat and cornstarch yield immediate and substantial surges in blood sugar greater than table sugar; elimination causes weight to plummet, blood sugar to drop, and diabetes (at least in its early phases) can be eliminated in many people, particularly those beginning with substantial excess weight.

Just those two strategies alone would more than likely have avoided the tragic death that brought Mr. Russert’s wonderful life and career to an abrupt end.

Of course, he could have even taken his heart health program even further, as we do in the Track Your Plaque program. While the conversation has focused on how to avoid tragic events like sudden cardiac death, why not take it a step farther and ask, "How can coronary plaque be measured, tracked, and reversed?"

In that vein, Mr. Rusert could have restored vitamin D to normal levels; identified all hidden sources of heart disease using lipoprotein testing (though he had small LDL without a doubt, given his generous waist size, HDL of 36 mg/dl and high triglycerides); considered niacin. Simple, yet literally lifesaving efforts, that make reversal much more likely.

Those simple steps, in fact, would have tipped the scales heavily in Mr. Russert’s favor, making a heart attack and/or sudden death from heart disease exceptionally unlikely.
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Comments (7) -

  • Anna

    11/16/2008 3:32:00 PM |

    Yes, I saw the McDougall post, too, and I also thought his fictitious  conversation was in very poor taste, not to mention very misleading and unhelpful in terms of what people could learn about avoiding a similar fate.

    It's not that we can't review and learn from what happened (and didn't happen) in Mr. Russert's case, but it's important to be factual and make sure it will actually teach something useful, not to mention not cross the line of good taste.

    Dr. Davis, I think there is a mile of difference in the way you refer to Mr Russert's untimely passing, with thoughtful commentary on what we can learn from this prominent example.  

    But Dr. McDougall's "posthumous interview" post, on the other hand, is nothing more than tacky self-promotion and yet more misleading vegetarian propaganda.

  • Jim

    11/17/2008 5:36:00 PM |

    I found a great book about Tim Russert at Walgreens.  It has stories from the people that knew him.  It sounds like he liked his beer.  I wonder if beer helped or hurt his condition.  Anyway, there is sample chapter of the book at:
    http://www.timrussertbook.com/

  • Jim

    11/17/2008 5:43:00 PM |

    I found a great book that very few people probably know about.  The book is called "Tim Russert: We Heartily Knew Ye" and it contains stories from people that knew Tim. The book is only sold in Walgreens and they even have a sample chapter on the web at:
    http://www.timrussertbook.com/
    Tim seemed to like beer a lot.  I wonder if it helped or hurt his condition?

  • Anonymous

    11/18/2008 3:58:00 AM |

    McDougall did something similar with Bill Clinton regarding his bypass surgery. Link:

    http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2008nl/apr/letters.htm

    I was a McDougall follower for years.  Now I have virtually no respect for the guy.  I was probably the fatest vegan you've ever met.  Could not get below 190 pounds, was hungry all the time, skin was dry and cracked,  hair was like a Brillo pad, and blood sugar was rising.

    He has nothing to offer a diabetic or anyone with metabolic syndrome.   I think initially people see change on his diet, but long term I didn't seem to benefit.

  • Anonymous

    11/18/2008 5:24:00 AM |

    Russert also had the bulging eyes and thinning eyebrows of the untreated low-thyroid sufferer.

    But the McDougall post on Russert was beyond the pale.

  • Dr. S

    11/18/2008 4:09:00 PM |

    Same old!  Russert, I am sure, did NOT eat a low fat/high carb diet.  Low fat means for sure, less than 15% and more like 10% calories from fat and near 80% from carbs.  Most research and studies etc call 25% or even 35% low fat!  That is HIGH fat AND high carb which is definitely a deadly combo, just a more toxic version of SAD because undoubtedly, in trying (and failing) to go low fat, he was eating lots of manufactured, fake, food like substances that were loaded w/ transfats and chemical preservatives, dyes (note the inadvertent homonym pun), etc.  He died of misplaced, good intentions that were aborted by faulty education and industry PR, but definitely not a low fat diet!

  • Sue

    11/21/2008 3:53:00 AM |

    The bulging eyes are a sign in hyperthyroidism - over-active thyroid.

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