Doug Freyburger said:But the reported numbers depend on how long folks have been on
the plan. There's often a temporary increase in total cholesterol
early on and I don't know how fast the triglycerides drop among
the other types. Consider that the 1993 edition of the Atkins book
claimed that 80% of folks see improved numbers after 6 months, and
the 2003 edition claimed that a majority see improved numbers
after 3 months, but neither edition discusses how triglycerides
move when in the mix.
Triglycerides can drop FAST.
I got my hospital records a while back and saw these lipid panels:
On 5/30: CHO 187, TRI 248, HDL 34, LDL (CALC) 103
On 6/2: CHO 107, TRI 121, HDL 24, LDL (CALC): 59
My total cholesterol dropped a lot, and my triglycerides and LDL both
were cut in half in just a few days. Unfortunately, the HDL dropped also.
IMO, reading all the other stuff in the hospital records, the
significant thing that changed in between those readings was that they
figured out my insulin and got my blood glucose (bg) under control. My
bg was over 300 when admitted, and on the initial insulin program, they
got it into the 200s through 5/31. Then they switched me to a
basal/bolus routine and it dropped to 140ish on 6/1 and was in the 120s
thereafter until discharge.
Lower blood glucose can lower triglycerides FAST. Most folks here
aren't gonna have huge changes like I did since their blood glucose is
unlikely to be that insanely high (and if it is, get your butt to
alt.support.diabetes!). But it's quite clear that less sugar in your
blood lowers triglycerides an awful lot, and low-carb obviously lowers bg.
Quoted message said:It almost looks like they picked 28 days to make beef look bad and
chicken look good. Go out to 6 months and the difference should
disappear I think ...
I disagree a tad here. There is more to fat than just saying it's all
OK. I don't think any of it but the trans fats are actually *bad*, but
there are still some better than others.
Presumably, people eating more fish are getting more omega 3s, which is
going to improve their lipid panels.
People who don't like fish much can accomplish similar improvement
taking fish oil tablets. I've upped my fish intake since the heart
attack, with stuff like tuna and tilapia that I don't really like much,
but don't despise, and scallops which I love but can't afford as often
as I'd like. But I absolutely take my fish oil tablets daily also.
Also, most beef and pork nowadays is grain-fed and has a pretty crappy
fatty acid profile compared to the grass-fed stuff - and much less CLA
as well as less viatmins A and D (the bioactive form of vitamin D being
particularly significant for heart health).
I've personally switched entirely to grass-fed meats *and* dairy
products. They're more expensive, so I do eat somewhat less than
before, making up the difference by getting more fats from olives, nuts
and avocados and their oils.
Low-carb is definetly the way to go, and the authors of this study
*began* with that assumption.
But low-carb is not the entirety of nutrition, there's still a big
difference beween a bowl of CarbSmart vs. a bowl of broccoli. It seems
to me that looking at differences between diets *beyond* low-carb is a
very good thing and I hope we see a lot more of this in the future.
--
http://www.ornery-geeks.org/consulting/