Raising HDL???
RO
that are touted to? After finding policosanol to be bogus, I'm having
doubts as to whether fish oil, curcumin, etc works at all. At the moment
the only thing we seem to have is niacin and a few drugs coming down the
pipeline that won't be available for several years. I'm trying hard to
avoid a stint.
RO
makc.th...@gmail.com
Aerobic exercise. Many people don't like to hear it, but regular
aerobic exercise (any exercise, such as walking, jogging or bike
riding, that raises your heart rate for 20 - 30 minutes at a time)
increases the HDL levels.
Lose weight. Obesity results not only in increased LDL cholesterol, but
also in reduced HDL cholesterol. If you are overweight, reducing your
weight should increase your HDL levels.
Stop smoking. If you smoke, giving up tobacco will result in an
increase in HDL levels. (This is the only advantage I can think of that
smokers have over non-smokers - it gives them something else to do that
will raise their HDL.)
Cut out the trans fatty acids. Trans fatty acids are currently present
in many of your favorite prepared foods - anything in which the
nutrition label reads "partially hydrogenated vegetable oils" - so
eliminating them from the diet is not a trivial task. But trans fatty
acids not only increase LDL cholesterol levels, they also reduce HDL
cholesterol levels. Removing them from your diet will almost certainly
result in a measurable increase in HDL levels. Click here for a quick
and easy review of trans fatty acids and the heart.
Alcohol. With apologies to the American Heart Association, which
discourages doctors from telling their patients about the advantages of
alcohol: one or two drinks per day can significantly increase HDL
levels. More than one or two drinks per day, one hastens to add, can
lead to substantial health problems including heart failure - and there
are individuals who will develop such problems even when limiting their
alcohol intake to one or two drinks per day. Click here for a quick and
easy review of alcohol and the heart.
Increase the monounsaturated fats in your diet. Monounsaturated fats
such as canola oil, avocado oil, or olive oil and in the fats found in
peanut butter can increase HDL cholesterol levels without increasing
the total cholesterol.
Add soluble fiber to your diet. Soluble fibers are found in oats,
fruits, vegetables, and legumes, and result in both a reduction in LDL
cholesterol and an increase HDL cholesterol. For best results, at least
two servings a day should be used.
christophe...@gmail.com
to 155 mg/dl TC and 105 mg/dl HDL. Switched to lower carbohydrate,
predominantly unrefined food diet with niacin, EPA rich pharmaceutical
grade fish oil (a bit over 1 g/day total EPA). I was and have been
using many other supplements, so it's difficult for me to know just
what, exactly, is most beneficial.
Robert W. McAdams
I succeeded in increasing my HDL from 40 to 58 while cutting my total
cholesterol from 257 to 176 using the following regimen:
1) Lost 15-20 pounds.
2) Switched almost entirely to monounsaturated fat (high oleic sunflower
oil) and medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil for cooking. (Previously I
had used margerine.)
3) Switched from eggs to Egg Beaters.
4) Increased dietary fiber.
5) Added 800mg niacin per day (taken in 3 divided doses).
6) Switched almost entirely to fish (sole, halibut, swordfish) with
occasional poultry.
7) Increased swimming somewhat (but I was already swimming 3 times per
week).
Bob
Manfred Bartz
> Has anyone successfully raised their HDL with any of the many
> supplements that are touted to?
Hard aerobic excercise, Niacin supplementation and keeping the body
fat down are probably the main factors.
In some people (like me), poly-unsaturated fat will depress HDL
levels. Substituting with mono-unsaturated fat like olive oil will
help.
Above items have restored my lipids to normal, but raising the HDL to
the upper half of normal has so far eluded me.
In addition to what others have already suggested, you may want to
have a look at the items below.
Coconut fat is saturated, but if consumed as part of natural coconut
flesh or coconut milk seems to be beneficial too. But you should keep
your total fat consumption low.
IIRC, supplementing with creatine is beneficial for some people.
David R. Throop
> supplements that are touted to?
Supplementary iron works best.
How to supplement: Take 105 lbs of iron and bench press it, 10 times
per set, two sets a day, three days a week. Then take 80 lbs of iron
and shoulder press it. Then take 60 lbs of iron and alternate a
french press and dumbell curl. You won't need any iron to work on
your abs, though.
It's what my doc recommended and it worked for me.
> as to whether fish oil, curcumin, etc works at all.
Fish oil works great, just not for raising HDL. It is reported to
have very modest effects on HDL. But the main reason for taking it is
for lowering triglycerides and inflammation and making plaque less
thrombotic.
See the National Institute of Health page
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/print/druginfo/natural/patient-fishoil.html
for a listing of which conditions fish oil has proven efficacy.
Susan reports good results raising HDL with Pantethine. (She
no-archives her posts; if you're curious I could email you her
collection of literature citations.) As you know, massive amounts of
niacin raise HDL but it's a rough drug to take. Other than those two,
though, exercise is the main reliable path to substantially raise HDL.
DRT
DZ
>> Has anyone successfully raised their HDL with any of the many
>> supplements that are touted to?
>
> Supplementary iron works best.
> How to supplement: Take 105 lbs of iron and bench press it, 10 times
> per set, two sets a day, three days a week. Then take 80 lbs of iron
> and shoulder press it. Then take 60 lbs of iron and alternate a
> french press and dumbell curl. You won't need any iron to work on
> your abs, though.
I would
(1) Ditch the french press.
(2) Substitute curls with pullups or chinups, assisted or weighted if
necessary.
(3) add barbell squats (not the Smith machine or leg press but a free
weight barbell squat to minimize the risk of damage to the knee due to
shear forces [*]).
As sufficient strength is developed, it is possible to further combine
pulls and pushes into a single movement, on some training days, like
I'm doing here - http://home.nc.rr.com/netsink/DZMuscleUp.wmv
That would give a nearly complete workout.
[*] "...it is interesting that there were no ACL tensile forces (i.e.,
anterior shear forces) measured throughout the squat exercise. Several
studies have also reported no ACL tensile forces during the squat
(13,18,58,65). The absence of ACL forces during the squat may in part
be due to moderate hamstring activity, because several studies have
demonstrated that the hamstrings help unload the ACL by producing a
posterior directed force to the leg throughout the knee movement
(4,14-16,31,39,46-48,73,74)."
(Escamilla RF 2001 Knee biomechanics of the dynamic squat exercise.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 33:127-141; PMID: 11194098)