New Study: Higher Cardiac Plaque Calcification in High Intensity Athletes

[Red Mosquito]

I had my initial visit with a cardiologist back in April I think, and he was agreeable to letting me try my own thing for a time to get my LDL down, vs jumping striaght to a statin.

Since then I’ve eliminated the French press coffee and have been taking berberine and red rice yeast. I haven’t done much diet wise, other than try my best to keep it “clean” during the week and enjoying myself on the weekends. However, that’s not too far off what I’ve been doing for a while now, so it didn’t feel like a big shift. I’ve also restarted weight training so I know that’s also a meaningful factor.

I re-did my bloodwork this week and my LDL was 115, down from 192 in February. I’m pretty happy with that, and despite being in the “elevated” range, I don’t have concerns about it. Coupled with the other factors like LDL/HDL ratio (115/81=1.42 which is ideal), my 0 calcium score, and lipoprotein A at 10 (optimal is <75) I’m going to keep on doing what I’m doing.

I have a follow up in October which includes a stress test just to round out the big picture. I’m interest to discuss this with the doc and see what his take is. I know he was personally going down a similar path for himself so I’m interested to compare notes.

Just got home from my follow up with the cardiologist and the stress test. Long story short he gave me the all clear

He was happy to see that all my numbers came down and asked me what I thought did it (I said getting rid of the French press and taking the supplements). He reiterated that based on my zero calcium score my 10 year event risk is essentially zero. He noted that around 16% of people with a zero calcium score can have calcified plaque, but based on my heart activity during the stress test he said he doesn’t see any evidence of that.

Follow up in one year (probably not necessary). Glad to be off the hook, though I know it’s not so easy for others.

 

[Santapez]

Just got home from my follow up with the cardiologist and the stress test. Long story short he gave me the all clear

He was happy to see that all my numbers came down and asked me what I thought did it (I said getting rid of the French press and taking the supplements). He reiterated that based on my zero calcium score my 10 year event risk is essentially zero. He noted that around 16% of people with a zero calcium score can have calcified plaque, but based on my heart activity during the stress test he said he doesn’t see any evidence of that.

Follow up in one year (probably not necessary). Glad to be off the hook, though I know it’s not so easy for others.

When you say you gave up the French Press, did you switch to a paper filter type of method?

A few years ago reading up on the impact on cholesterol with the French Press I swapped to a pour-over. I'd be curious what the impact would be to cut it out entirely however.

 

[Red Mosquito]

When you say you gave up the French Press, did you switch to a paper filter type of method?

Yup, regular old percolator coffee maker in use in my house now, with paper filters. I’ll “treat” myself to a French press on occasion, but that’s like once every 6-8 weeks.

I don’t have the time for pourover though I’d like to try it.

 

[shrpshtr325]

Yup, regular old percolator coffee maker in use in my house now, with paper filters. I’ll “treat” myself to a French press on occasion, but that’s like once every 6-8 weeks.

I don’t have the time for pourover though I’d like to try it.

id recommend aeropress instead of percolator, less time commitment than a french press so shouldnt throw your schedule off, downside is its one cup at a time.

 

[Red Mosquito]

id recommend aeropress instead of percolator, less time commitment than a french press so shouldnt throw your schedule off, downside is its one cup at a time.

The Mrs and I finish off a whole pot in the morning, I need bulk coffee lol

 

[Cassinonorth]

Blood work back. All normal except:

Total Cholesterol 188
LDL 118

The "cardiac calculator" says do nothing because statistically, I'm no more likely to have a cardiac event than if my numbers were 160 and 60.

I'll revisit next year, I suppose.

I got the same exact numbers on my physical. Consistent YoY. Doctor didn't seem overly concerned since I'm 35 and very active.

Every other number was very normal from my lab work so...

 

[Cassinonorth]

 

[Mahnken]

I finally decided to re-establish care with a cardiologist for my arrythmias. Last time I had a cardiologist was in 2015 for a-fib that went away with meds in a day. I've had PACs since then and the cardiologist said that was fine. But I stopped going to him for regular visits because his office always put me in collections for the $20 co-pay that they'd say I didn't need to pay every time I went.

I still feel the PACs from time to time and the new cardiologist put me on a monitor for a week and said my PAC burden wasn't bad and they didn't want to do anything to treat it. He had me get some labs and I need to schedule a CAC scan as well. My cholesterol came back at 202, LDL at 144, and LPa at 299! I'm not looking forward to getting my CAC score, lol.

I have had my total cholesterol down to 148 (from 198) in the past with diet changes alone, and I've been severely lacking a healthy diet over the last few years so I'm hoping I'll be able to bring it back down without statins again. We'll see what the cardiologist wants to do, but he didn't have any intentions of starting them with my cholesterol where it is, but I guess that might change when he sees my LPa and depending on the CAC score.

A day or two after this last post, the cardiologist did indeed call me. She urged me to take a statin, wanted me on 20mg of crestor to try and get my LDL into the 70s. She wasn't backing down, and didn't think I could get it lower with lifestyle changes, so I agreed and picked up the prescription. I didn't take it, decided I'd give it a go on my own before giving in to meds.

I was about to give up my quest a couple weeks in because it seemed I wasn't really making any changes, thought I was already eating pretty healthy. That's when I remembered all the books I bought when I first went vegan a decade ago, and found "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" by Caldwell Esselstyn on my shelf. I dug in and drastically changed my daily diet to fit his diet criteria. A little less than 2 weeks after changing my diet was Thanksgiving. I decided I'd go check my cholesterol levels the day before Thanksgiving. That way I could either see some progress, and limit my gluttony, or see no progress and pig out on turkey day. Later that day I got the results: total went from 202 to 166. LDL went from 144 to 107... In under 2 weeks. I'll probably check it again towards the end of December.

Yesterday, I finally got my CAC results. My score is 0. I wasn't expecting that at all, especially with my LPa being so high. I'll have to read more about LPa and how it affects everything. I'm going to stick to the esselstyn diet for the foreseeable future. It's more time in the kitchen, but fat has been melting off, and my heart rate has never been lower during exercise. My next cardio appointment isn't for another few months, though she might call sooner to go over my CAC results. She does not know that I'm not taking the pills, or that I'm checking my own cholesterol 🤣. Hoping to get my LDL as low as possible before they ask me to get it checked again.

 

[Red Mosquito]

She does not know that I'm not taking the pills, or that I'm checking my own cholesterol 🤣. Hoping to get my LDL as low as possible before they ask me to get it checked again.

Interested to hear her reaction when you tell her!

This book had a pretty good explanation of the whole process in mostly layman’s terms. Chapter 7 I think…

 

[Red Mosquito]

Interesting info

 

[Mahnken]

Interested to hear her reaction when you tell her!

This book had a pretty good explanation of the whole process in mostly layman’s terms. Chapter 7 I think…

View attachment 273147

I listened to a 2 hour podcast episode of his about it today. Pretty informative. Even got me thinking maybe I should be on the statin if I can't get my LDL low enough, though it sounds like a pcsk9 inhibitor (repatha) would be better. They've also got antisense oligonucleotide drug trials that seem to be able to lower LPa by up to 80%. That'll be great when it's available.

Interesting info

One of the big things for the esselstyn diet, especially for those with advanced heart disease, is eating nitrate rich foods (kale, spinach, arugula, beets...) 6 times a day to produce an abundance of nitric oxide to heal the endothelium. And of course avoiding foods that damage it. As far as I know, it's the only diet proven to actually reverse heart disease.

 

[Red Mosquito]

As far as I know, it's the only diet proven to actually reverse heart disease.

Yet nobody knows about it.

 

[Mahnken]

Yet nobody knows about it.

His book is a new York times best seller. And he's the director of the heart disease reversal program at the Cleveland clinic, at 91 years old, he's still practicing medicine. Problem is, 99% of people will dismiss it because they aren't willing to change their diet, especially to such an extreme.