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Old Tue, Dec-31-19, 12:33
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Posts: 1,469
 
Plan: Banting
Stats: 302/187/187 Male 175cm
BF:
Progress: 100%
Location: New Zealand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thud123
There's a more complete blood test called - can't remember the name now - but it differentiates the different "types" to a finer degree.

The NMR lipoprofile? It's supposed to give a deeper breakdown of the various subtypes of LDL particles, of which I understand there to be seven, and the two largest are considered healthy/benign. I say "supposed to" because unfortunately it's not available in my part of the world (New Zealand).

Dr Paul Mason - who I met last year, really cool guy - has given a few talks on the subject of interpreting some of the complexities of blood cholesterol tests: here's one in which not only does he break things down with LDL, but he also shows that for those like me for whom more advanced testing is unavailable, there are other proxy measures such as the triglyceride/HDL ratio which can give you a pretty good idea of the underlying quality of your LDL. Maybe your HDL is down slightly, but if your trigs are down even more, then it could be argued that you're possibly still better off overall?

A couple of other points around getting your blood tested: firstly, make sure you're getting it done while fasted for at least 12 hours. This is because triglycerides can fluctuate wildly in the hours immediately following a meal, and it's useful to get a measure of your resting trig levels if possible. Secondly, you might be interested in looking up Dave Feldman's protocol for manipulating LDL cholesterol levels, if your doctor is one of those who is easily concerned by high LDL in isolation.
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