This piece of a discussion at the Google Group sci.med.cardiology fascinated me:
[My] HDL was always around 32, until I dropped the low fat nonsense about 7 years ago. Adding healthy fats and dropping carbs brings my HDL to about 70 while boosting my LDL almost none. And after the HDL shot up, the low-carbing continued to produce weight loss without difficulty. I’ve never felt better in my life and I am 63 now.
I would like to raise my HDL. The advice I’ve read (do a long list of things) hasn’t helped. For example, one bit of advice was to lose weight. I did lose weight and my HDL briefly got much better. I kept the weight off but my HDL did not stay high. Whereas whatever this guy did had lasting effects. I tried to find out more about what he did but, alas, he didn’t answer my email.
It’s been established that low HDL is associated with metabolic syndrome and there’s some evidence that low-carb diets improve metabolic syndrome (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_52485.html), so the author’s experience does not appear to be unique. In your case, Professor Roberts, it appears that isolated low HDL (i.e., low HDL with normal-to-optimal triglycerides and LDL, which I’m wildly assuming is what you have) is associated with, among other things, active weight loss, a low-fat diet, and starvation…all of which I’ve certainly experienced on the SLD. (Down 74 pounds. Thanks!) From some Googling, it’s not clear whether these causes of low HDL carry the same cardiovascular risks as the more common metabolic-sydrome-type causes.
Sounds like he was on an Atkins/South Beach sort of diet.
That will raise fat and is the low carb weight loss program most people try.
The trio of low HDL, high triglycerides, and small, dense LDL particles, commonly found together as components of metabolic syndrome, all respond nicely to carbohydrate restriction. Reducing the glycemic load of the diet by substituting fat and protein for carbohydrate will almost always lower triglycerides substantially. Most people will see a significant rise in HDL. In addition, carbohydrate restriction shifts LDL to the less dense, less atherogenic form.
Other ways to raise HDL include exercise, niacin, and moderate consumption of alcohol.
A cardiologist suggests supplemental vitamin D:
https://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/hdl-and-vitamin-d.html
https://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/more-vitamin-d-and-hdl.html
But, he says, be sure it’s “an oil-based capsule, a gel-cap, not a tablet”:
https://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/vitamin-d-must-be-oil-based.html
And D3 not D2:
https://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/vitamin-d2-belongs-in-garbage.html
Commenting on a posting about diabetes and vitamin D, at another blog, this same cardiologist said:
“. . . a [vitamin D] gelcap is essential, though an internist recently flew in to see me from Kansas City to show me the phenomenal effects he’s experienced on his spinal disease taking a tablet form along with a tablespoon of olive oil. (He’s tougher than me!)”
https://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/2007/10/vitamin-d-lowers-insuiln-resistance.html#c7508352879127444206
I just found out yesterday that my HDL is a whopping 90 (!!!). This is a big change from 2 years ago when my TOTAL cholesterol was 87, and my MD warned that it was too low. I was on an organic vegetarian diet at the time.
He encouraged me to eat more eggs and animal products. At that time I began to eat extremely natural foods, most from my local Amish farmer (grassfed meats and eggs, and raw milk products). I also added a heavy dose of cod liver oil daily, a bunch of superfoods like bee pollen, chlorella, spirulina, brewers yeast, & blue green algae. I make & eat bone broths, naturally fermented foods like freshly-made sauerkraut and kombucha and kefir. Homemade ice cream made with raw light cream (no milk or fillers! amazing!!!). I also have an intense weakness for 87% organic dark chocolate. The veggies, fruits, and grains that I eat are mostly organic; I try to soak the grains as much as possible before eating. But most of the time I’m eating sprouted grain bread (Ezekiel) with raw butter (lots). As far as oils, I have very little vegetable oil in the house…only organic olive oil, which I never cook with; only on salads in the summer or sometimes poured on already-cooked veggies. I cook with organic ghee or coconut oil.
My MIL watches what I eat and practically gags…she has totally bought into the whole low fat, low cholesterol thing. Yet her cholesterol is 350! (she eats vegetarian with no butter, eggs, or cholesterol meats…only olive oil & canola oil for cooking, and for meats mostly fish. She doesn’t even eat very much bread, and usually whole wheat when she does. A lot of fruits is what ended up being a factor of her high cholesterol, but I can’t help but wonder what would happen to the rest of it if she adopted my diet.)
I read what’s out there about how to manipulate your cholesterol, and according to them I’m doing a lot of stuff wrong. Yet I have a very healthy cholesterol profile (total cholesterol at 216…you can say that’s technically high but we’ll just laugh at you, since the HDL takes up 90 points, leaving only 126 for the LDL and triglycerides).
Anyone interested in exploring this further with me can email me at tamaraz@optonline.net
I have found that Spirulina and Chlorella really help.
Regards, Robert
Spirulina
I am very interested in raising my HDL, I do not want to contine on drugs.