Day 35: Vegetarian Blood Work Disaster
Lab Results - my lab work results were profoundly disappointing. All of the key measures were much worse in comparison to where I started. Can someone help me understand?! I consumed very little dairy, virtually no deserts, I exercised 7 days a week for a minimum of 30 minutes - cardio and resisitance….What gives?
Results
Triglycerides 161mg/dl
Cholesterol (Total) = 178 mg/dl
HDL Cholesterol = 52 mg/dl
LDL Cholesterol = 94 mg/d
lInterpretation
1. Triglycerides
Triglycerides are a form of fat in the bloodstream. People with high triglycerides often have high total cholesterol, high LDL (bad) cholesterol and a low HDL (good) cholesterol level. Many people with heart disease also have high triglyceride levels. Several clinical studies have shown that people with above-normal triglyceride levels (greater than or equal to 200 mg/dL) have an increased risk of heart disease. People with diabetes or who are obese are also likely to have high triglycerides.
My Triglyceride level went from 160 to 178 mg/dl.
2. Cholesterol ratio: A total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio is a number that is helpful in predicting an individual’s risk of developing atherosclerosis. The number is obtained by dividing the total cholesterol value by the value of the HDL cholesterol. (High ratios indicate higher risks of heart attacks, low ratios indicate lower risk). High total cholesterol and low HDL cholesterol increases the ratio, and is undesirable. Conversely, high HDL cholesterol and low total cholesterol lowers the ratio, and is desirable.
In my case the ratio rose from 2.8 to 3.4 (178/52). It got worse!
An average ratio would be about 4.5. Ideally we want to be better than average if we can. Thus the best ratio would be 2 or 3, or less than 4.
3. HDL: With HDL (good) cholesterol, higher levels are better. In the average man, HDL cholesterol levels range from 40 to 50 mg/dL. In the average woman, they range from 50 to 60 mg/dL. An HDL cholesterol of 60 mg/dL or higher gives some protection against heart disease.
My HDL went down from 57 to 52 mg/dl!
4. LDL The lower your LDL cholesterol, the lower your risk of heart attack and stroke. In fact, it’s a better gauge of risk than total blood cholesterol. In general, LDL levels fall into these categories:
LDL Cholesterol Levels
Less than 100 mg/dL Optimal
100 to 129 mg/dL Near Optimal/ Above Optimal
130 to 159 mg/dL Borderline High
160 to 189 mg/dL High
190 mg/dL and above Very High
My LDL level went up from 86 to 94 mg/dl!
Overall my blood results are very discouraging, in every measure my risk factors actually increased! Thoughts?!
March 8th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I was reading your explanation about your blood work and not that I have any formal education or training on this but I was thinking that if you just started a vegetarian diet your body will be noticing the drop in fat and protein intake and start to save up the incoming fat to compensate for this change. I hypothesize your blood levels will go back down to where they were, or close to them, as long as you make sure to intake enough protein from other non-meat sources. Try it for about 6 months and see what happens…
February 27th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
It is generally agreed that your blood lipids are very good. We know that the persons who have the most changes to make, benefit the most when the changes are made! There is a 2-3% decline in risk for each reduction of 1% of serum cholesterol. Your cholesterol went from 160 to 178, an increase of 18 mg. or 10%. However at 160 or even at 178 you are well below the 200 mg/dL which marks high cholesterol. The LDL cholesterol went from 86 to 94 but is also still below the 100 mg/dL which marks risk for the average person. A recently published study compared different soy protein products and animal products and found essentially what you found, that there is no difference in lipids with changes in vegetable and animal protein. It would be my guess that you were already following a low-fat diet even with the intake of some meat-containing products and it would be the switch in the type and amounts of animal and vegetable fats that would show the changes in the lipid profile. See: Matthan NR, Jalbert SM, Ausman LM, et al. Effect of soy protein from differently processed products on cardiovascular disease risk factors and vascular endothelial function in hypercholesterolemic subjects. (vol 85, pg 960, 2007) AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION 2 525-525
One other point to make is that reductions in dietary fat can result in elevated triglycerides. Your triglycerides were actually 87 when you started and went to 161 mg/dL. It would be interesting to know if your dietary fat intake actually declined with the changes you made. Ideally TG should be below 150, so this is the one reading that should be lowered. Perhaps taking the lipid readings in another 3 months would be instructive.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Dr. Dyjack,
Maybe you should go to the International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition and ask them. Are you planning to go? I would be interested in what they have to say about your situation.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:36 am
Haha - what a shock! Here I was thinking, “I wonder how much his blood results will improve?” only to be caught off guard as well. I’m not sure if anyone has improved at all by going through this challenge, but I can say that my own scale weight went UP 3 lbs by the end of the challenge and then down 6 lbs AFTER the challenge (when I discontinued the vegetarianism). I was significantly hungrier and more often during the challenge, which I didn’t fully realize until after the challenge. I’m not sure what’s going on with my own body, or yours, but I’m not sold by the vegetarian lifestyle.