<p>To be fair, lots of things are “associated” with an increased risk of all-cause mortality. But association does not imply causation as any statistics course will repeatedly harp upon.</p>
<p>If salt is not associated with cardio-vascular disease or isochemic cardiac events, then what is the correlation between salt and increased risk of dying? The “scare” has been the link between salt and high blood pressure, but this study seems to suggest there isn’t much link between salt intake and dying from cardiovascular disease, heart attack, or stroke.</p>
<p>arabrab, precisely. That’s why the authors used the word “associated”. Unfortunately, the public does not see much difference between correlation and causation. BTW, here is a good explanation of thee differences for anyone interested: [STATS.org</a> - What is the difference between causation and correlation?](<a href=“http://www.stats.org/in_depth/faq/causation_correlation.htm]STATS.org”>http://www.stats.org/in_depth/faq/causation_correlation.htm)
No offence to the DEHWST memebers intended: I think we all know this simple stuff.</p>
<p>i-dad, I’m always skeptical of such populational studies, especially the ones that rely on the study subjects’ self-reporting (there was a good article basically trashing some of them - I wish I saved a link to it). I would be cautious about making any conclusions based on one study’s findings.</p>
<p>Speaking of cardiovascular risk and so forth, I had a $10 coupon for the walk-in place that does the fancy choleserol testing. So, for $69, I got the full cholesterol panel. They draw the blood, overnight it to the lab in Birmingham, AL and the results come back in a day or two:</p>
<p>[Atherotech</a> Diagnostics Lab. The VAP Cholesterol Test. Your Heart Partner](<a href=“http://www.atherotech.com/VapCholTest/default.asp]Atherotech”>http://www.atherotech.com/VapCholTest/default.asp)
<a href=“http://www.atherotech.com/images/vapliterature/pdfs/Vap_Sample.pdf[/url]”>http://www.atherotech.com/images/vapliterature/pdfs/Vap_Sample.pdf</a></p>
<p>For $69, it was easier than trying to convince my doctor to do the full panel in a conversation consisting of one-syllable grunts.</p>
<hr>
<p>I have the classic low-carb/high fat blood profile:</p>
<p>**Total Cholesterol: ** 284 (High risk, <200 is desireable)</p>
<p>**HDL “good” Cholesterol: ** 78 (Low risk, >40 is desireable)</p>
<p>**Trglycerides: ** 47 (Very low risk, <150 is desireable)</p>
<p>**LDL “bad” cholesterol (direct measure): ** 190 (high risk, but…)</p>
<p>**LDL pattern type: ** Pattern A (large fluffy LDL, low risk)</p>
<p>BTW, the calculated LDL (using the formula to get LDL on normal cholesterol tests was 218. I tried to point out to my doctor that this formula is known to produce high numbers when triglyercides are very low (and very high). He grunted that I was wrong. So, it was easier to spend the $69 and get the direct number myself.</p>
<p>**LDL/HDL ratio: ** 2.4 (Low risk, <5 is OK, <3.5 is very good)</p>
<p>**Triglyceride/HDL ratio: ** 0.6 (Off the charts, low risk. 2:1 is excellent, above 3:1 is considered to be an indication insulin resistance)</p>
<p>High LDL, high HDL, Low triglycerides, and large fluffy Pattern A LDL are the typical results of low carb diets, high fat diets.</p>
<p>There’s some evidence that it isn’t just too much sodium but too little potassium –</p>
<p>[High</a> salt + low potassium = early death -US study | Reuters](<a href=“http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/11/heart-salt-idUSN1E76A19420110711]High”>http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/11/heart-salt-idUSN1E76A19420110711)</p>
<p>Regarding cholesterol, good old oatmeal every morning seemed to help my DH enormously. He hates oatmeal, but eats it.</p>
<p>The Atherotech VAP test report should include all of the LDL subpopulation counts (i.e. how much LDL is the large buoyant type versus the small dense (dangerous) type). Even if you have pattern A with high LDL, it is still possible that you may have more of the small dense type than someone with low LDL but pattern B.</p>
<p>It seems to me that one can try to optimize for the recommended values and ratios after getting to desired weight. I don’t see any particular harm in keeping sodium to RDA levels and it’s not that hard with LiveStrong around. Potassium will take a bit more effort.</p>
<p>Played outside for one hour and fifty minutes. Air temperature was 95, court temperature was probably 100. Humidity was moderate. I had three drinks (60 oz). They were all in the freezer though one was in the freezer for only a short time. One was just water, the other two had a little bit of orange juice. I finished all three bottles and it was really helpful to have three. My opponent only had a liter bottle of water and had to ration it.</p>
<p>We split sets but I was starting to get a little tired at the end. It’s nice to know that I can last two hours on a hot day though.</p>
<p>The racquet modifications (7 inches of lead at 12:00) were a big improvement - it provided an enormous increase in power. We’ll see how my arm feels about it later tonight. It was a pain driving home too - sweat kept getting in my eyes. At one point I had to pull over to wipe it off as I couldn’t see out of one eye.</p>
<p>I haven’t had Gatorade in quite some time but I sort of wish that I had brought a bottle today. I did get the chills for a few minutes on the court which usually means that I need some electrolytes or calories. The bit of orange juice did help. So I guess I can better understand take a bottle of G2 on a run down in the hot south.</p>
<p>Small dense:
LDL4: 8 mg/DL
LDL3: 64.4 mg/DL</p>
<p>Large bouyant:
LDL2: 69.8 mg/DL
LDL1: 21.9 mg/DL</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I learned from playing tennis in Georgia that chills are a big danger sign and an signal to “stop now”, get in the shade, and get some fluids. It’s a sign that your body can no longer adequate cool itself. My policy was stop immediately. Heat exhaustion/ heat stroke is not to be taken lightly.</p>
<p>That’s the way I’ve felt before but I was up 5-3 and still playing reasonably well and my fitness greatly improved. I closed out the game and set. I’ve felt this way in the past and usually stopped but that was at far less fitness levels. We have a break every two games and I was using it to hydrate and get a little sugar. I suspect that I wouldn’t have had the problem at all if I had brought along a liter of Gatorade and diluted it to 50%.</p>
<p>The other issue was not enough calories beforehand. I only had 750 calories this morning and probably should have had another 200. I had to rush to pick up a pack of balls and missed my pre-match banana.</p>
<p>We don’t buy Gatorade (G2- the lower calorie one) very often, but on these horrible summer days it is a quick way to replenish. H drinks one after cycling or mowing and after some of my runs it really hits the spot. I do NOT like all the food coloring and additives, but we buy an occasional flat of G2 at COSTCO.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh, that’s different! :)</p>
<p>I’m headed to the cool basement for some good ol’ swings and burpees this afternoon. I’ll save this week’s walk/jog for Thursday when the heat and humidity has broken.</p>
<p>I’ve been trying to decide what to do today. I’m thinking New Rules workout since I don’t feel like going to the gym and it’s a horrible day for a walk. I went yesterday and that was bad enough.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Your small dense LDL is 72.4 mg/dl, which is not exactly low. Also, most of your LDL is LDL2 or LDL3, which are the middle types, so you may not want to get too confident about it without looking up further information and/or discussing it with your doctor.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Thanks! With any luck, I’ll make it through my burpee fusion workout without a coronary!</p>
<p>Here’s the way I’ve got it figured:</p>
<p>The Good</p>
<p>a) No major risk factors except age</p>
<p>b) Not overweight (as of this morning)</p>
<p>c) Exercise, at least a little bit, consistently</p>
<p>d) Top quartile (for my age) of heart-rate recovery after max exercise</p>
<p>e) Very low triglycerides</p>
<p>f) Very high HDL good cholesterol</p>
<p>g) Favorable LDL patterns</p>
<p>h) Decent, at least not horrible, blood pressure (128/78 monthly average)</p>
<p>i) Low resting heart rate (50 - 55)</p>
<p>The Bad</p>
<p>a) High LDL cholesterol</p>
<p>The way I see it, if I keel over with a heart attack doing burpees this afternoon, I’ll just chalk it up to [Stuff] Happens.</p>
<hr>
<p>What specifically do you think lowering my LDL cholesterol would do for me? With no risk factors (besides age), there’s not even much evidence that cholesterol correlates with mortality rates.</p>
<p>If you would suggest I lower my dietary fat, what should I increase to offset the calories? I don’t believe it would be healthy to lower my caloric intake, so I would have to replace fat calories with either protein or additional carbohydrate. If I increase carbohydrate, I will almost certainly gain weight and increase my favorable tryglcyerides. If I decrease fat, I will almost certainly reduce my favorable HDL. And, in all likelihood, my LDL pattern size would shift unfavorably since my Triglyceride/HDL/LDL pattern size are an almost universally observed trait of low carb/high fat diets. So, at the end of the day, would gaining weight and reversing several favorable lipid indicators really improve my life expectancy?</p>
<p>My LDL is high, too at 158 with 101 HDL and 278 total. Ratio is 2.75. I’m with iDad. I’m not worrying about it. It’s genetic and it ain’t changing!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hmmm, as someone who watched her spouse keel over, it’s really not so funny.</p>
<p>I’m not really laughing that much at UCB, in effect, telling me that I might keel over because my favorable LDL pattern size is not as favorable as it could be.</p>
<p>I wasn’t trying to be funny. I really wasn’t that worried about my workout, but it sure sounds like I should be. All things considered, I’m still going to workout even though it’s probably risky.</p>
<p>Well, I know everyone was waiting, so I thought I’d let you know that I did, indeed, survive Burpee Fusion, despite my good LDL particle profile size not being as good as the testing company indicated.</p>
<p>Just barely, though. Tough damn 22 minutes. Three rounds, three sets of swings, three sets of burpees in each round, on the minute every minute. One of the real downsides of good heart rate recovery speed is that I don’t get enough rest between rounds. I had my hands on my hips, sweating like a pig, panting like a dog by the end:</p>
<p>[The</a> Graph](<a href=“http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/BurpeeFusion107-12-2011.jpg]The”>http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/BurpeeFusion107-12-2011.jpg)</p>
![http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/BurpeeFusion107-12-2011.jpg]The](http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/BurpeeFusion107-12-2011.jpg%5DThe){kind=link}
<p>I was going to fire up the new Weber for grilled salmon and a salad (plus some chicken breasts for tomorrow) but I think I’m gonna forego all that fat and protein and have a big bowl of Sugar Froasted Flakes and a bagel instead!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I am not telling you to do anything in particular. But my total LDL is less than your LDL3+LDL4 (and the last VAP test indicated pattern A), my HDL is about the same as your HDL, my triglycerides are low, my body fat percentage is low, my blood pressure is low, my resting heart rate is low, and I am not on a low carb diet.</p>