Lipid Panel Results

I've got some blood panel numbers to report on.  These were from 3 different blood panels run this year.

For context I started the ketogenic diet on August 10th.  I would almost bet my triglycerides were even higher prior to August 10th as I was drinking heavily over the summer months (June, July, and early August) and eating whatever I felt like eating.  If I recall my weight on or around May 12th was 235 or so, on August 10th it was 243 and it was not a healthy 8lb difference.  

If you buy in to the theory that cholesterol is the enemy you might find the charts above a little alarming.  I don't buy in to this theory, rather I believe that triglycerides and triglycerides/hdl are better markers to look at.  For more information on this more modern approach to reading Lipid Panels and diagnosing cardiovascular health read Cholesterol Clarity or The Great Cholesterol Myth. 

My triglycerides have come down greatly since May.  I would like to believe they came down greatly since August (the start of the keto diet) but I did not have a lipid panel done in August.  

One of the confusing things is the LDL (traditional referred to as the bad cholesterol particles) are going up and my HDL (referred to as the good cholesterol particles) are going down.  While these trends are confusing, I'm not to worried about them.   For the LDL, there are two different types of particles and the basic Lipid panel does not distinguish between the two.  To distinguish, a more comprehensive panel will have to be conducted.  For the HDL, that's a little more confusing but ultimately the ratio between triglycerides and HDL particles is trending downward so this is very good.  

On a related note, the blood test I did on October 2nd was somewhat comprehensive and the results showed that I currently have iron overload.  Basically my body is absorbing to much iron.  I'm waiting on DNA test results to see if I could possibly have the mutated genes of hemochromatosis, this is a topic of a whole different discussion and one that I'm not yet ready to discuss.  With that said, the iron overload could be throwing my whole system out of whack which may also be affecting the HDL and LDL numbers?  It's unclear at this time but more on this topic as I get my results.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the direction my blood work is moving.