Re: Improving function of the LDL receptor

[Guest guest]

> I've really enjoyed your series on cholesterol and heart disease.

Thanks! I've enjoyed the clearer picture that's coming into focus the

more I read and I'm glad to share it.

> Aside from reducing or avoiding goitrogens in the diet, are their any other

> known ways of

> improving the function of the LDL receptor?

Good question!

Curcumin, a component of tumeric, has been shown to increase the

expression of the LDL receptor through a genetic mechanism, and it

leads to protection against atherosclerosis.

I think we will see an outpouring of information on the regulation of

PSCK9, since it is newly discovered. In mice, a high-cholesterol diet

suppresses it, so this leads to the question of whether a

high-cholesterol diet could lead to increased clearance of LDL.

This question is confounded by the fact that cholesterol could

increase LDL levels because it is increasing total cholesterol,

assuming that the compensatory decrease in liver synthesis is not

100%. So, what we see is that several eggs a day have little or no

change in 70% of people and in the other 30% increase both LDL and HDL

and shift the LDL from pattern B (bad) to pattern A (good). Is it

possible that in those people it is increasing VLDL output but also

LDL clearance, such that total LDL increases but it spends less time

in the blood? I don't know.

Also, does it increase the free cholesterol content of the LDL? LDL

with a higher content of free cholesterol is less subject to

oxidation. This is confounded by the fact that eggs contain PUFA,

which increases LDL oxidation. There is one study showing that

regular eggs increase in vitro LDL oxidation but low-PUFA eggs do not.

However, in vitro susceptibility to oxidation becomes irrelevant when

we are addressing whether the LDL is cleared more rapidly from the

blood in vivo.

So so far we can say tumeric, and possibly cholesterol.

I would like to look into whether oxidative stress hurts LDL receptor function.

I also wonder about magnesium, and other nutrients.

Chris

[Guest guest]

Fascinating stuff, Chris. How ironic that eating cholesterol may actually

increase LDL

clearance from the blood, and thus protect against heart disease. That would be

yet another

bitter pill for the medical establishment to swallow!

In the meantime, I'll recommend to my father (who if you recall recently had a

CMIT scan

indicating atherosclerosis) that he avoid dietary goitrogens and perhaps take a

curcumin

supplement. Curcumin is also a COX-2 inhibitor, I believe, and he is always

complaining

about his aches and pains so perhaps it will help him with that as well.

Perhaps it's time for you to write the book that hasn't been written yet on

cholesterol. You've

pointed out the strengths and shortcomings of Steinberg's, Colpo's, Ravnskov's

and

Kendrick's very well. Now we need to see the accurate picture in one volume!

Best,

Chris

[Guest guest]

Chris-

Rather than just taking curcumin or turmeric capsules, you might want to

look up how herbalists believe that the plant is best taken. Many many

plant medicines do not work as capsules, but need to be made into an

infusion, decoction, tincture, vinegar tincture, or glycerite.

But with my dad I am lucky if he takes his CLO, let alone makes an

infusion

Desh

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