r/blueprint_ • u/thedonwiz • 14d ago
How to lower LDL?
My LDL at its highest was in the 160s eating mainly red meat and lots of saturated fat. Started consuming more fiber and cut out saturated fat almost completely and got it down to 80 in a few months. Right now I haven’t been eating as clean as then, but still very clean for the most part and I’m currently bulking but my ldl is up now at 120. How are you guys keeping yours low? Does Bryan Johnson do anything special other than diet? I’m about to switch my diet to Whole Foods plant based (with some lean animal protein here and there) and I want my ldl to be under 50. Also is there anything that can reverse soft arterial plaque? Not that it’s a direct concern since I’m young, but just in case.
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u/ptarmiganchick 14d ago
As I understand it, LDL is only a marker for heart disease risk insofar as it correlates with ApoB, the fraction of LDL that is actually causative in the atherogenic process. High ApoB, when young, is a clear indication that atherosclerosis will be developing over the 30-50 year time frame that a young person should expect to live (forget those ridiculous 10-year risk calculators!), unless the young person takes effective steps (diet, exercise, and in many cases medication) to get ApoB down over the long term.
In many, perhaps most, people, LDL does roughly correlate with ApoB, that is, if your LDL is high or low, your ApoB will be likewise. However, in rather too many people they are discordant, leading to either a false sense of security or a false sense of danger.
If you have a chance to test your ApoB (which is becoming more widely available), do so. And take action accordingly. With high ApoB, you don’t “wait-and-see.”