I'm completely freaked out about my blood work results that I just got back. A1C went from 5.7 to 5.9. APOB is 174, total cholesterol 329, LDL cholesterol is 234, HDL is 77 and trigs are 69. I'm freaked out about the A1C and apob. My weight is great and I feel good.

Edited Tuesday at 10:11 PM1 day by Joanna

I wouldn’t worry about it. Those numbers can fluctuate depending on how long you fasted, what you’ve been eating, stress levels and even the time of day.

They really aren’t that bad if you consider that carnivore generally raises your cholesterol due to the fact that all of your energy is coming from fat so it only stands to reason them at you will have more fat running around in your blood stream.

The only numbers I pay attention to are the Triglycerides and HDL. The ratio of the two together is the true indicator of cardiovascular disease and yours are great.

That is good to hear. But what about my A1c being 5.9?

It’s borderline but like I said it’s one of those things that can be affected by diet, how long you fasted or even the time of day.

As far as diet goes it can be due to eating too much protein and not enough fat.

Ok, thank you.

I don't know what my A1C is but my other numbers from my last test (9 months ago) were similar to yours and I'm not worried at all about them. My wife who also is carnivore has numbers about the same. After I did the bloodwork last year, of course the doctors nurse called and mentioned the elevated results and I told her it was due to a carnivore diet and she then said well your ratio numbers are so good that I was not in ANY risk for heart problems. Look up "lean mass hyper responder" on YouTube and that should answer most of your concerns. LDL can act as a transport mechanism when eating a high fat diet, so it will be elevated for some carny's.

I just say "Eat your meat and live a long life!"

I'm not so concerned now about the cholesterol numbers. It's the ApoB that has me concerned. That's a better indicator of heart disease risk. I agree I'm a lean mass hyper responder. Some say lean mass hyper responders shouldn't be on carnivore.

Edited 16 hours ago16 hr by Joanna

17 hours ago, Joanna said:

A1C went from 5.7 to 5.9

There's a few explanations for this. The most common, and most sound in my opinion, is that when you've been on a proper human diet for some time, your red blood cells last/live longer. The a1c, in simple terms, measures the sugar that's bonded to your red blood cells, which on a standard American junk diet live 2-3 months. Therefore, the a1c is considered a "3-month snapshot", whereas a blood glucose test is a snapshot of that very moment the blood was drawn. The 2 numbers should be considered together, not in isolation.

If your red blood cells are living longer now that you are getting proper nutrition, this provides more time for sugar to bond to them, which could raise your a1c number slightly. But this wouldn't necessarily equate to diabetes because, well, you are not eating carbs or sugar.

It's very similar to my situation with creatinine. It goes up because I eat meat, but this does not equate to further kidney damage.

8 minutes ago, Joanna said:

It's the ApoB that has me concerned. That's a better indicator of heart disease risk.

Again, not according to keto/carnivore doctors, which is where I place my trust. Your LDL is around the same as mine, and I am not worried. I would especially not be worried if I had your trig and HDL numbers, as a better predictor of risk is the trig to HDL ratio, which ideally would be lower than 2.

17 hours ago, Joanna said:

HDL is 77 and trigs are 69

69/77 = .9

This is beautiful.

Mine is double and triple digits because of my high trigs. I'm much more likely to die of cardiac issues than you.

Some say lean mass hyper responders shouldn't be on carnivore.

Based on what??? Show me the data. Bet there is none.

50 minutes ago, Bob said:

There's a few explanations for this. The most common, and most sound in my opinion, is that when you've been on a proper human diet for some time, your red blood cells last/live longer. The a1c, in simple terms, measures the sugar that's bonded to your red blood cells, which on a standard American junk diet live 2-3 months. Therefore, the a1c is considered a "3-month snapshot", whereas a blood glucose test is a snapshot of that very moment the blood was drawn. The 2 numbers should be considered together, not in isolation.

If your red blood cells are living longer now that you are getting proper nutrition, this provides more time for sugar to bond to them, which could raise your a1c number slightly. But this wouldn't necessarily equate to diabetes because, well, you are not eating carbs or sugar.

It's very similar to my situation with creatinine. It goes up because I eat meat, but this does not equate to further kidney damage.

Again, not according to keto/carnivore doctors, which is where I place my trust. Your LDL is around the same as mine, and I am not worried. I would especially not be worried if I had your trig and HDL numbers, as a better predictor of risk is the trig to HDL ratio, which ideally would be lower than 2.

69/77 = .9

This is beautiful.

Mine is double and triple digits because of my high trigs. I'm much more likely to die of cardiac issues than you.

Thank you for all of this, Bob. I'm feeling better after reading what you wrote. Do you think I should get a CAC scan?

43 minutes ago, Terry said:

Some say lean mass hyper responders shouldn't be on carnivore.

Based on what??? Show me the data. Bet there is none.

Good point!

2 hours ago, Joanna said:

Some say lean mass hyper responders shouldn't be on carnivore

Carnivore turned me into a Lean Mass Hyper Responder. 🤣🤣🤣 So what do you do with that? Yeah, it doesn’t make sense.

2 hours ago, Bob said:

If your red blood cells are living longer now that you are getting proper nutrition, this provides more time for sugar to bond to them, which could raise your a1c number slightly. But this wouldn't necessarily equate to diabetes because, well, you are not eating carbs or sugar.

Yeah I forgot to mention that last night. I encountered that myself.

1 hour ago, Joanna said:

Do you think I should get a CAC scan?

My doctor has asked me to get one because I refuse to go on a statin but I’ve refused for a couple of reasons. First, my insurance doesn’t cover it and I’ll have to pay out of pocket. Two, it doesn’t matter what the score is. If it’s zero then great, it was a waste of money. If it’s high, oh well, it still a waste of money because I’m not going to change anything. Eating a high fat moderate protein diet does not create cholesterol, calcium or plaque. If you have a plaque or calcium build up it isn’t from carnivore because it takes decades for it to build. No, it was from a lifetime of eating the SAD diet. Eating carnivore is the best way to eat if you have that buildup because it can reduce that buildup. So in my case I just don’t care because if it’s there I’m going to treat it with a proper human diet.

4 hours ago, Geezy said:

Carnivore turned me into a Lean Mass Hyper Responder.

That made me laugh today. Thanks