New Study: Higher Cardiac Plaque Calcification in High Intensity Athletes

Red Mosquito said:
I had my initial visit with a cardiologist back in April I think, and he was agreeable to letting me try my own thing for a time to get my LDL down, vs jumping striaght to a statin.

Since then I’ve eliminated the French press coffee and have been taking berberine and red rice yeast. I haven’t done much diet wise, other than try my best to keep it “clean” during the week and enjoying myself on the weekends. However, that’s not too far off what I’ve been doing for a while now, so it didn’t feel like a big shift. I’ve also restarted weight training so I know that’s also a meaningful factor.

I re-did my bloodwork this week and my LDL was 115, down from 192 in February. I’m pretty happy with that, and despite being in the “elevated” range, I don’t have concerns about it. Coupled with the other factors like LDL/HDL ratio (115/81=1.42 which is ideal), my 0 calcium score, and lipoprotein A at 10 (optimal is <75) I’m going to keep on doing what I’m doing.

I have a follow up in October which includes a stress test just to round out the big picture. I’m interest to discuss this with the doc and see what his take is. I know he was personally going down a similar path for himself so I’m interested to compare notes.
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Just got home from my follow up with the cardiologist and the stress test. Long story short he gave me the all clear

He was happy to see that all my numbers came down and asked me what I thought did it (I said getting rid of the French press and taking the supplements). He reiterated that based on my zero calcium score my 10 year event risk is essentially zero. He noted that around 16% of people with a zero calcium score can have calcified plaque, but based on my heart activity during the stress test he said he doesn’t see any evidence of that.

Follow up in one year (probably not necessary). Glad to be off the hook, though I know it’s not so easy for others.
 
Red Mosquito said:
Just got home from my follow up with the cardiologist and the stress test. Long story short he gave me the all clear

He was happy to see that all my numbers came down and asked me what I thought did it (I said getting rid of the French press and taking the supplements). He reiterated that based on my zero calcium score my 10 year event risk is essentially zero. He noted that around 16% of people with a zero calcium score can have calcified plaque, but based on my heart activity during the stress test he said he doesn’t see any evidence of that.

Follow up in one year (probably not necessary). Glad to be off the hook, though I know it’s not so easy for others.
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When you say you gave up the French Press, did you switch to a paper filter type of method?

A few years ago reading up on the impact on cholesterol with the French Press I swapped to a pour-over. I'd be curious what the impact would be to cut it out entirely however.
 
Santapez said:
When you say you gave up the French Press, did you switch to a paper filter type of method?
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Yup, regular old percolator coffee maker in use in my house now, with paper filters. I’ll “treat” myself to a French press on occasion, but that’s like once every 6-8 weeks.

I don’t have the time for pourover though I’d like to try it.
 
Red Mosquito said:
Yup, regular old percolator coffee maker in use in my house now, with paper filters. I’ll “treat” myself to a French press on occasion, but that’s like once every 6-8 weeks.

I don’t have the time for pourover though I’d like to try it.
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id recommend aeropress instead of percolator, less time commitment than a french press so shouldnt throw your schedule off, downside is its one cup at a time.
 
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