I’ve been listening to some of Rhonda Patrick Phd’s stuff recently and was intrigued when I heard her explain a potential mechanism for increased LDL on Robb Wolf’s podcast that I hadn’t heard before.
Her explanation went something like this:
Systemic inflammation leads to inflammation in the gut which then causes bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an endotoxin released by gut bacteria, to leak through the intestinal wall and enter our blood.
Once LPS enters our circulation it binds to LDL particles and prevents them from binding to hepatic LDL receptors.
LDL receptors are the liver’s way of absorbing circulating LDL particles and removing them from the blood stream, so if LDL particles can’t bind to the LDL receptors, this will lead to more LDL particles floating around.
Some of the causes of inflammation they talk about are include chronic stress and diets that are high in processed carbs, gluten, and trans fats.
She also mentions this theory a few times on her own podcast at FoundMyFitness.com.
This explanation may explain the relationship between periodontal disease and high cholesterol which I touched upon in my prior post, Cholesterol, Inflammation, and Gum Disease.
Since I learned that my mouth is colonized by particularly pathogenic bacteria as shown on my MyPerioPath Results, I could’ve been leaking LPS into my blood stream from my mouth, which could then cause my LDL and LP-PLA2 to be elevated.
Or maybe I had something else going on in my gut that was leaking LPS into my blood that the Bionic Fiber and Probiotics helped to heal.
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*Image found here
Is there a particular episode to listen to for Dr Patrick’s Podcast? Also knowing what you know now, what would up you have done differently before going low carb.
I can’t find the links to her podcasts but she talks about it briefly in her interviews with Dr. Krauss, then the episodes with the Sonnenburgs.
Knowing what I know now… I would have been better about taking regular probiotics and prebiotics while going low carb… and increasing my vegetable intake.
When first embracing keto, it’s easy to get caught up in the moar butter, moar bacon, moar cheese, moar fat fat fat part of it all… but I’ve discovered that at least with me, it’s a little more nuanced.
You need to consider so many other factors on top of just the macros like thyroid, cholesterol, gut biome, keto rash, etc…
At the time I started the low carb thing, there wasn’t much data on any of this out there… at least now, the info is getting out there.
Good summary!
Good work Caveman, gelatin or collagen worth throwing into the mix?
I think it’s probably helpful… but this is just speculation, since I have no data to back it up.
The best form is probably still going to be in bone broth.
But when I’m lazy, and don’t make any bone broth I throw some of this in my morning coffee or tea.