Cardiovascular Risk and the Apo B test

I received an article just recently written by Dr. Ron Grisanti and he is with Functional Medicine University. That's one of the places where I trained. So I get their articles from time to time. They are usually pretty good. They're very concise. So I want to share this one with you. This one's about a lab test called APO B or Apolipoprotein B. Now we're all used to doctors using a standard cholesterol panel or lipid panel to kind of judge the risk of cardiovascular disease. Well, if you've been seeing me for any length of time, you know that I kind of disagree with the utility of a basic lipid panel for that. I think you can learn some things from the triglycerides. There are a couple of ratios you can run, but it's limited in what it can give you. So one of the tests that's becoming more popular now, and we do it on our annual physical panel is called Apolipoprotein B, and it's proven to be more predictive of who's likely to have cardiovascular disease or plaque in the arteries than looking at a standard lipid panel.

(01:08):

So what is APO B? Why are we looking at it? So you know that LDL or low density, those have kind of been called the bad cholesterol over the years. That's oversimplified. I think you probably already know that within that LDL you can have apo lipoprotein B. What that does, it's kind of a structural protein that helps give LDL its utility. Alright, I'm oversimplifying some of this, but as a side effect that Apolipoprotein B makes it easier for the LDL particles to make it into the arterial lining. Now, if you've listened to what I've said recently about people that have a recent increased risk for inflammation in the blood vessels, you can go back and look for those videos. One of the problems is when there's damage to the blood vessel, your body uses cholesterol like a band aid to kind of patch that damage.

(02:12):

Well, if that band aid has a higher level of APO B in it, it is easier for that cholesterol to get into the lining of the arteries and start to build up that plaque. So looking at the amount of APO B that's in your LDL is a fairly predictive marker for who's likely to have LDL get into the lining of the artery and cause those plaques. So if your APO B level is elevated, what do you do to bring it down? Right? One of the things I'll say is generally get healthy, right? You eat whole foods, you lose the weight you need to lose you exercise, get metabolically healthy, get off the sugar, get off the seed oils, right? That's going to be covered by a fair amount of the list that he gives in here. Weight

(02:58):

Loss, I would say lose body fat. It's not just weight loss. If you lose a bunch of muscle mass, you haven't done yourself any favors, but losing body fat is important. Getting off of industrial fats like canola oil, Crisco shortening, stuff like that, and get onto natural fats. Some people will do better on a lower saturated fat diet. Other people do just fine. On a higher saturated fat diet, you're going to have to make your choice and then repeat the APO B test in 90 days and see what difference you've made there. But natural whole fats are always going to be better for that. Soluble fibers like the fiber from apples, okra, eggplant, berries, cilium, things like that can be helpful. Phytosterols, getting rid of high fructose corn syrup, that will raise your A OB pretty quickly. Trans fats, like I talked about with shortening and things like canola oil will raise that.

(04:05):

And then fish oil is very good for this as well. So product wise, if you're looking at things in an office like mine, zyme, to help break down some of the plaques, that's an enzyme based product. There's really good research on nattokinase and serrapeptidase. There's a supplement called Arterosil, which is very healing for the lining of the arteries. Cod liver oil to me, is kind of one of the best fish oils you can do. Gastro fiber, this is a product standard process it's had for a long time, but it kind of puts psyllium and apple pectin together. And then lipotrienols, RYR for red yeast rice. If you are someone who struggles with cholesterol levels that are just ridiculous, 350, 450 550 for a total cholesterol, something should be done to bring some of that down, right? And so Lipotrienols RYR is a very gentle, effective way to kind of normalize your body's ability to produce appropriate cholesterol.

(05:05):

So those are some things you can do. But ask your doctor to run an APO lipoprotein B or an APO B test next time you're having your annual blood work done and see if you get a little more insight into what's going on as far as your cardiovascular risk. Again, we do it all the time. It's part of our regular blood panel that we do here at the office, but certainly you can get it done through any major lab in any doctor's office as long as they're familiar with it. Alright, have a great one. See you next time.