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cholesterol testing and vitamin c
Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 11:24 am
by hvc
I read that one should not take a blood test for cholesterol within 24 hours of taking over a certain amount of vitamin c (AA).
Is that correct? If so, how long should I stop taking it before testing my blood? Also, If it is true, how long would I have needed to be taking it before it would skew my results? And, how would it skew them?
Re: cholesterol testing and vitamin c
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 8:22 am
by ofonorow
To my knowledge, vitamin C does not skew cholesterol blood tests. (It may have a small affect on glucose readings, depending on the dosage).
At one time a home cholesterol test kit was available, and a volunteer tracked his cholesterol. (It then cost about $1 per prick/test.) In this person, cholesterol levels varied throughout the day, and seemed quite responsive to the type of food eaten. For example, our volunteer discovered that a sweet wine raised cholesterol significantly higher than a port wine. Fasting before the test is an effort to reduce these variations.
Re: cholesterol testing and vitamin c
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:41 pm
by hvc
I went to purchase an in-home cholesterol test kit and the instruction said do not take within 24 hours of taking 500 mg of vitamin C
Re: cholesterol testing and vitamin c
Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 8:36 am
by ofonorow
I spoke with the creator of the original kit and he was a vitamin C megadoser, not that it matters.
What is the name of this kit? Do you have the Amazon link?
The only thing we can do is after you tell us what company/product, is to contact them or visit their web site to understand why their measurements are affected by vitamin C. Seems highly unlikely,there is 10 times as much glucose in the blood than vitamin C, unless... vitamin C works so quickly to lower cholesterol, that their studies showed the drop and they figured it was a measurement error.
And wrong and erroneous information on product labels is abundant. If you error on the side of caution, the lawyers will allow the message, even if it is wrong. (Such errors exist with respect to vitamin K, DHEA, etc.)
Re: cholesterol testing and vitamin c
Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2016 9:50 am
by Castle
I started taking vitamin C several months ago to see how it would affect my cholesterol levels. Judging by what im seeing here, cholesterol levels can vary greatly during the day depending on different variables.
My question is, should I not take any C at all during the fast before the test or should I take it to make sure my C levels are like they normally are during the day? If I quit taking the C during the fasting period before the test, could my cholesterol shoot back up and not give an accurate representation of my normal daily cholesterol while taking C?
Re: cholesterol testing and vitamin c
Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2016 9:18 am
by ofonorow
I, for one, am not sure how long it takes vitamin C to affect a cholesterol reading. Most cholesterol readings are in the morning after fasting, so it is probably a good idea to refrain from vitamin C too, until after the test.
What one member discovered, after purchasing a home cholesterol monitoring test kit, was that cholesterol levels do vary based on what has been eaten. I do remember that levels did not rise as fast after a "port" wine as they did after a sweeter wine. By fasting, these variables are minimized to some extent. (Knowing the pharmakenetics of cholesterol in the blood might help - half life, etc.)
The bottom line if you have been following our discussions is our belief that cholesterol is a "very important substance." More is better than less (although your body may be trying to create more to help deal with a "fire", e.g. heart disease.) As Pauling taught us, if the body doesn't get enough cholesterol in the diet, the liver will make more. Dr. Levy showed us how important cholesterol is for the body's detoxification mechanisms (to help grab and expel toxins). We know cholesterol is the 'steroid" building block of Vitamin D (out of UV/B - sunlight hitting the skin), of all the sex and other steroid hormones manufactured by the adrenal glands, etc. As we like to point out, all the bad symptoms are usually from too little cholesterol (usually artificially induced by statin cholesterol-lowering drugs), e.g. transient global amnesia, sleep disturbances, muscular pain (caused by CoQ10 depleting from the drugs), elevated risk of cancer, etc.
What is the symptom of high cholesterol? Feeling good.
And for these reasons, I am trying to elevate my blood cholesterol levels.
Re: cholesterol testing and vitamin c
Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 11:03 am
by Castle
ofonorow,
What are you trying to raise it to? Do you have a target?
Would really high numbers like an ldl of 200 not bother you as long as you had no "fires" in your body or are there still some limits you wouldn't want to cross? I know you said more is better but Im curious if there are still limits to an upper level of what you would find desirable.
Re: cholesterol testing and vitamin c
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:54 am
by ofonorow
Good questions.
My target is 180 mg/dl - what it was for years, before I started adding lysine (and then proline). 180 mg/dl is what Pauling (referencing Ginter's extensive work) says is the optimal.
Some people have an inherited hypercholesterolemia and their cholesterol is 300 to 400 mg/dl, or higher, and for them a statin drug might be warranted.
However, it is still the Lp(a) that matters - not the rest of the LDL cholesterol. Children born with a defect that leads to extremely high Lp(a) suffer severe symptoms of heart disease. We used to get calls from their physicians, and these calls are rare these days, so maybe they are controlling the abnormally high Lp(a) with high dosses of vitamin C and lysine.