On Wed, 22 Sep 1999, Ben Balzer wrote:

> Cholesterol doesn't usually fluctuate much unless one eats high cholesterol
> foods (which most people don't. What does fluctuate a lot is the cholesterol
> fractions- HDL and LDL.

Stress can cause significant fluctuations, as in college students
during exam week, etc.

> It gets more complex- LDL is far more dangerous if it's oxidised or
> glycosylated. Oxidation of LDL is under dietary control- eating more fruit
> and veg gives you protection. Paleo diet is rich in antioxidants. If you
> take sugar with a fatty meal, the glucose can bind with LDL and the liver
> won't recognise to clean it up (this is from Tamir's page- referenced on
> www.paleodiet.com ).

Many spices, such as turmeric, also have powerful lipid
antioxidant effects.

> HOMOCYSTEINE is another risk factor AS POWERFUL as cholesterol and I forget
> to mention it in my previous post on the facts. it has a dual role- one it
> actually damages blood vessels directly. Two, high levels indicate higher
> levels of cholesterol-oxidation. Reduction is by vitamins eg folic acid 5mg
> daily, and I'm sure a paleodiet will lower it very well. Homocysteine
> doesn't get as much publicity as it's newer and the therapy is so goddam
> cheap it would make a drug company executive cry!!!!!!!!! (and the therapy
> is non-patentable).Therefore there's not as much financial pressure driving
> the homocysteine message.

I think vitamin B6 is also recognized as important in controlling
homocysteine levels.  I'd point out, however, that it's not easy
to get all that folic acid, even on a paleo diet, and absorption
can be an issue.  Oddly, in the US the most potent folic acid
supplement you can get without a prescription is only .8mg.

For the heck of it, I browsed the USDA database for folic acid
content of various foods, paleo and nonpaleo.  As I understand
it, the homocysteine is a metabolite of methionine, which is
especially abundant in red meats.  Thus, one's need for folic
acid and B6 should probably be thought of as proportional to
one's red meat intake.  Homocysteine levels are also raised by
smoking and other toxins.

Anyway, 100g of raw beef itself contains only .6 mcg of folic
acid, virtually a trace amount.  Since folic acid is named after
the foliage in which it is found in greater amounts, I wasn't
surprised to find that 100g of spinach contains 194 mcg, and 100g
of collards has 166 mcg.  Swiss chard is disappointing at only
13.8 mcg.  Interestingly, some nonpaleo foods scored pretty well
on folic acid content: black beans with 148 mcg; peanuts with 240
mcg and crude wheat germ with 281 mcg.

Todd Moody
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