Dr. Paul Mason - 'Blood tests on a ketogenic diet - what your cholesterol results mean'

I learned more in this video than all my doctors taught me in 40yrs. Thank you!

Never during PA school ( one of the three top ones in the US) or during all of my years of practice, and I went to a lot of Cardiology seminars since I worked in Cardiac surgery division, have I heard such an excellent lecture on Cholesterol and the effect of sugar on the lipid profile! Excellent and beautifully presented!

This gentleman as Dr. Jason Fung, and others doctors deserve our respect for helping all of us!!!! thank you for opening my eyes

Yesterday I had an annual check up. I am 68, in very good health, train at least 4 times a week, and walk 10,000 steps every day minimum. I don't smoke and rarely drink. I'm 1.70 and weigh 70 kg. The report I received suggests I should lose weight by eating less calories and less fat. My blood pressure is 110/70. My pulse rate 50 bpm. The report has clearly just been based on my high total cholesterol and ignored the low triglyceride levels and HDL levels. The lack of knowledge about cholesterol in the medical profession is nothing short of pathetic

Thank you so much for your excellent explanation of this subject. After a recent blood test my results came back with a high LDL result. I was so frustrated as I’ve been off sugar for 3 years and followed a keto diet for a year. I very nearly gave up on a diet I love but now after watching this and doing the ratio I can breathe easily knowing I’m doing the best for my body. You are a very gifted public speaker Thank you from the bottom of my heart !

Dr Paul Mason and many other medical professionals who make online videos for the purposes of educating and helping the general public with their health issues are true heroes and they are men and women of high integrity. Thanks to all of you.

I’m 22 years old I’m at a healthy weight throughout my life I have always been moderately active. I had a little chocolate addiction but last year my mindset changed to “if the food doesn’t benefit my body it’s very unecessary for me to eat it” but I would have pizza or hamburger or cake like once a week. No alcohol, no smoking. Last month I stumbled upon keto and for 2-3 weeks I searched what it was all about and decided to change to a LCHF diet after. So like a week before I was on the second day of keto took a blood test. Everything was normal except my cholesterol and ldl was high. The doctor said “we need to put you o meds!!” but I refused and left. Now watching this I checked my results again and happy to see I’m phenotype A 🙆🏼

Dr Paul, this is brilliant, especially the last few minutes where you explained exactly why people who fast or on very low carb diets tend to get high LDL readings: our insulin is low, this reduces the liver LDL receptors, resulting in higher LDL in the blood. BRILLIANT! I have never understood this before… but it makes perfect sense! Thank you so much. I reckon this video needs to be shown to every GP in the world. Imagine what would happen if it did… just WOW!

WOW.. BLOODY WOW! My Dr wanted to double my statin to 10mg based on my cholesterol results. I refused and advised that I would come back to her once I had done 'my' research. I'm a 52yo who has been morbidly obese for 40 years. I've been eating keto for 4 months and by this video, I surfing close to type A.. winning!!

I have been on a keto diet for 2-3 years and just had my cholesterol levels measured. My doctor has prescribed me statins and thanks to this helpful lecture I can identify myself as a Pattern A patient so I will not be taking statins. I am extremely thankful for this information.

I’m a cabinetmaker and I understood this perfectly which means the doctor is a genius. I was able to work out that I just slipped into the middle section between A & B type but very close to A. I can also see from my previous result over 12 months ago that I’m moving towards a type A since starting the carnivore diet 7 months ago. I recklessly chose not to go to a cardiologist based on my most recent result but rather to research cholesterol and this particular video has been a breakthrough for me. I will book another blood test this week and this time I won’t fast 24 hours and see how I go. Thank you Doctor you are awesome

The most useful explanation of lipoproteins I've seen yet. Thank you for making this available for us non-medical professionals who are trying to understand our own health!

This is an epiphany for me! I just went for a physical with my new PCP and when I told her I was on a Keto diet - she said she is concerned about my cholesterol levels - I'm not. I had 14 vials of blood drawn for my requested FULLl blood work. This information thoroughly explains in layman's terms that I now can go to my follow up appointment informed. KETO has changed my life for the better!

I'm not a medical professional and I am into Keto and doc, I have to say you have a talent for presenting information to a broad audience in a manner that is easy to understand. Thank you for posting and sharing your expertise and perspective.

You just consolidated the last few months of my learning in 30 minutes. Great job

Really nice and clear lecture. Every UK GP should be asked to view this as part of their ongoing training.

So then here's my take-away: 1. Listening to your other lectures, high levels of of good LDL are desirable for many reasons, including the prevention of cancers. However, high levels of LDLlevels can also be caused by a build up of bad LDL. Standard blood tests do not discriminate between the two and uses some "Kentucky windage" in its calculation as well. This also makes total cholesterol is a useless number. E.G. add a lot of HDL to the mix, and now you are over the top. 2. Low Triglycerides would mean that it is likely that a low amount of the LDL would be damaged by glycation and oxidized. Not mentioned here but is in other lectures is the A1C test, which measures glycation of red blood cells, and is inexpensive. A1C is not transient and gives a long-term picture of overall glycation. Therefore, I would think that any cholesterol evaluation should include it. These together, with some research, it should be possible to establish parameters to determine normal ranges for bad/oxidized LDL. This would be established without the presence of Statins. Logically, good A1C ranges should be independent of current diabetic acceptable ranges for purposes of cardiovascular risk assessment. 3. Statins increase the the uptake of good LDL by the liver making the blood test and total cholesterol look good while increasing the concentration of oxidized LDL. More unusable LDL means a reduction in good LDL benefits. So in that respect Statins are like putting tape over the check engine light. Statins benefit is it reduces the lifespan of LDL before being recycled so there are fewer to get oxidized. However as pointed out in your other lectures, Statins only increase your lifespan on average of 3.1 days if you have not had a heart attack, and 5.1 days if you have, and demonstrates adverse side effects in 25% of patients. Moreover, the linkage between Statins and the small increased lifespan may be unrelated to blood lipids. However, when diet is changed to ketogenic, there is a big difference in mortality after a heart attack as shown in your other lectures, and those who haven't had a heart attack would reap benefits as well. Statins allow you continue without making diet changes. With it come metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and joint issues from being overweight. If glycation affects the blood cells, it affects more cells than that. 4. In any case, in the title, "Blood tests on a ketogenic diet", the "on a ketogenic diet" is important. Oxidized LDL at high levels is not likely to occur on a ketogenic diet. However, statistically, people doctors encounter are not on ketogenic diets. However, their flag should be low triglycerides and low A1C, and especially when combined with good HDL levels. 5. The next problem is is big pharma, who will fight you using your money. I watch big pharma visit doctors all the time to "educate" them. 6. "Health" organizations only make money when you have health problems. These organizations make it attractive for a doctor to work for them. They make more money, they provide him his office space, and they hire and train his staff. They specialize in cheating insurance companies. Your left and right toe and are two different visits for insurance purposes. They have lawyers working for them to establish precedents with purchased judges so they have to pay. 7. Guidelines are established for doctors by their malpractice insurance that dictate what they must tell you. Their license to practice medicine depends on it. You do not have a doctor-patient relationship, there are puppet masters present. Those guidelines are based are not based on objective science and further tainted by tainted insurance reporting requirements. Good doctors are hard to find and in demand. Good doctors will tell you the guidelines and listen to your arguments and you can have a candid conversations. They are getting in shorter and shorter supply. This is the first president we've ever had who doesn't need other people's money and thus not on someone's pocket. He is already anathema to big pharma after going after opioids and price gouging in the US. Hopefully the Food Guide Pyramid, obesity, and valid blood lipid testing is next, and expose the actual benefits and drawbacks of statins. He would probably draft people like Dr. Paul Mason to create a real strategy. Not everything came about by bad motives. We've seen studies by respected scientists who buried results that were contrary to their desired outcome, but support for what Dr. Atkins and Dr. Paul Mason is saying. When you see fat in an artery, you want to see fat as the cause. People took their word for it and today it is the dogma. People used to believe you get warts from handling toads too because it looks like toads have warts too, but there was no resistance to reversing myth because there weren't huge industries attached to them.

Awesome. Wish I learned this in medical school or residency 20 yrs ago!

Yep, I went on a Keto diet and lost 20 pounds in 2 months. My primary care doctor saw that my cholesterol levels went up, and immediately advised that I drop Keto and increase 'healthy carbohydrates" in my diet. I have now found a cardiologist who advocates for a low-carb diet instead of prescribing more statins.

Only our Dr. Mason can make a 'scary' subject like High Total Cholesterol a laugh out loud term. Thanks Paul.