Well, I for one will continue my low dose statin regimen to keep my lipids in check while taking rapamycin. Interestingly statins reduce all-cause mortality in the elderly independent of lipid levels.
Statin Use Over 65 Years of Age and All-Cause Mortality: A 10-Year Follow-Up of 19 518 People
All-cause mortality rates were 34% lower among those who had adhered to statin treatment, compared with those who had not
https://agsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jgs.16060
Cholesterol, Statins, and Longevity From Age 70 to 90 Years
Among older people, cholesterol levels were unrelated to mortality between the ages of 70 and 90. The protective effect of statins observed among the very old appears to be independent of TC.
Survival was significantly increased among subjects treated with statins versus no statins at ages 78 to 85 (74.7% vs 64.3%, log rank P = .07) and 85 to 90 (76.2% vs 67.4%, P = .01).
Continuation of Statin Treatment and All-Cause Mortality
A Population-Based Cohort Study
''In both cohorts, continuity of treatment with statins (PDC, ≥90%) conferred at least a 45% reduction in risk of death compared with patients with a PDC of less than 10%.
PDC=Proportion of days covered (PDC) with statins"
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Low LDL may not always be better. Below a certain level, there’s an association with higher rates of hemorrhagic stroke.
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To me, yet another internet debate about LDL as a driver of CVD is like debating humans as a cause of global warming. The evidence is so overwhelming for both that it’s just beating a dead horse. There are no quick fixes for CVD (other than coronary artery bypass) because the plaques develop slowly over literally decades, starting in the teenage years. Simply lowering lipids with a statin isn’t going to reverse this in 2 or 3 years. Any lipid-lowering therapy (dietary, statin or otherwise) requires one to be in it for the long haul for robust results.
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True, in fact, there are those who think lipids are an overrated factor in CVD. However, these are large-scale studies and indicate statin use in the elderly reduces all-cause mortality independent of lipid levels. The risk-reward ratio of taking low-dose statins to me is a no-brainer. By the way, those that are taking rapamycin probably don’t have lipid levels that are “too low”.
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See article by cardiologist Joel Kahn MD to prevent and or reverse CAD with simple combination of gotu kola with pine bark extract . Scroll to page 37:
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I’ve been following that research with pycnogenol and gotu kola except for the 2020 study, so it’s nice to see the evidence keeps building. It’s the main reason grape seed extract is a staple of my supplement regimen and goes to show how important lowering inflammation is for vascular protection in addition to lipid control. I’ll probably re-add gotu kola now, which I took for a while but then stopped as part of my efforts to trim down my supplement stack.
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Yes. And pine bark also significantly increases endothelial nitric oxide levels and gotu kola stabilizes plaque making it less likely to rupture.
Gotu kola, also known as Centella Asiatica, is a potent telomere maintenance supplement as well.
Im going to add back grape seed extract, thanks for reminding me.
I haven’t listened to this yet but it looks interesting. This company is an SF-bay area based longevity biotech company:
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Are you planning to take both pine bark and grape seed, or just one or the other? I take grape seed extract instead of pycnogenol because it’s so much more bang for the buck, even the organic GSE I use. I haven’t seen anything convincing that pycnogenol is superior to GSE mg-for-mg, have you?
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The studies are done with pine bark so that’s my preference. I’ll take grape seed separately.
The pine bark/ gotu kola had a pronounced effect on my stamina, both physical and sexual. Incredible actually.
I also checked my telomere length at Harvard’s lab and at 62 it was that of a 24 year old. Could be the gotu kola.
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Pretty amazing! Would you mind sharing which brand of gotu kola you use? And do you take Pycnogenol or generic pine bark extract? Thanks!
Yes. So I’ve settled on bulk supplements pine bark extract powder. I use 1/4 of a tsp per day which is a hefty 500 mg’s or so. You could probably get away with 1/8 tsp and it would last you forever. Put it in coffee or something- bitter.
Nature’s Answer is my gotu kola brand because I’m certain that it’s actually Centella Asiatica. I take 425 mg’s per day. I’m afraid to exceed that because I don’t want to overdo the telomerase effect.
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Its interesting… I subscribe to ConsumerLab.com (which I highly recommend - its only $50/year or so) and their reviews of bulk supplements products seem to suggest a lot of variety in their products. It doesn’t seem like they have the quality control processes in place that I would want and expect from a vendor.
Here are some examples:
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Thanks, that’s really good information.
Might have to search around for another source.
David, I checked out Amla extract. Remarkably effective. The studies are impressive and I’ve been taking it for a while as triphala, but it’s only 1 of 3 ingredients.
I’m going to add it as something separate to go along with pine bark and Centella.
I want to keep my coronary calcium score at zero.
Here’s an interesting story.
My associate is a Harvard trained internist and he tried high dose K2 as MK- 4 to lower his CAC score.
It not only worked dramatically, calcium started falling into his Mouth from dental plaques. I kid you not.
MK-7 had no effect.
We were able to replicate the effect on several patients.
I wish I could say the same for my experience w/MK-4. I actually had the opposite effect. I took it for several years starting in 2008 (15 mg BID) expecting my coronary calcium to reverse, only to be shocked that it increased over that period of time (I even went back to the same hospital and had the scan done on presumably the same machine). I’ve had high hopes for MK-7, but it looks like that may be a bust for calcification too, at least when it comes to valvular calcification. I was only using rosuvastatin at the time (which we know can increase calcification over time to some extent), no longer taking statins, only PCSK9+ezetimibe+supplements.
The thing that got my attention w/amla is a study that showed it lowered Lp(a) pretty significantly (one of the only supplements to lower it significantly), and along with Repatha has almost dropped mine down to lower-risk category. I take the “True Capros” patented extract BID, which has been used in a few of the published studies.
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Also btw, I do wonder/worry to some extent about the potential downside of reversing coronary calcium, especially reversing it quickly. Might we be converting a stable calcified plaque into a soft/unstable one?
Got it thanks . I’m impressed with true capros and the studies. Good mix with the pine bark and Centella.
