There’s also no question about the role of inflammation in the development and progression of CAD.
It’s very conceivable that chronic inflammation is necessary for the detrimental effects of lipids , and in your case a low level of inflammation may be very protective.
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So now people who question the usage and side effects of statins are “ an internet driven cult”.
Seems a little narrow minded and harsh.
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Bicep
#793
I would be ignoring my LDL, which is between 140 and 175, if not for Chris Masterjohn. Most of the stuff I read and watch says 140 is optimal and for an old person, the higher the better. Instead I’m taking 3 or 4 grams of Niacin a day plus garlic pills and it is getting under control.
So now I’m worried that I am unintentionally increasing my microbial burden.
I’ve been reading Chris Masterjohn for years, since when he used to write for WAPF. When he had no academic, I should say he had a BS in history. I know this guy pretty well and he is as objective as a person can be. Problem is that he believes papers and many of the papers on statins were done by pharmaceutical companies and they were trying to sell statins.
If you have an increased microbial burden due to loose junctions in your gut or bacteria in your mouth, then you need higher lipids to control this. Thus higher lipids. Control the lipids and it makes the problem worse. Lustgarten says to use xylitol gum or mouth rinse plus flax oil through the teeth to kill bacteria.
As for the loose junctions, you need soluble fiber or Inulin. It sounds like Acarbose works too. All these things produce gas like crazy. Because you are feeding your gut buddies and this is what happy gut buddies do.
Heart disease may go up with lipids because lipids increase with the microbial burden that causes heart disease. Statins do all kinds of stuff that helps, apparently. They also have nasty effects. So that is a separate issue. Killing off your microbial burden is a win win.
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Agetron
#794
Exactly - my extensive GlycanAge blood test showed no or minimal inflammation - one of the reasons my biological age was 37 - this reduction in inflammation I attribute to the 2 years of rapamycin.
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Just, say’n 
Not harsh at all. Too many people just choose to ignore the preponderance of the evidence because it doesn’t fit in with their present beliefs.
I see it time and again on this forum where people just simply refuse to believe the evidence and attribute the evidence they don’t like to “Big Pharma” etc.
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No, I’m suggesting that the authors are overly harsh and opinionated when they suggest that those who disagree with them regarding statins are an internet cult.
At one point in the article they argue for aggressive intervention for LDL levels shortly after birth. Maybe they’re part of a statin cult.
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So now I’m worried that I am unintentionally increasing my microbial burden.
Microbes are not inherently bad. We need a healthy microbial environment for our own health. The science doesn’t have the knowledge of how to make it happen (despite people talking about pre- & pro-biotics), but killing bacteria in & of itself isn’t a good idea.
End of rant … 
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“Maybe they’re part of a statin cult”
I have no horse in this race. I am not on statins, just pointing out the facts.
Too many people just choose to ignore the preponderance of the evidence because it doesn’t fit in with their present beliefs.
The current point I am attacking is: Rapamycin raised my LDL-C, but rapamycin extends life so higher LDL-C must be okay.
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Cigarettes have a preponderance of evidence which is why no one is saying that it’s okay to smoke while on rapamycin. LDL, not so much, and statins definitely not so clear cut.
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Bicep
#800
I don’t really mind rants if it helps understand what’s going on. I appreciate your input.
If you read Lustgarten’s book, which is a free ebook if you have a kindle. I read through an app on my phone:
He spends the entire first part of the book going over the problem with microbial burden, and does it much as an engineer would. How many in the blood, how many WBCs, how we know…what they do. If you inject LPS into a person they will get type 2 diabetes. They did it. You should read the book, it takes about 4 hours. Of course I had to read it 4 times, so maybe 16 for me.
So maybe microbes in the gut are good. In the blood we have several lines of defense and still a burden. If you manage to clean them out it will lengthen your life and make you feel better. I don’t know how it does this but Rapa manages to reduce the burden both orally and in the blood. I kinda think this could be a big part of the magic of Rapa.
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Are you saying that my high (145) glucose level is ok whilst taking Rapamycin and that I shouldn’t medicate it? Prior to Rapamycin my glucose level was around 100
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Bicep
#802
You didn’t ask me, and I’m a farmer not a doctor, but I would back off the Rapa and see what happens with the glucose. I’ve never had glucose respond to Rapa, but I went on a keto diet same time I went on Rapa. I know a lot of people who use Rapa also use metformin.
I’d be worried that the Rapa may be inhibiting the mTOR2 which can mess up sugar.
It is very clear that glucose control is important and will not be fixed by Rapamycin. It is probably one of the most important things. You should watch Ivor Cummins on insulin resistance. Big Deal. And you could be causing it by too high a dose or too frequent a dose of Rapa.
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zazim
#803
On one of the panels, Dr. Green was asked whether any of his patients had a decreased production of insulin as a result of rapamycin. I believe his answer was, yes, all of them. I think that is why he is laser focused on insulin sensitivity.
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Maybe I am the outlier. I took high doses of rapamycin for many months and noted no significant change in my blood glucose levels.
If anything rapamycin slightly decreased my fasting blood glucose levels 
I should add my A1c. As you can see it actually went down after I started taking rapamycin.
My doctor is only interested in the A1c and now that is what he orders on my lab tests. He no longer orders a fasting glucose test.
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After 5 years of rapamycin my A1C didn’t significantly change.
Speaking of glucose, the study discussed here showed that 2 cups of grapes per day altered gene expression, reduced inflammation, and added the equivalent of 5 years of life in human years. It also has 50 grams of sugar. I’ll add it to my diet.
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Maybe, but: " The research was partly funded by The California Table Grape Commission, who provided the grapes used in the experiments."
I don’t think it would hurt to eat a lot of grapes, after all, grapes contain a lot of good nutrients such as resveratrol
I think that there’s something fairly potent in grapes and also grape seed extract. Not really buying into resveratrol. Brad Stanfield convinced me that it’s mainly hype.
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Grapes have a fairly high impact on blood glucose … the glycemic index is 53 for grapes. I’d eat them when I’m taking empagliflozin / SGLT2 inhibitor.
I will just continue taking grape seed extract. 
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