I'm approaching two months on a diet high in carbohydrate (>80%) with plenty of added sugar. I've done bloodwork twice during this experiment. My blood glucose has been in the low 80s (mg/dl), HbA1c 5%, and triglycerides declining. Also, my TSH has gone from an average of well over 3 down to 1.1, by far the lowest I've ever recorded in over 10 years of testing, rendering my cold hands and feet a thing of the past after 20 years of dealing with them. Even walking outside in sub-zero (F) weather, I swear it feels about 30 degrees warmer to me. So, I feel pretty good about sugar. Caffeine is interesting to me. I think that for most people, in moderate amounts, it can be a good thing, and this in part because of its slightly toxic properties. Hormesis. Unfortunately, I have definitely noticed that I do better without it, including getting more complete sleep starting two or three nights nights after giving it up. I used to consume it very liberally, in part motivated by the fact that I have a fast caffeine metabolism genotype (high CYP1A2 activity). But it turns out that the primary metabolite of caffeine, paraxanthine, which has similar effects to caffeine, itself is metabolized mostly (about two thirds) by a different enzyme, 2A6, which I do not produce at all because of a rare genetic variant. So, my 1A2 has to do the double duty of breaking down caffeine and its byproduct, which may extend the quarter life of systemic effects of caffeine consumption to days. My 2A6 genotype with effectively zero activity of the enzyme is rare, but there is a minority with reduced activity who probably also shouldn't be taking caffeine very often. I suspect low 2A6 activity is disproportionately high in people who become very enthusiastic about caffeine avoidance.
Variants of CYP2A6 are usually explored for their relationship to smoking. People with low activity of the enzyme are less likely to smoke cigarettes and find it easier to quit because they convert less nicotine to cotinine, its psychoactive byproduct. In my case, I convert none. When I found that out it really made sense: I had experimented with Swedish tobacco, nicotine gum, and vaping in the past, and never felt anything from it.
rivers posted...
I'm approaching two months on a diet high in carbohydrate (>80%) with plenty of added sugar. I've done bloodwork twice during this experiment. My blood glucose has been in the low 80s (mg/dl), HbA1c 5%, and triglycerides declining. Also, my TSH has gone from an average of well over 3 down to 1.1, by far the lowest I've ever recorded in over 10 years of testing, rendering my cold hands and feet a thing of the past after 20 years of dealing with them. Even walking outside in sub-zero (F) weather, I swear it feels about 30 degrees warmer to me. So, I feel pretty good about sugar. Caffeine is interesting to me. I think that for most people, in moderate amounts, it can be a good thing, and this in part because of its slightly toxic properties. Hormesis. Unfortunately, I have definitely noticed that I do better without it, including getting more complete sleep starting two or three nights nights after giving it up. I used to consume it very liberally, in part motivated by the fact that I have a fast caffeine metabolism genotype (high CYP1A2 activity). But it turns out that the primary metabolite of caffeine, paraxanthine, which has similar effects to caffeine, itself is metabolized mostly (about two thirds) by a different enzyme, 2A6, which I do not produce at all because of a rare genetic variant. So, my 1A2 has to do the double duty of breaking down caffeine and its byproduct, which may extend the quarter life of systemic effects of caffeine consumption to days. My 2A6 genotype with effectively zero activity of the enzyme is rare, but there is a minority with reduced activity who probably also shouldn't be taking caffeine very often. I suspect low 2A6 activity is disproportionately high in people who become very enthusiastic about caffeine avoidance.
Variants of CYP2A6 are usually explored for their relationship to smoking. People with low activity of the enzyme are less likely to smoke cigarettes and find it easier to quit because they convert less nicotine to cotinine, its psychoactive byproduct. In my case, I convert none. When I found that out it really made sense: I had experimented with Swedish tobacco, nicotine gum, and vaping in the past, and never felt anything from it.
rivers posted...
I'm approaching two months on a diet high in carbohydrate (>80%) with plenty of added sugar. I've done bloodwork twice during this experiment. My blood glucose has been in the low 80s (mg/dl), HbA1c 5%, and triglycerides declining. Also, my TSH has gone from an average of well over 3 down to 1.1, by far the lowest I've ever recorded in over 10 years of testing, rendering my cold hands and feet a thing of the past after 20 years of dealing with them. Even walking outside in sub-zero (F) weather, I swear it feels about 30 degrees warmer to me. So, I feel pretty good about sugar. Caffeine is interesting to me. I think that for most people, in moderate amounts, it can be a good thing, and this in part because of its slightly toxic properties. Hormesis. Unfortunately, I have definitely noticed that I do better without it, including getting more complete sleep starting two or three nights nights after giving it up. I used to consume it very liberally, in part motivated by the fact that I have a fast caffeine metabolism genotype (high CYP1A2 activity). But it turns out that the primary metabolite of caffeine, paraxanthine, which has similar effects to caffeine, itself is metabolized mostly (about two thirds) by a different enzyme, 2A6, which I do not produce at all because of a rare genetic variant. So, my 1A2 has to do the double duty of breaking down caffeine and its byproduct, which may extend the quarter life of systemic effects of caffeine consumption to days. My 2A6 genotype with effectively zero activity of the enzyme is rare, but there is a minority with reduced activity who probably also shouldn't be taking caffeine very often. I suspect low 2A6 activity is disproportionately high in people who become very enthusiastic about caffeine avoidance.
Variants of CYP2A6 are usually explored for their relationship to smoking. People with low activity of the enzyme are less likely to smoke cigarettes and find it easier to quit because they convert less nicotine to cotinine, its psychoactive byproduct. In my case, I convert none. When I found that out it really made sense: I had experimented with Swedish tobacco, nicotine gum, and vaping in the past, and never felt anything from it.
Awesome man. What made you make the change? How are HDL and LDL levels? I get routine blood work done too