On triglycerides, in particular, it's important to remember this test should be done fasting - I think 10 hours is probably long enough, with 9-12 hours being conventional wisdom. Dietary fat has nothing to do with triglycerides, but it will be assayed as part of that number if you don't fast.
Dietary fat is handled by chylomicrons synthesized in the gut, which first go into the lymph system, then the cardiovascular system, where they are able to deliver their dietary fat cargo to cells with receptors that recognize their organizing protein - apolipoprotein B-48, such as those in adipose tissue.
Triglycerides are synthesized in the liver out of sugars and alcohol and are exported via a different lipoprotein, VLDL - Very Low Density Lipoprotein. This has a somewhat different organizing protein, apolipoprotein B-100. LDL is also organized around Apo-B-100, and there is evidence that the type of LDL involved in heart disease is remnant VLDL.
So we want to look in the background on the triglyceride test to see how the liver is coping with the sugars and alcohol sent to it by its human. People who go on keto diets typically see triglycerides plunge - a 200 triglycerides before can easily turn into a 100 triglycerides after - because people on a keto diet inevitably consume less fructose and glucose, either of which can prompt the liver to synthesize fat and VLDL.
VLDL is approximated in the Friedewald equation used to determine LDL as Triglycerides/5. If you don't properly fast, it will negatively affect the accuracy of your LDL result. The other two terms in the Friedewald equation, HDL and Total Cholesterol, can be directly assayed. HDL is an alpha lipoprotein and is easy to differentiate from the beta lipoproteins in these other structures.
Labs should really include error margins on their reports, so we have some idea of how *precise* each result is! But even if their results were 100% reproducible for an identical sample, our biomarkers are constantly fluctuating...
Brilliat breakdown of CLIA variance limits. The threshold problem is especially concerning when treatment decisions hinge on values that could swing 25% either way just from measurement error. I switched from Quest to LabCorp last year and my vitamin D dropped 15 points, which had me worried until I realized it was probaly just lab calibration differences. Tracking trends within onelaboratory makes so much more sense now.
On triglycerides, in particular, it's important to remember this test should be done fasting - I think 10 hours is probably long enough, with 9-12 hours being conventional wisdom. Dietary fat has nothing to do with triglycerides, but it will be assayed as part of that number if you don't fast.
Dietary fat is handled by chylomicrons synthesized in the gut, which first go into the lymph system, then the cardiovascular system, where they are able to deliver their dietary fat cargo to cells with receptors that recognize their organizing protein - apolipoprotein B-48, such as those in adipose tissue.
Triglycerides are synthesized in the liver out of sugars and alcohol and are exported via a different lipoprotein, VLDL - Very Low Density Lipoprotein. This has a somewhat different organizing protein, apolipoprotein B-100. LDL is also organized around Apo-B-100, and there is evidence that the type of LDL involved in heart disease is remnant VLDL.
So we want to look in the background on the triglyceride test to see how the liver is coping with the sugars and alcohol sent to it by its human. People who go on keto diets typically see triglycerides plunge - a 200 triglycerides before can easily turn into a 100 triglycerides after - because people on a keto diet inevitably consume less fructose and glucose, either of which can prompt the liver to synthesize fat and VLDL.
VLDL is approximated in the Friedewald equation used to determine LDL as Triglycerides/5. If you don't properly fast, it will negatively affect the accuracy of your LDL result. The other two terms in the Friedewald equation, HDL and Total Cholesterol, can be directly assayed. HDL is an alpha lipoprotein and is easy to differentiate from the beta lipoproteins in these other structures.
So helpful! Thx!!
Labs should really include error margins on their reports, so we have some idea of how *precise* each result is! But even if their results were 100% reproducible for an identical sample, our biomarkers are constantly fluctuating...
Brilliat breakdown of CLIA variance limits. The threshold problem is especially concerning when treatment decisions hinge on values that could swing 25% either way just from measurement error. I switched from Quest to LabCorp last year and my vitamin D dropped 15 points, which had me worried until I realized it was probaly just lab calibration differences. Tracking trends within onelaboratory makes so much more sense now.