Nicotine and HDL

[PepNYC]

Anyone know if Nicotine, not smoking cigarettes just nicotine aka - vaping, can lower your HDL? (Good Cholesterol). I went to the doctor last week and they drew some blood. Called me today and said my overall cholesterol is fine but my HDL is very low. I'm wondering if the vaping has anything to do with it as I've never had this problem and my lifestyle hasn't really changed except for the vaping. I use about 2 - 3 ml @ 24mg a day.

Maybe I just need to get my lazy ... up and do some exercise.

 

[rolygate]

It appears that:

- Increase of alcohol consumption can raise HDL
- Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower cardiovascular and all-cause mortality


Seems to me the fix is obvious and highly agreeable - take more [delete as appropriate*: wine*/whisky*/beer*] with your vape. Doctor's orders. OK, stroll down to the store to buy your bottles of course - this gets the exercise thing out of the way.

 

[PepNYC]

It appears that:

- Increase of alcohol consumption can raise HDL
- Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower cardiovascular and all-cause mortality


Seems to me the fix is obvious and highly agreeable - take more [delete as appropriate*: wine*/whisky*/beer*] with your vape. Doctor's orders. OK, stroll down to the store to buy your bottles of course - this gets the exercise thing out of the way.

I like the way you think mate.

 

[Bluesman]

Pep, I'll give you one thing, you sure do come up with some interesting subjects.

I don't know the answer to your question, but here is my experience over the span of 10 years:

Cigarettes, no vaping, no statin, little exercise = low (<40) HDL
Cigarettes, no vaping, statin, medium exercise = 42-45 HDL
Cigarettes, vaping, statin, medium exercise = 52-54 HDL
No cigarettes, vaping, statin, medium exercise = 62 HDL

I have no idea what that means, but it sure looks like a big improvement.

 

[PepNYC]

Yeah Bluesman. I can thank my crazy doctor for making me think about these things. It's just weird that my HDL was actually higher when I was smoking. I was a bit more active but still. For my HDL to drop below 40 is unheard of for me. I thought it was maybe the nicotine and i should drop down to 18 from my current 24mg. Maybe I'll still do that. Can't hurt. Thank you for your input. If nothing else at least I'm not so worried now. They called me and mentioned freakin heart disease and my mind went a bit overboard. I really do need to get out more now that the weather is getting nicer.

Stay tuned...I'm sure I'll come up with so more wacky stuff.

 

[Bluesman]

Hey, Pep, keep the wacky stuff rollin'. I'm enjoying it. I mean the liquid, carto, VV, clearo, drip tip, exploding battery, FDA stuff is good. But we need something different every now and then. You do a good job in providing that. I'm all in.

There are so many things that can affect those numbers. I do have heart disease and the removal of cigarettes was the big one for me. Vaping has not had any negative impact on my health. I like the 18mg level but do back off to 12mg equally. The food I eat, I think, makes a difference as well.

 

[Vocalek]

Well, my HDL is nice and high (in the low 60s).

No smoking, vaping, Niacin (500 mg 2x a day), MegaRed Krill Oil, no exercise.

I also take estrogen, but I wouldn't recommend it to you guys. You might lose the hair on your legs.

Oh, and the LDL has dropped. Total cholesterol used to be about 230 when I smoked. It's 177 now.

 

[Sdh]

OP for your reading pleasure. High Cholesterol Levels Due To Nicotine Intake | LIVESTRONG.COM
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...sg=AFQjCNHYGWWS0_vRi08NTZY0P1Iq7N-UUQ&cad=rja and Nicotine Replacement Therapy not Meant for Long-term Use

 

[Bluesman]

I can't comment on studies. I can only comment on my personal experience. My personal experience shows a clear rise in HDL and lowering of LDL. My total cholesterol is 127 of which HDL accounts for 62 of it. Obviously the regiment I have works well for me. I feel comfortable and confident in what I am doing.

 

[John Phoenix]

Check your diet. Many foods can either raise or lower your HDL and LDL levels, as well as exercise as was mentioned. many chemical preservatives in foods can effect these also so check the labels and look up everything on the net.. especially if it's a strange scientific non natural food sounding word.

 

[Cyrus Vap]

Just to improve the numbers, fish oil for better ratio of cholesterols, drop as much body fat as you can, exercise, perhaps moderate booze

Smoking likely consumes HDL via inflammatory pathways. Nicotine, I dunno. The snus studies maybe relevant here but I don't know that they specifically looked into HDL.

The bad news is, your cholesterol from the point of view of a lab test is less important than what your body decides to do with it

Getting older will drop your HDL also.

 

[Rickajho]

It's an interesting question. (Big picture reminder: Smoking doesn't improve any aspect of your health.) Since I see a cardiologist whose specialty is statin drugs and is .... .... about the LDL/HDL numbers I will be sure to ask about this. My GP thinks vaping is so much more placebo than anything else he wouldn't agree to check my nic levels and those other associated "nicotine things" when I asked him to do so.

 

[rolygate]

There is some info that would be useful to us if you care to get it, please: vape heavy for a good period before going in to see your doctor. Ask him for a blood plasma nicotine test because you want to see if you have reached the average 20ng/ml nicotine level that smokers have.

That would accomplish two things: tell you how much nic you are actually getting; and provide information for your doc about the placebo or real value of ecigs. It is also of interest the community as there is a shortage of published results on this subject.

Note that a urine cotinine test is of no interest.

Thanks.