Lipoprotein(a)

IH, have you studied this at all? I found a study that compared balding and non-balding men, and the only thing that was a significant difference was LP(a). I've been reading about it today and it appears that this might explain why fish oils and niacin are helpful in hair loss, as they lower LP(a). After finding this article, I'm starting to think baldness is more a warning of heart disease than it is insulin resistance. Here is the article, tell me what you think please:

http://web.inonu.edu.tr/~msenol/androgenetik.pdf

A quote:

"The most remarkable result of our study is the significantly
higher levels of Lp(a) in patients with
androgenetic alopecia because Lp(a) is an important,
independent and genetically determined risk factor for
coronary heart disease [2]. It has been shown that high
levels of Lp(a) in men under 56 years was a strong
indicator of angiographically confirmed CHD [5]."

Espio - This is a very nice find!

There are a very few things that lower Lp(a) levels, namely Vitamin C and Niacin.

Iodine, when used in dosages significantly higher than the RDA can protect against
the deleterious effects of Lp(a).

I've only touched on Lipoprotein(a) with respect to heart disease so this is something we're going to have
to take a closer look at.

Lp(a) is considered one of the more significant risk factors in heart disease. The connection between it and hair loss is likley that Lp(a) decreases fibrinolysis and increases the formation of clots--essentially it thickens the blood. Ecklonia cava is the most powerful inhibitor of anti-plasmin I have found to date (better at increasing fibrinolysis than nattokinase).

Ubiquinol (Co-Q10) also reduces Lp(a) levels.

Thanks! Please keep us updated if you learn more about this. I am thinking this may be my central problem, because my cholesterol is really high for a 24 year old. In 2007 my total chol was 202, and then at the end of 2008 it went up to 259 (LDL 153, HDL 93)! And at the end of 2008 that was when I was on the IH top 6 for about three months, so I was surprised that my chol got so much worse that year. I assume it was cause I was trying to eat a low-carb diet, eating a lot of meat and canned fish. Also for a few months I couldn't sleep on my left side because I could feel my heart pounding and it would keep me awake. I know alternative doctors like Mercola and Bill Sardi say don't worry about having high cholesterol. I'm reading that while diet affects cholesterol a lot, diet does not affect LP(a) very much. So is supplements the only answer, or would a low-meat diet help?

Also would it be a danger for me to be taking niacin, as it can cause insulin resistance? My last A1C test was 5.5 so I'm getting close to being a diabetic.

Espio - Your total cholesterol is actually very healthy. Your HDL is phenomenally good.

Your total cholesterol does not account for your Lp(a) level. Sadly, many doctors do not even bother testing for this. They're to busy obsessing over inconsequential LDL, which means nothing (unless it's oxidized).

The first thing is to confirm that you have an elevated Lipoprotein(a) level.

Lipoprotein(a) is not diet related and it won't make any difference in what you do in that respect. Taking Niacin will not worsen insulin levels--that is only niacinamide aka nicotinamide which is a metabolite of B3 (niacin) when taken by a diabetic at over 2 grams per day.

Regular niacin causes flushing, so it's best to take building up to 3 grams by taking a 100 milligrams per week. By the time you get there, it will be easier to tolerate it, but only take with food.

Taking optimal levels of Iodine is probably the most practical and convenient way to deal with Lp(a) along with Co-enzyme Q10 (preferably as Ubiquinol).

is 2 drops of Lugol's per day, right?
I've been on that for about a couple months.

I will definitely look for CoQ10.

Thank you

Espio - Yes two drops is good, although you might want to check out this link on iodine that edci found:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/1959949/IODINE-Solution-to-Healthproblems

I found a patent for an invention which lowers Lp(A), look at this notation of one of the subjects:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5741514.html

In another aspect, the invention includes a method of improving hair regrowth in a person having alopecia or male pattern baldness.

An elderly male subject with scalp hair loss was treated with liposomes, administered according to the dosing schedule described in Example 3. The subject noticed a significant improvement in hair regrowth after liposome treatment.

Well Krill contains phospholipids and here's a patent discussing them with Lp(a)

http://www.freshpatents.com/Krill-oil-compositions-dt20080710ptan20080166418.php?type=description

Well that's enough evidence for me, I'm going to go to the store today and get krill oil and niacin, will report my results in a month. Do you think my cod liver oil would do the same thing?

I'm amazed that an elderly man who was completely bald actually regrew hair. I always thought that was the point of no return.

Hey Espio--

It depends. Folks that are bald are bald either for one reason, an entirely different reason, or a number of reasons. That elderly man's problem may have not of been hormonal, and may not have been the results of inflammation (leading to Fibrosis and balding). Once his body got what was lacking, he started to regrow hair. This, however, doesn't necessarily mean that you and I will derive the same benefit.

On a side-note, I've been taking 2 tabs of Iodoral in the morning, and 2 in the evening. This equates to 50mgs a day. Been doing this for a few months now! As for how I feel? No different really.

Well I know there are different reasons for baldness depending on the person but, are there any reasons that have as heavy of a association as Lp-a in any studies? Yeah, insulin resistance has a slight association with baldness, but it's very small in most studies, and in some studies there is NO association at all between baldness and insulin. In that study in the original post it shows the baldness group of the study had twice as high lp-a, I think that's incredible, and I don't think we will see that kind of odds in anything besides the artificial drugs.