Victor's Blood Test Results (2010)

Here are the results of my blood test which was taken on December 20, 2010.  For readers in British Columbia, it was LifeLabs who did the test and the results were obtained the next day through www.myehealth.ca. The following figures represent approximately one calender year of eating a Paleo\Primal diet with about 80% compliance.

Test Results

                                               SI            USA

Hemoglobin A1C =     6.1%

Glucose Fasting =    5.2 mmol       94 mg/dl

Total Cholesterol = 5.23 mmol      202 mg/dl

LDL Cholesterol =   2.94 mmol      114 mg/dl

HDL Cholesterol =   1.88 mmol       73 mg/dl

Triglycerides =     0.91 mmol       81 mg/dl

Chol/HDL (Risk Ratio) = 2.78       

Resting Heart Rate (RHR) = 49 bpm

Blood Pressure =    110/75

Exercise Regimen
As part of my profile, it is important to note that I am 5'6", about 143 lbs. and not on any medication.  I workout with a kickboxing class twice a week, do weight resistance exercise regularly and cycle from my home to my office downtown 2 or 3 times a week as circumstances permit.  This is a round trip commute of 40 km (25 miles) with hills.  My torso currently looks like this.

Industry Guidelines
If you compare these blood test figures to the American Heart Association or the Mayo Clinic's guidelines, they represent a relatively healthy lipid profile for a person with no known blocked arteries or ischemic heart disease.  An aggressive doctor following the recommendations of Merck Frosst might prescribe statins to chase a magic cholesterol number.  However, as we have already discussed previously, cholesterol is less important a predictor of coronary heart disease than post-prandial blood sugar levels as measured by HbA1c.

The one result I have flagged in yellow is an HbA1c of 6.1%.  This means that the average blood sugar over the last 90 days was high. According to Ned Koch's formula, this means my average blood sugar level was 7.1 mmol/L or 128 mg/dl.  As I wrote this post, I tested my post-prandial blood glucose exactly 2 hours after eating a dim sum lunch - hardly primal I know - and it was 6.9 mmol (124 mg/dl).  This post-prandial reading  does not indicate a pre-diabetic or diabetic condition as far as I know.  What is going on?  

If my high HbA1cs was due to pigging out on refined carbohydrates, I would expect my LDL-C and Triglycerides to be higher.  On the other hand, does my exercise regimen and intermittent fasting lower the LDL-C and triglyceride readings even though I am eating too much refined carbs?  

At this point I only have questions, not answers.  Am I even asking the right questions?

So I started researching blood sugar in athletes.  Read up on my findings in the next post HbA1c and Athletes.

Victor