#55

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume they eat a lot of meat. That’s a natural source of sodium. So on a carnivore diet you may not need extra. Lower meat diets though? Where will it come from naturally?

#56

I don’t think there’s a lot of sodium in meat. I think most of their calories come from crops they grow, but of course some from hunting.

I think a healthy body can refrain from giving up sodium if there’s a shortage, it doesn’t make sense otherwise. The problem with marathon runners they’ve run into is when they drink a lot of water in a short period of time while not replenishing sodium reserves, meaning they cause an electrolyte imbalance. Maybe the WHO minimum of 500 is probably wise to target, absent of more information at the moment.

1 Like
#57

i just recorded an interview with Dr. Rick Johnson, a kidney doctor who has become famous for his research into fructose and uric acid. He says, do not let yourself get dehydrated or you will accumulate damage in your kidneys over time. Once you have damaged (lower functioning) kidneys, you need to keep the sodium (and sugar) low. Of course, many things impact kidney function, but this post is about sodium.

4 Likes
#58

Problem is sodium might dehydrate you, especially if eaten late at night or in general after a meal. There’s thirst for a reason after high sodium - dehydration from sodium that needs to be diluted out?

1 Like
#59

image
Here’s my average for the past week. I’m doing labs in about 3 weeks so we’ll see how it goes. I’m feeling good so far. The last time I did it I was carnivore and it went well for me then.

3 Likes
#60

I’ve tried low sodium diet enough that I’m pretty confident I have the following benefits, it happens every time I switch:

+decreased anxiety, sense of calm
+improved energy
+improved cognition, my eyes move faster, improved reactions
+slight sense of extra wellbeing
+feel grounded, as if my spatial perception slightly improve
+decrease thirst
+decrease aftertaste of food
+faster hydration

Probably has to do a lot with hydration.
No negatives except objective markers like increased HR etc at certain times, but I don’t care, if my brain works much better.

4 Likes
Bryan Johnson's Longevity Protocol - Your Thoughts?
#61

Just add potassium salt to everything high sodium. It’s what I’ve finally decided to do

2 Likes
#62

I’ve done that (potassium gluconate), but I haven’t noticed any measurable benefit. How much potassium do you take?

#63

Do you have the link to the interview? Any cliff notes to how to check kidney health? I am a bit paranoid about mine as I have kidney stones (which do run in the family). My dad also has had a benign kidney cyst forever. But I don’t know how my kidney is doing otherwise.

1 Like
#64

Authors’ conclusions: Citrate salts prevent new stone formation and reduce further stone growth in patients with residual stones that predominantly contain oxalate. The quality of reported literature remains moderate to poor; hence a well-designed statistically powered multi-centre RCT is needed in order to answer relevant questions concerning the efficacy of citrate salts.

2 Likes
#65

@medaura Ill put a link here when I publish the interview. In general, he mentioned the traditional blood test for kidney function: creatinine (confounded by creatine supplementation and high/low muscle mass) or cystatin-c (this is better). He also mentioned having to pee more often when kidney function declines (counter intuitive).

Clif notes from memory. More to come.

  • stay hydrated. Drink water before a salty meal
  • eat low sodium if kidney function is declining. Avoid processed food and salty food
  • vicious cycle: damaged kidneys can’t clear excess sodium—> excess sodium draws water into blood plasma to increase BP—> high BP damage kidneys
  • keep BP down…metabolic health is key (he points to high sugar as a bad player) but also watch uric acid (purines): beer, shellfish, sardines, brewers yeast
3 Likes
#66

creatinine is an awful biomarker. Its biggest problem is that it metabolises in blood samples and so the longer it takes the sample to get to the lab the higher the value.

I have had values (UK SI values) from 16th June 2022 where I sent one sample to a lab by the post and got 122 microMoles per litre and I hand delivered the other sample which was tested the same day and got 85.64.

Cystatin-C can vary, but I find it a lot more reliable. Sadly not all labs offer it as standard.

They both do the same sort of thing which is measuring how well the kidneys remove a substance from the blood.

2 Likes
#67

My last lab work shows creatinine at 0.640 and it seems 0.6 is the lowest end of the range for women, low being good, so maybe I’m fine so far.

Still a bit nervous though because I pee a LOT. But right now I’m pregnant so it goes with the territory. And before then I’m pretty sure it had to do with a chronic bladder infection.

Since I found out about the kidney stones I’ve become a hydration fanatic. My urologist said I could probably flush them out just by overheating as I have a ton of them but they’re all small.

1 Like
#68

I can see the source of false positive red flags if the lab takes too long to process the sample. But my value is very low. There’s no such thing as the reverse problem, is there? That they processed it too fast, giving an artificially rosy picture? :wink:

1 Like
#69

No I think you can see yourself in reasonably good territory. It might be worth getting some pH strips to see if your urine is a bit acidic.

If you are pregnant I would think Rapamycin is a really bad idea. I don’t know what the effects of citrate are in pregnancy either. I know there is a lot of citrate in seminal fluid, but that only affects the zygote and a few subsequent divisions.

1 Like
#70

More bad news on creatinine…it can give a false negative when the person has low muscle mass. Cystatin-C is the way to go. And, you’ll have to calculate your own eGFR is my experience…the calculators are available online.

2 Likes
#71

@medaura Joseph is right about that, but the range differs for males and females and if you are at the bottom end of the range that is unlikely to be an issue.

I have five children, but pregnancy is not something I have personal experience of. Hence I am not inclined to say anything other than I don’t think Rapamycin is a good idea.

1 Like
#72

Same for me. I’m not super low but averaging about 1127mg over the last couple of weeks per cronometer. My sodium/potassium ratio is probably not quite optimal yet at 1:2.5 but it’s gradually improving. The most important thing for me is just feeling better though tbh.

2 Likes
#73

I’ve long been off the Rapa for sure. And won’t be taking anything except probiotics, collagen peptides, and my prenatal. :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#74

That’s good to hear. I don’t know, but I would assume that a good balance of micronutrients would be good and a good balance of vitamins. I would not suggest trying citrate (and you will almost certainly be eating some) as I am not 100% certain what the impact would be for a baby. However, there clearly is a need for supported acetylation as we can see from one of the functions of the prostate gland.

Hence it is a question human health needs really to have an answer for.

1 Like