Harvard student’s vegan diet experiment showed surprising cholesterol rise

Nick Norwitz shared his latest dietary experiment after shifting from a near-carnivore food plan to a full vegan-keto meal plan for 7 days

A medical student decided to use his own body as a test subject to explain why cholesterol levels might increase during weight loss. Nick Norowitz, a Harvard medical student and popular YouTuber, shared his latest experiment with his 129,000 subscribers.

He switched from a near-carnivore diet to a completely vegan-keto meal plan for an entire week. The 28-year-old revealed that the vegan lifestyle upset his stomach quite a bit, but he had anticipated this reaction based on previous attempts to go vegan.

He attributed this to his personal gut microbiome and decided to stick with the diet to observe its impact on his LDL cholesterol levels. After a week of consuming vegan protein powders, green vegetables, tofu, and a slight cheat with some dark chocolate, the results were in.

Despite losing 4.2lbs on the vegan-keto diet, Nick's cholesterol levels shot up by a staggering 14%. This surprised even him, as he had expected a slight increase, but not one this dramatic. Interestingly, this rise occurred despite him consuming no cholesterol and having more fibre and less saturated fats compared to when he was on the carnivore diet a week prior.

He explained that the spike in cholesterol was actually due to the weight loss resulting from a decrease in calorie intake. On the meat diet, Nick consumed 3,479 calories a day, which dropped to 2,054 per day on the vegan-keto diet. This led to short-term weight loss and an increase in his cholesterol levels. The Oxford graduate shared his insights, saying: "The leaner the person is, the higher their LDL goes up, all things being equal."

He pointed out findings from other scientific research which indicate that a person's LDL cholesterol levels soar particularly when they reach the lean category in BMI charts, especially if they shift from a carb-burning to a fat-burning diet. Nick further explained: "When lean people shift from carb-burning to fat burning, the liver makes more cholesterol containing particles to traffic around that fuel, glucose, to fuel muscles. The leaner you are and the more active you are, the greater the demands on this system and the higher your LDL goes up on a ketogenic diet."

In comparison, he claimed that saturated fats and cholesterol consumption have only a "meagre" impact on one's LDL cholesterol levels. Nick stressed that his goal isn't to alter his audience's diet, but to motivate them to "think more deeply" about their bodies' individual systems, arguing that "everlasting metabolic curiosity" will benefit them more than any singular superfood or supplement.