GlycA vs CRP: Inflammation Testing Guide — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:01] body, but how do you accurately assess inflammation? In today's show, we're going to talk a little bit more about GlycA, and this is a much more sensitive and specific assessment of inflammation compared to just looking at C-reactive

[00:14] protein, but I like to look at these two together. So, GlycA paired with C-reactive protein, and instead of diving into a bunch of scientific papers is share with you a really important case study from a

[00:26] client of mine just looking at his C-reactive protein along with GlycA as is really important because this will give us a better insight into his metabolic health and where we should start to address and hone in on healthy

[00:40] again, when we hear about high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, the sine qua non of inflammation. If this is high, then you have inflammation. If it's low, like under 0.5, then you really are at low risk of

[00:54] having chronic inflammation, but the co-occurrence of having a elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein with GlycA, which is more stable and long-term because if you get exposed to the common cold or influenza or you

[01:09] procedure for for example or have a laceration, your C-reactive protein will increase acutely or transiently, whereas GlycA, and this is looking at the glycation and modification of your immunoglobulins in your body globally,

[01:25] this is more specific and sensitive to chronic inflammation. Now, when GlycA and C-reactive protein are together elevated, that's when we really start to be concerned about an increased risk of having a major adverse cardiovascular

[01:39] event or a MACE or a heart attack, stroke, things like that. So, in this case, this individual, he's in his early 40s. He just wants to optimize his overall health and well-being. He has three children. He wants to be around

[01:52] we're working together on strategies and tips to achieve that aim with exercise, with nutrition, with supplements, with sleep and circadian rhythm optimization and beyond. As you might notice, his C-reactive protein here on page two of

[02:07] his labs is elevated above what I normally like is elevated above what I normally like to see, which is 3 mg per liter. Paired with the fact that his ferritin is 726 ng

[02:20] per ml. So, that just took me right away and I thought, "What is going on here?" either he has metabolic hyperferritinemia, which we're going to talk about today, or he has hemochromatosis, or he also has some

[02:33] sort of pathogenic infection or some infection that we don't really where the source of that could be coming from. Is it parasites? Is it Lyme potentially co-infections? What's going on? Why is the ferritin significantly

[02:47] elevated? For example, for reference, the range of ferritin is between 30 and 400 ng per ml, and his is well outside of that at 726. Now, what helped me better understand the source of where this could be

[03:01] possibly coming from, I also like to run in the clients that I work with or advise them to test their MVX test. And this is the metabolic MVX test. And this is the metabolic vulnerability index test. And so, Darren

[03:14] Schmidt turned me on to this one, and this also includes GlycA. And his GlycA is close to 400, which is the upper end of the reference range, and this is micromoles per liter, okay? So, here's the the combination that we don't really

[03:29] want. We don't want high triglycerides, a high GlycA, and high C-reactive protein. And that's exactly what we see in this individual. And so, that suggests to me that the inflammation is more chronic, it's more

[03:41] insidious, it's more long-term. And so, we need to crank up the lifestyle exercise, sleep, circadian rhythm optimization, some supplements that I recommended, but of course, we want to minimize exposure to persistent organic

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[05:44] chronic inflammation. And so, I take this stuff very seriously, the lifestyle mainstream medicine, there's not a lot of great tools to systemically decrease tools to suppress stomach acid in the context of say, you know, you have acid

[05:59] reflux or heartburn, right? You know, if you can't sleep, there's sleep medications. You know, if your lipids are high, there's tools to drive down any of these are particularly health-promoting, but when it comes to

[06:11] lot of great tools, not a lot of great drugs that can do that that don't have a litany of side effects. People that have arthritis will often be prescribed methotrexate and immunosuppressants and these things, but

[06:24] there are often a lot of side effects that can co-occur with these medications. So, if someone has a high GlycA and high C-reactive protein, we lifestyle. So, what's going on? And so, again, clothing and certified organic

[06:37] things that I shared with my client along with making sure that we're walking particularly in the post-meal window. We know that metabolic disease doesn't happen when you're fasting. Insulin resistance doesn't occur when

[06:50] you're fasting, it occurs in the post-meal window. The best way to mitigate some of the deleterious effects of consuming food is to walk or exercise in the post-meal window. So, we're suggesting to him a minimum of 2,500

[07:03] steps after major meals. We're recommending resistance training 3 to 4 days per week, whole-body exercises, making sure that we're really stimulating that muscle with intensity and strength and prioritizing strength.

[07:17] But then, because his ferritin is high, I wanted to rule out the probability or possibility that this individual had hemochromatosis or might possibly have another lesser-known phenomenon known as metabolic hyperferritinemia. Now, this

[07:35] is actually a little bit more common than we might recognize. And so, the way that we the differential diagnosis here, there's a lot of research on this. but it appears that the prevalence of

[07:49] this is increasing. And what's unique about this individual is he recently had about this individual is he recently had an MRI on his full body and found that steatohepatitis in his liver, meaning that his liver was building up. We don't

[08:02] iron, but it could be fat as well because his triglycerides were 149 mg per deciliter, which is about double what we'd ideally like to see, especially fasted. So, what are the recommendations here? Well,

[08:16] we first want to rule out hemochromatosis, and this is a genetic mutation or single nucleotide polymorphism in iron metabolic enzymes that increase the risk that one would would absorb more iron and not

[08:30] So, we want to rule that out, number one. And then, number two, we also, if that gene comes back and he doesn't have a genetic propensity to have increased iron, then we are going to recommend, I know it sounds primitive,

[08:44] one of the best ways to decrease an increase iron and ferritin and hemoglobin and hematocrit and so forth is just to donate blood. Now, I know [snorts] this is a primitive technology, right? People

[08:57] are like, "Well, bloodletting has been used since for all of human history, essentially." Individuals used to think back in the prehistoric days that bloodletting and using putting leeches on people's body

[09:11] was super healthy and cured everything. I'm not insinuating that whatsoever, but it turns out there's an application for bloodletting in the context of metabolic research actually does show. If your ferritin is particularly elevated and

[09:27] it's also causing problems, such as the increased fat buildup in the liver and damage within the liver as noted here by an MRI. And what's unique is like his liver enzymes are pretty normal. The ALT, AST, and GGT were all under 28

[09:43] So, these would all be considered normal. So, there was no real reason to look at the liver or steatohepatitis in the liver outside of the fact that his ferritin was quite high.

[09:55] like if you were to put some stainless steel out in your yard during the winter, it's going to rust and oxidize. And it turns out that having high ferritin and/or iron can lead to

[10:07] that's that's not good, you know, because it can damage the eyes, the brain, retina, you know, the nephrons in the kidney and peripheral nerves. So, not a good thing. So, again, what led us

[10:20] down this track? Getting back to looking at ways to assess inflammation, we looked at the serum protein paired with a glycated A. So, we have a short-term an increased risk of a long-term marker of inflammation that is glycated A.

[10:34] These two together, a CRP over three and a glycated A close to or over 400. glycated A. This is a really good thing that I strongly suggest that you add on next time you do your blood work,

[10:50] online and and so forth. Something that we should consider. So, to be determined. I will let you know and and tell you what we discover with this individual.

[11:02] is great, cuz this person is functioning optimally, former high-end athlete, you know, in high school and college, retired really early in his 40s, has health issues, memory issues, no

[11:16] lean from a body composition standpoint. But, "Wow, his ferritin is really high." And this is why I strongly suggest looking at iron, ferritin, TIBC, hemoglobin, hematocrit. Like,

[11:30] someone is trying to get pregnant and and the female's having issues. So, really important, and we also looked at the liver enzymes and the glycated A. whatever reason, omitted. So, if you want to get good labs, check out our

[11:44] blood work cheat sheet. I'll put that just below the NADs link, again, the briefs that are absolutely amazing. I'm literally wearing them right now. Wear them all the time. Below that link will also be a link to the cheat sheet that I

[11:57] thanks for tuning all the way in. I appreciate your likes, your comments, your shares. We will catch you on a future video down the road.