Free-Living Humans Cross Cardiovascular Disease Risk Categories Due to Daily Rhythms in Cholesterol and Triglycerides

Figures

• 

  Figure 1. Recruitment Flowchart. Participant-organizers and thirty-five prospective participants met at the Quantified Self 2017 Global Conference to propose and discuss a participant-led lipid tracking project. Responders to a follow up survey confirmed their interest in participation and their goal for the project with an organizer via phone call. These individuals then received equipment from participant-organizers and attended online discussions to brainstorm risks and benefits of participation, and then to plan experiments. In total, twenty-one participants completed a project.

• 

  Figure 2. Within and Across Day Lipid Variability Traverses CVD Risk Categories. The daily and across morning ranges of TC, HDL-c, and triglycerides carry many individuals across CVD risk categories. Gradient indicates risk category, with redder as higher risk. Lines indicate risk category boundaries. Data shown are scatters by individual of TC, HDL-c and triglyceride values taken within a single day (A–C), and fasted within a single morning on different days, between 06:00 and 08:00 (D–F). Individuals are sorted from low to high range in TC, and this sorting is maintained in all plots. In total, 100% of individuals cross a risk category in as least one output at one or more time points within a day (A–C). 90% crossed at least one risk category in one output across days (D–F). Forty-seven percent of individuals cross at least one risk category in TC (A) and HDL-c (B) within a day. (C) Seventy-four percent of individuals cross at least one risk category for triglycerides. (D) Fasted between 6–8 am, 15% of individuals cross a TC risk category. (E–F) Thirty-six percent crossed an HDL-c or triglyceride risk category.

• 

  Figure 3. Median Total Cholesterol and Triglycerides Show Significant Daily rhythms. Median of all individuals’ percent of maximum TC (A) and triglycerides (B) by time of day show significant sine fit at approximately circadian periodicity, and significant change from fit peak to trough. Two-hour moving means of individual profiles are shown in color for ease of visualization. TC and triglycerides reached a maximum around 16:00, with minima in the early to mid-morning. The median percent change from maximum to minimum was 40% for TC and 35% for triglycerides. * indicate significant difference between peak and trough distributions (5:00–7:00, and 15:00–17:00 in TC and 9:00–11:00 and 16:00–18:00 in triglycerides) (Kruskal-Wallis p = 3.41*10–41 and p = 2.11*10–30). Sine fit statistics and plots of individual data and fits are available at our Open Science Foundation page.

• 

  Figure 4. Single-Subject Experiments Illustrate Triglyceride and Total Cholesterol Rhythms Across Timescales. Single subject recordings of (A) Ultradian fluctuation of blood triglycerides inversely corresponding to subjective hunger intensity, and (B) TC fluctuation across the menstrual cycle captured by morning fasted recordings.