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Why my GGT level are abnormal
History: I am 41 now. I am vegetarian meaning no meat, no chicken, no egg, no beef etc. Net weight 152lb. Height 5ft.8in. I have been veg whole my life. I used to drink wine or beer moderately like once or twice in a MONTH. Now last 3-5 years I stopped drinking. May be one or twice a YEAR socially.
I have been tracking my Lipid, CBC, ANA, HGB, SMAB, Complete metabolic panel, GGT since last 8 years. My Cholesterol level goes up and down from 170-210, now it’s at 180. My AST and ALT is mostly in the range 24 and 45 respectively. But they were up before like 52 and 82 respectively. My Alkaline Phosphatase is in range at 115. But my GGT is still high at 180. At one time it was around 300.
What else... I do have a very slight pain under the right ribcage once in a while. I had couple of liver ultrasounds done. Initially, stated normal but later found fat in liver. I had liver biopsy; I was told that I have fatty liver. I visited multiple doctors and liver specialists. They all tell me different stories. Some say that not to worry. Some say don’t know why my GGT is at elevated level give my history that I am not alcoholic or not fat. No Doctor has any clue. It frustrates me since they are not able to tell me what going on with my liver.
Last 3 years I have been taken more healthy steps like cutting down weight, doing exercise, eating more healthy food on the regular basis. I expected good results. What more healthy you can do? But still, my stupid GGT doesn’t help me. I am at around 170 now. My LIPID level is normal BTW. The doctor is asking for another Liver Biopsy which I don’t know worth doing if we don’t know what causing GGT go up after several types of tests? GGT can be high for several reasons. It seems like I know more than my doctors now. They don’t really pay attention and carry on with their business. I wish I studied doctor rather than engineering. I am losing faith on these business minded doctors who don’t care or not even prepared when you go visit them. They get annoyed when I talk about my research findings. I have done lots of research on GGT now.
Nothing seems to give me any answer on how to tackle this “elevated GGT issue”. My life insurance is high because of this. One of my doctors says they don’t even check GGT during normal blood work. Its outdated test. He says don’t worry. I have been talking Fish oil (LOVANZA) and 400mg of Vitamin E daily.
I am losing my mind. Nothing is changing. Are these doctors missing something? Not thinking out of the box? Please share your experience. Is there any way to bring down the GGT level? Need help!
I have been tracking my Lipid, CBC, ANA, HGB, SMAB, Complete metabolic panel, GGT since last 8 years. My Cholesterol level goes up and down from 170-210, now it’s at 180. My AST and ALT is mostly in the range 24 and 45 respectively. But they were up before like 52 and 82 respectively. My Alkaline Phosphatase is in range at 115. But my GGT is still high at 180. At one time it was around 300.
What else... I do have a very slight pain under the right ribcage once in a while. I had couple of liver ultrasounds done. Initially, stated normal but later found fat in liver. I had liver biopsy; I was told that I have fatty liver. I visited multiple doctors and liver specialists. They all tell me different stories. Some say that not to worry. Some say don’t know why my GGT is at elevated level give my history that I am not alcoholic or not fat. No Doctor has any clue. It frustrates me since they are not able to tell me what going on with my liver.
Last 3 years I have been taken more healthy steps like cutting down weight, doing exercise, eating more healthy food on the regular basis. I expected good results. What more healthy you can do? But still, my stupid GGT doesn’t help me. I am at around 170 now. My LIPID level is normal BTW. The doctor is asking for another Liver Biopsy which I don’t know worth doing if we don’t know what causing GGT go up after several types of tests? GGT can be high for several reasons. It seems like I know more than my doctors now. They don’t really pay attention and carry on with their business. I wish I studied doctor rather than engineering. I am losing faith on these business minded doctors who don’t care or not even prepared when you go visit them. They get annoyed when I talk about my research findings. I have done lots of research on GGT now.
Nothing seems to give me any answer on how to tackle this “elevated GGT issue”. My life insurance is high because of this. One of my doctors says they don’t even check GGT during normal blood work. Its outdated test. He says don’t worry. I have been talking Fish oil (LOVANZA) and 400mg of Vitamin E daily.
I am losing my mind. Nothing is changing. Are these doctors missing something? Not thinking out of the box? Please share your experience. Is there any way to bring down the GGT level? Need help!
Hi, my GGT was 600 plus and it keeps going down, finally reaching normal range of 36 1 month ago. It's not about vegetarian or not, it's about what you eat. If you like to know the routine I follow to bring it down over the months let me know. Of cos provided there's no other hidden illness, the GGT can come down. You got to keep a calendar. Basically, my GGT went v high partly due to I took too much herbs and supplements, all these also have toxins hence liver GGT will go up. I STOP all herbs and supplement and went on organic and detox natural food it helps. Example, morning I take sweet potato. Lunch porridge without msg and avocardo. Dinner beetroot plus no msg no salt no sugar meals. Everyday I take coffee and fruits too. On top it's good faith, I started Yoga. I started have faith. It went back normal after 17 months. 700 to 300 to 150 to 90 to 56 to 36
As others have mentioned, GGT is very non-specific. So as such, it is not used as a disease predictor. Your doctors will have to run other tests to determine the cause of your GGT elevations. And it is simply elevated in some patients for no apparent reason.
Hi Mekla,
Did you ever find out what was causing your high GGT? Can you share your findings with us as I have the same issues you reported.
Did you ever find out what was causing your high GGT? Can you share your findings with us as I have the same issues you reported.
1 Comments
Hello Mekla,
I too have the same result as you - GGT 170, gone up from 55 to 170 in just two weeks. I don't drink, I don't smoke and I am very careful with my diet. Please share any update or knowledge you have with regards to the possible cause of high GGT reading.
I too have the same result as you - GGT 170, gone up from 55 to 170 in just two weeks. I don't drink, I don't smoke and I am very careful with my diet. Please share any update or knowledge you have with regards to the possible cause of high GGT reading.
Hi.
GTT apparently is too inespecific. I had cirurgically removed a leiomyoma from external side of stomach. I continue to have an isolated GGT elevation (less than 3x) and positive ANA (without any other marker for autoimmune disease). I have also a moderatly low ceruloplasmin (15-20, and 20 is the minimum). What can I deduce from all of it? Nothing yet.
GTT apparently is too inespecific. I had cirurgically removed a leiomyoma from external side of stomach. I continue to have an isolated GGT elevation (less than 3x) and positive ANA (without any other marker for autoimmune disease). I have also a moderatly low ceruloplasmin (15-20, and 20 is the minimum). What can I deduce from all of it? Nothing yet.
I just wanna point out that his diet did not help lower his liver enzymes. For example, I eat meat, eggs, butter and fat all the time (meat is in every meal - even in breakfast), very few veggies and fruit, and my AST is 21, ALT 22, GGT 12, and ALP 64. I also used to drink a beer very often with dinner until recently, and AST/ALT were even lower last year (16/13, but I ate much less fat back then).
Furthermore, a diet very low in saturated fat and protein may throw few things off balance eventually.
Furthermore, a diet very low in saturated fat and protein may throw few things off balance eventually.
Hi,
My cousin had a similar issue. They had something called Autoimmune Cholangitis which is usually a genetic\hereditary issue. What occurs is the bile ducts in the liver\pancreas are inflammed as the body is attacking itself. This narrows the bile ducts and somehow causes GGT to spill out into the blood stream. The doctor treating them prescribed Urso Forte to reduce the viscosity of the bile and allow it to better flow through the ducts. Their GGT levels have declined from over 250 down to normal range. Hope this helps!
My cousin had a similar issue. They had something called Autoimmune Cholangitis which is usually a genetic\hereditary issue. What occurs is the bile ducts in the liver\pancreas are inflammed as the body is attacking itself. This narrows the bile ducts and somehow causes GGT to spill out into the blood stream. The doctor treating them prescribed Urso Forte to reduce the viscosity of the bile and allow it to better flow through the ducts. Their GGT levels have declined from over 250 down to normal range. Hope this helps!
Hi, today I had a blood test and was pretty surprised to discover that my GGT was at level of 319. My ALT was a bit elevated at level of 53. I have absolutely no complain about my health, I just wanted to check my cholesterol and ordered some liver indicators checked too. I was pretty worried about the result and I want to go and see a doctor. A friend of mine who is working at the lab told me that most doctors even don't order this GGT because it can confuse them,as it is pretty sensitive test.So she told not to be worry too much about that. Anyway, it probably can take me a week to see a doctor an I would like to keep in touch with you as I see a similarities. I would be checked in Europe and I know here the doctors have a different approach to some medical problems. If you are interested to keep in touch send me an e-mail at: ***@****
Thanks and wish you a good health!
Thanks and wish you a good health!
Thanks for the detailed repply. It might be possible that my GGT is indicative of my Cardiovascular Risk or metabolic risk factors. I might have genetically gained from My father (70), who had just underwent Heart bypass. I dont know how I can find a connect. It may also be true that a hypertension men like me can have high GGT. It just further confuse me. I dont know what to do to control it.
As I see it you have an isolated GGT elevation. Your ALT, AST and Alkaline Phosphatase are all within normal range. I see from your older labs that you did have elevated ALT and AST and this is consistent with a fatty liver diagnosis. Apparently your diet and lifestyle has helped your liver condition as evidenced by your lower enzymes.
I'm sure you've seen that an isolated or disproportionately elevated GGT suggests alcohol abuse. Since you don't drink we can rule that out.
One possibility that I think you might want to discuss with your doctor is the recently found association between elevated GGT and cardiovascular disease or elevated GGT as a marker/risk factor for cardiovascular disease. GGT can also suggest insulin resistance and/or diabetes or the risk of diabetes. It's tied up in the metabolic syndrome which I don't know a lot about - only that it can be problematic.
Let me find a link - if I can.
I found this but it's a bit heady for me.
"Abstract P005: Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors Explain the Association Between GGT and Incident Cardiovascular Events, but not Total Mortality
1 Johns Hopkins Univ, Baltimore, MD
2 Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Background: Elevated levels of the liver enzyme gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) are associated with incident diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, but there is conflicting evidence regarding the association between GGT and cardiovascular risk. Hypothesis: GGT is positively associated with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), congestive heart failure (CHF), and total mortality, independently of metabolic factors.
Methods: We analyzed data from 9,104 participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study without cardiovascular disease or high alcohol consumption (>2 drinks per day for women and > 1 drink per day for men) at baseline (Visit 4, 1996-1999). GGT was measured from thawed plasma samples from Visit 4. The primary outcome was incident CHD (non-fatal MI, coronary revascularizations, or CHD death). Secondary outcomes were CHF and total mortality. We estimated the hazard ratios from Cox models for the risks associated with quartiles of GGT and ln-transformed GGT.
Results: During a median of 10 years of follow-up, there were 925 CHD events, 654 CHF events, and 1,084 deaths. Male gender, diabetes, and components of the metabolic syndrome were associated with higher GGT levels at baseline. GGT was positively associated with risk of CHD and CHF in age-adjusted models, but not after adjustment for components of the metabolic syndrome and diabetes (Table). In contrast, the highest quartile of GGT remained associated with total mortality even after adjustment for all metabolic factors. Similar findings were seen for analyses of ln-GTT.
Conclusion: The association between GGT and incident cardiovascular events was largely explained by metabolic risk factors. However, elevated GGT was associated with total mortality independent of the metabolic syndrome and diabetes, suggesting a potential alternative mechanism of risk."
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/125/10_MeetingAbstracts/AP005
I hope I haven't added to your confusion. I can relate to your frustration and apparently I got carried away thinking about it and researching it.
I do think it might be prudent to get a cardiac evaluation if you haven't already. I know it's not something most 42 year old men do but I always like to be overly cautious with stuff like this.
I wish you the best.
Mike
I'm sure you've seen that an isolated or disproportionately elevated GGT suggests alcohol abuse. Since you don't drink we can rule that out.
One possibility that I think you might want to discuss with your doctor is the recently found association between elevated GGT and cardiovascular disease or elevated GGT as a marker/risk factor for cardiovascular disease. GGT can also suggest insulin resistance and/or diabetes or the risk of diabetes. It's tied up in the metabolic syndrome which I don't know a lot about - only that it can be problematic.
Let me find a link - if I can.
I found this but it's a bit heady for me.
"Abstract P005: Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors Explain the Association Between GGT and Incident Cardiovascular Events, but not Total Mortality
1 Johns Hopkins Univ, Baltimore, MD
2 Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Background: Elevated levels of the liver enzyme gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) are associated with incident diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, but there is conflicting evidence regarding the association between GGT and cardiovascular risk. Hypothesis: GGT is positively associated with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), congestive heart failure (CHF), and total mortality, independently of metabolic factors.
Methods: We analyzed data from 9,104 participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study without cardiovascular disease or high alcohol consumption (>2 drinks per day for women and > 1 drink per day for men) at baseline (Visit 4, 1996-1999). GGT was measured from thawed plasma samples from Visit 4. The primary outcome was incident CHD (non-fatal MI, coronary revascularizations, or CHD death). Secondary outcomes were CHF and total mortality. We estimated the hazard ratios from Cox models for the risks associated with quartiles of GGT and ln-transformed GGT.
Results: During a median of 10 years of follow-up, there were 925 CHD events, 654 CHF events, and 1,084 deaths. Male gender, diabetes, and components of the metabolic syndrome were associated with higher GGT levels at baseline. GGT was positively associated with risk of CHD and CHF in age-adjusted models, but not after adjustment for components of the metabolic syndrome and diabetes (Table). In contrast, the highest quartile of GGT remained associated with total mortality even after adjustment for all metabolic factors. Similar findings were seen for analyses of ln-GTT.
Conclusion: The association between GGT and incident cardiovascular events was largely explained by metabolic risk factors. However, elevated GGT was associated with total mortality independent of the metabolic syndrome and diabetes, suggesting a potential alternative mechanism of risk."
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/125/10_MeetingAbstracts/AP005
I hope I haven't added to your confusion. I can relate to your frustration and apparently I got carried away thinking about it and researching it.
I do think it might be prudent to get a cardiac evaluation if you haven't already. I know it's not something most 42 year old men do but I always like to be overly cautious with stuff like this.
I wish you the best.
Mike
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