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Help for High Cholesterol
Symptoms of high cholesterol levels and
ways to lower cholesterol naturally.
Cholesto-Rite
Designed to safely support the body in its ability to maintain healthy levels of LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. | Are You Dying to Lower Your Cholesterol? By Sayer Ji "We have one and a half million heart attacks in the U.S.each year. About 50 percent have normal cholesterol. Clearly, current guidelines are not adequate to identify all those individuals who are at increased risk."
~ Nader Rifai, MD(2004) Yes, you heard Dr. Rifai right: statistically speaking cholesterol levels have what amounts to ZERO relevance in determining heart attack risk. A 50-50 chance, after all,means a coin flips worth of certainty. But that's not all: people with the highest cholesterol may also live the longest... Consider the finding of Dr. Harlan Krumholz of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University, who reported in 1994 that elderly with low cholesterol died twice as often from a heart attack as did the elderly with a high cholesterol. His research also showed that all-cause mortality was significantly reduced in those whose cholesterol was highest. Cholesterol has long been blamed for the epidemic of heart disease in this country, despite hundreds of peer reviewed studies indicating that - to the contrary - low cholesterol levels may increase the risk of dying from infection, stroke, cancer, and yes, even heart attack itself. The fact that you and I have not heard this information in the mass media, has everything to do with who owns and/or advertises within these traditional news channels, and absolutely nothing to do with the facts: namely, cholesterol does not cause heart disease. As heretical as this sounds vis-a-vis orthodox medical opinion, entire organizations exist - international in membership - composed of concerned scientists and physicians whose sole purpose is to debunk the inherent absurdities and inaccuracies of the "lipid hypothesis," or if you will: the "cholesterol myth." For more elaborate information please visit the website of the International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics Cholesterol does not cause heart disease? How can this be? Let's begin by acknowledging that cholesterol is an essential substance produced by nearly every cell of our body, and the building block for innumerable cellular components, such as the cell wall, bile salts, vitamin d, steroid hormones, the mylein sheath of the nerves, 30% of our brain tissue, etc. Low-density-lipoprotein or so-called "bad cholesterol," is the delivery molecule for fat soluble antioxidants like carotenoids, vitamin E, coenzyme q10, etc. and therefore is essential for protecting the body from oxidative damage. Indeed, inadequate levels of LDL can translate into greater oxidative damage to the endothelial lining of the artery therefore increasing the risk of developing heart disease. Moreover, this much villified LDL has also been shown to rapidly deactivate bacterial endotoxin and Staphylococcus aureus a-toxin, both of which are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths from infection, annually. Given these facts, can cholesterol really be considered all that bad? Heart disease, after all, is a complex process involving numerous associations: high C-reactive protein, homocysteine, blood calcium, fibrin, the presence of infectious organisms (bacterial and viral), high blood sugar (and resulting glycation), etc. The biological cascade of adverse changes to the artery begins with damage to the inner lining of the artery (endothelium), resulting in endothelial dysfunction. These initial lesions can occur through any number of trespasses. Some are obvious such smoking, and some are not, such as consuming homogenized milk rich in xanthine oxidase, or through hypercalcemia caused by the ingestion of too much supplemental calcium or excessively high doses of vitamin D. Other lesser known factors include "leaky gut syndrome," where bacteria and cardiotoxic peptides (cow's dairy contains the cardiotoxic beta casein A1 protein) can enter the blood stream causing infection and inflammation in the arteries. Nutritional deficiencies play an essential role. Vitamin C, for instance, is necessary to produce collagen to strengthen and in the case of injury, heal the artery. B vitamins, such as folic acid, b6 and b12 are essential in lowering artery scarring homocysteine levels in the blood. Insufficient levels of vitamin E can lead to the oxidation of LDL, which in turn renders inherently beneficial cholesterol artherogenic. Insufficient levels of amino acids, like arginine, prevent the arteries from dilating sufficiently, leading to higher blood pressure. The list of simple, preventable nutritional steps goes on and on. So, why have we been so fixated on cholesterol as the enemy for all these years? The answer to that question has to do with the sad fact that modern medical practice is driven primarily by economic and not scientific principles. If the complex set of causes of heart disease - all of which have everything to do with what we do and do not put into our bodies - are ignored, and one "genetically predetermined" "bad guy" can be blamed for the problem, not only do you perpetuate the conditions that make the market for such drugs profitable, namely, the continuation of heart disease, but you justify the prescription of a very profitable, though entirely ineffectual drug-based solution, e.g. statin drugs. Statin drugs are bound to become the object of the next biggest class action lawsuits due to the way in which they artificially drive down cholesterol in a manner that may compromise cardiovascular health. Even if statin drugs did not drain the heart muscle of one of its most vital nutrients: coq10, the multitude of adverse "side effects" they cause, such as cognitive impairment, muscle fatigue and muscle wasting syndrome, liver damage, increased cancer risk, neuropathy, dizziness, erectile dysfunction and depression, make it clear that they are best to be avoided as dangerous to one's health. We know that statin drugs inhibit the mevalonate pathway in the liver which interferes with the production of three vitally important substances: cholesterol, coenzyme q10 and dolichol. Far from being selective, taking a statin drug is like throwing a monkey wrench into the molecular machinery of one of our body's most important vital organs: the liver. Coenzyme q10, for instance, is responsible as a co-factor for 90% of all our body's energy production. The heart muscle, in particular, depends heavily on the presence of this essential nutrient. When levels are low, it can not perform its functions efficiently leading perhaps to elevated blood pressure, or worse, cardiomyopathy: the degeneration of the heart muscle itself. Dolichol is essential for neuropeptide formation, cell communication, cell identification, immune system functions and the cellular integrity of our body's DNA. One analogy used to describe the effect that statins have on in the liver is like that of a virus randomly scrambling the code in our computer's operating system. This may explain the results of the "CARE" study on statin drugs and the risk of developing breast cancer [Sacks FM and others. N EngJ Med1996;385;1001-1009]. The pravastatin treated group showed a dramatic 1500% increase in the chance of developing breast cancer! (Note: The carcinogenicity of statins was already well established in rodent studies before gaining FDA approval.) Ultimately heart disease - or any disease! - is not caused by a LACK of a Drug. ...therefore, why are we treating heart disease with drugs? If endothelial dysfunction and plaque build up in the artery can be halted in its progression through dietary modification, or through safe and effective nutritional therapies like pomegranate juice concentrate, or lysine/proline/vitamin c, why are we simply masking symptoms and driving the underlying disease deeper into the system with toximolecular drugs? It comes down to our choices, and our desire to attain greater education and self-awareness. Last time I checked self-healing still does not require FDA approval, so let's get to it! for more information visit the: The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics http://www.thincs.org Sayer Ji is writer, researcher and nutrition educator. Visit his website http://www.greenmedinfo.com for strictly scientific information on the therapeutic value of natural substances. 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