Biased study recommends more statin drugs
You may not know, but the cholesterol panel issuing new aggressive guidelines pointing to wider use of statins neglected to reveal ties to drug companies manufacturing those drugs. In fact, Forbes.com called the new guidelines "a gift for Merck, Pfizer and other statin drug makers".1 Nearly everyone on the panel had received grants or honoraria for consulting or speaking; they were obviously indebted to these pharmaceutical giants.
Since cholesterol has been linked with heart disease, shouldn't we do everything possible to reduce the level of cholesterol in the body? The answer is, "maybe" and drugs are the most expensive AND most dangerous way to lower cholesterol.
Is cholesterol bad? Quite the contrary. Cholesterol is indeed vitally important for function of every cell in the body. It is the most common organic molecule in the brain. It is essential to formation of "synapses" that allow nerve cells to communicate. It is the precursor for all the steroid hormones, including estrogen and testosterone, and stress and blood sugar regulating corticosteroids. It regulates function of membranes of all cells, and may have a role in what toxins and nutrients can enter the cell; and regulates function of cell membrane "enzymes" that facilitate key chemical reactions.2
So why is cholesterol demonized? Heart disease is primarily due to damage to the lining of the blood vessel wall (endothelial dysfunction), followed by the development of a blood clot over the area of damage (thrombus formation). Repeated episodes of endothelial dysfunction, and clotting, lead to the build up of a ‘layered’ plaque that can eventually rupture, creating a massive clot, or thrombus, which completely blocks the artery causing a myocardial infarction, or heart attack. The notorious "plaque" consists of oxidized cholesterol that attempts to repair the damage to the arterial wall. So, indeed, arterial health is the key to preventing heart disease and this was the determination of both health researchers and drug makers until the advent of statin drugs.
In fact, it is the free radicals produced by the oxidation of cholesterol which leads to arterial disease. While blood cholesterol is an important factor in heart health, doctors have been perplexed by the fact that many heart patients have normal LDL cholesterol levels while other individuals with higher cholesterol go on to lead relatively healthy lives. LDL by itself is not damaging. But when it's taken up into the artery wall, it becomes oxidized or modified, and it has damaging effects on cells in the artery wall. There are actually two kinds of LDL, the larger LDL, and the small VLDL (very low density lipoprotein). It is the latter which is is linked with blood clots and arterial disease. Triglycerides (essentially blood fat) are at the bottom of this. Triglycerides are potentially useful as fuel when absorbed into muscle cells. Triglycerides not used as fuel wind up in the liver where they are converted to dangerous VLDL and released back into the blood stream.
So keeping triglycerides under control is extremely important for cardiovascular health. They are produced in the body by the conversion of glycogen to triglycerides as a direct result of eating high-glycemic carbohydrates like sugar, not fat as one might think. Also, a high-carbohydrate diet tends to raise insulin levels. A higher insulin level makes it harder for triglycerides to get into muscle cells where they are used for energy, and thus these "trigs" remain in the bloodstream. Dr. Barry Sears in his book: OmegaRx Zone has identified a reliable way to determine your cardiovascular health, by measuring your TG/HDL ratio. That's the ratio of triglycerides to HDL, the "good" cholesterol. It should always be less than 2.
--> 5 ways to control cholesterol safely <--
1. Avoid high-glycemic carbohydrates with better diet choices - The Best Choices Diet
2. Get plenty of exercise, both aerobic and resistance (raises HDL)
3. Take a high-quality multi-nutrient supplement
4. Take at least 2 - 3 grams of EPA/DHA from Omega-3 Fish Oil daily (see below)
5. And if you have high cholesterol, start taking the new Cholesterol Lowering Formula below, containing nutrients as effect as statin drugs without the dangerous side effects
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Reduces cholesterol production & absorption Lowers cholesterol safely & more effectively than statins Reduces cholesterol oxidation improving arterial healthAll the ingredients used are supported individually by multiple clinical studies. The synergistic multi-action of this product works to produce a total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride lowering effect greater than any other natural supplement on the market today. Click here to read more
1 http://www.forbes.com/healthcare/2004/07/12/cx_mh_0712mrk.html
2 Dr. Beatrice A. Golomb, MD, PhD, University of California at San Diego