Cholesterol, Statins, The Hidden Truth

If you have been following my blogs, I think you know and understand my compassion about the adverse effects of using antacid medications. I have discussed how they are actually a poison and can cause disease.

I am going to switch gears for a few weeks discussing a new topic. CHOLESTEROL. So strange, even when I read that word, I associate it with bad health, and heart disease.

Do You?

If you say yes, then you are another victim of skewed science and great marketing by the pharmaceutical industry. Get ready for a series of blogs that will help you understand the truth behind cholesterol, and learn about another health crippling medication that millions of Americans are already taking.

Nearly every person has been exposed to the random blood screen for “wellness” where they check your blood for possible problems. They always analyze your total cholesterol levels and then try to explain to you how bad your need to get the total level lower. They seldom analyze the ratio of HDL:LDL and they seldom explain to you why your cholesterol levels are high. The only purpose of this screen is to scare you into thinking that your cholesterol levels will lead to possible heart disease and the only way to keep this from happening is to figure out the proper dose of a Statin (a cholesterol lowering medication) that your body needs to keep this excess in cholesterol at bay. But is there any clinical study to back up that scare tactic?

The answer is NO.

The small print, no drug company wants to publish.

THERE HAS BEEN ZERO CLINICAL STUDIES THAT SHOW TAKING A STATIN MEDICATION WILL LOWER YOUR CHANCE OF HEART DISEASE. On the bright side, there has been some small evidence that if males have had a heart attack, taking a statin drug will reduce his risk of having a second heart attack. Do you know what I think is a more logical factor of what prevents males from having a second heart attack? Maybe its because they had a first heart attack, and then had to realize that they need to make some changes in their life, because a heart attack is pretty serious.

Here is what a Statin Drug does to inhibit production of cholesterol. 

As you can see, statin drugs inhibit the function of HMG-CoA Reductase to convert HMG-CoA to Mevalonate.

Did you just read that, I said "Inhibits the function of something...

Lets go back to the definition of poison, shall we?

poison [ˈpɔɪz^ən]

n

1. (Medicine) any substance that can impair function, cause structural damage, or otherwise injure the body

Do the statin medications fall under the classification as a poison????

I hope you are wondering, why is cholesterol demonized as the culprit behind heart disease and heart attacks???

Many years ago, autopsies were performed on a numerous amount of patients that met their maker in the hands of a heart attack. The blood analysis of these patients did show a high cholesterol level. This correlation is what spawned the idea of creating a medication that would decrease cholesterol levels. This concept does seem to make sense, but, I assume or hope, it was not fully understood why cholesterol is in the blood stream.

If you think that having high cholesterol levels is linked to eating a high fat diet, you are wrong. If you are worried about eating the yolk of an egg because of your cholesterol, sorry, that is ridiculous. Only 25% of the cholesterol that courses through your blood is a result of you eating fat. 75% of your total cholesterol levels in the blood are PRODUCED BY THE LIVER.

What is cholesterol?

Sorry, cholesterol is not just that fatty deposit that you find in your arteries when you have blockage.

Cholesterol is a HORMONE.

All hormones in the body are produced by the body, used by the body, and are absolutely necessary for health.

And CHOLESTEROL IS THE PRECURSOR TO almost EVERY MAJOR HORMONE!! Look at the chart to the right, progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone are formed from the break down of cholesterol.

Want to know some other functions that cholesterol has?

• Fat metabolism
• Yes, fat metabolism, eating saturated fats does not make you gain fat.
• Cell development
• Cell wall formation
• Blood vessel wall strengthening
• Yes, strengthening.
• Bile production
• This is how Cheerios lowers cholesterol. It requires bile to digest the fiber.
• Vitamin D production
• Nerve cell production
• Statins have showed links to increasing prevalance of Alzheimer's
• Production of lubrication fluids

I hope it is easy to understand why the liver produces cholesterol to support the health and life us each and every one of us, but I still need to answer the question.

Why, did all of the people that met their maker due to heart disease have high cholesterol levels???

Along with being a building block to many of the body's necessary hormones and being a major component in many of the body's natural function, cholesterol as one very important job to do, that without it, disease is inevitable.

Cholesterol is a natural anti inflammatory healing substance. It is required to decrease inflammation in the blood and other tissues. Without cholesterol, we absolutely cannot heal injured tissue.

If you have ever looked into your blood test or your cholesterol screening test, you will see a bunch of different levels that no one takes into consideration. HDL, LDL, VLDL, Triglycerides, ect. All of these have different meanings, but the big two that I am concerned with are HDL, and LDLs.

They always check your total cholesterol and if it is above 200, you are in trouble, Right?

Well what they never address is why that level is high. What causes your LDLs, or HDLs to be elevated in the blood stream. Well just so you know, the cause is often the solution. No statin drug will help with you real problem.

I will try to draw you a mental picture of what is going on with cholesterol in the blood.

1. Inflammation is like a fire
2. LDLs are like fire extinguishers
3. HDLs are like sweepers that clean up debris

There are a few inflammatory markers in the blood, but the most important factor that is related to heart disease, cholesterol, health, obesity, and our diet is insulin. Insulin is the most anabolic and inflammatory hormone that courses through our blood and it is solely there in response to our diet. When we eat sugar, our pancreas releases insulin to bind to the sugar and take it across the barrier to enter the muscle, or any other tissue.

So, here is the issue. When we eat too much sugar for too long, the insulin doesn't have anywhere to push the sugar to, as the muscles are completely saturated. And we can discuss how a lack of physical exercise will increase the need to muscles to use sugar, but that is for another blog.

So, we have an abundance of sugar, which is inflammatory, or a fire in the blood stream. We have an abundance of insulin, which is inflammatory, another fire, trying to get the sugar out. But neither can do their job because we do not need any more sugar in our tissues. The body has to get this fire out of the blood stream, so it signals the liver to produce a fire extinguisher, LDLs. The LDLs are release from the liver, into the blood and races to every inflammatory particle in the blood. The amount of LDLs is in direct relation to your level of inflammation, or how big of a fire you have created with your diet.

After these LDLs have extinguished the fire that you created by eating too much sugar, here comes the HDLs to the rescue. HDLs are like the sweepers, that collect all of the LDLs that have bound themselves to the inflammation, and transports it back to the liver to be excreted, or thrown away.

Needless to say, your total cholesterol level in your blood, or your HDL + LDL levels are in direct correlation to your body's inflammation level. And more importantly, cholesterol is absolutely VITAL in decreasing your systemic inflammation levels. So blocking your ability to produce a vital hormone to decrease you total cholesterol levels is absolutely absurd.

Stop eating an inflammatory diet, and your liver will not produce as much cholesterol to put out the fire. If you block the ability to make cholesterol with a statin, and you do not decrease your demand for cholesterol by eating better, your health will suffer.... Greatly.

So what happens when you take a Statin drug, that blocks your body's ability to produce cholesterol when your liver is in demand of it. Stay Tuned.

If you are interested in going through this adventure of health with a natural approach, call (812) 799-0668 TODAY and schedule a FREE CONSULTATION, and let's get you back on the path to health and wellness together.

Visit www.NewStartHealthCenter.com TODAY!

What Should I Eat? Omega-3 Oil

There is a lot of buzz about the importance of omega-3 fatty acids in the media, and there cannot be enough emphasis of the importance for healthy living. Omega-3 fatty acids have three basic forms that are utilized in the human body, ALA, DHA, and EPA. The actual names are not important as they are a long scientific name, instead I will discuss why they are important. Today, I want you to learn about ALA.

ALA is a plant form of omega-3 fatty acid, found in flax seed, canola oil, olive oil, etc. ALA is responsible for taking Calcium from the blood to the tissue. This transportation is vital to keep our skin healthy. Calcium deficiency in the skin can cause hives, canker sores (Herpes), and eczema. Calcium in the skin is important in fighting infection, so we need ALA to transport Calcium to the skin to protect us from bacteria if we happen to get a cut in our skin.

I want you to start thinking of how each of the nutrients in the body are working together to create a healthy system. You have most likely seen a vitamin D supplement that you can buy from the store, and it usually says "with Calcium." Why is that you ask? Vitamin D binds to Calcium to be transported from our tissues to the blood. So as we spend time in the sun, the oil in our skin is converted to vitamin D, and to get into the blood it utilizes the Calcium that is stored in our skin. As we spend time in the sun, we begin to tan, and eventually end with a sun burn. When we become sun burned from the sun, this is simply a deficiency of Calcium in the skin, because it has all been utilized to transport the vitamin D to the blood tissue. Sun stroke, skin cancer, and elevated blood pressure has been linked to elevated blood serum levels of Calcium, and decreased tissue levels of Calcium.

OK, back to ALA fatty acids. As previously stated, ALA is responsible for transporting Calcium from the blood, back to the tissue. IF you want to protect your skin, and your health, be sure to optimize your Vitamin D levels and ALA omega-3 levels.

Take the Vitamin D Deficiency Quiz and the Omega-3 Deficiency Quiz to find out if you need to balance your levels, and improve your health.

If you are tired of seeking pain relief with no results, call (812) 799-0668 TODAY and schedule a FREE CONSULTATION, and let's get you back to the PAIN-FREE Life you are missing.

Visit www.NewStartHealthCenter.com TODAY!

What Should I Eat? Nutritional Supplements

I can not emphasize enough about the importance of vitamins and micronutrients for our body's health. Of the thousands of micronutrients that the body utilizes every day, there are a select few that bear more importance than others. Over the next few weeks, I will be discussing a few of the most important supplements to take, and provide you material to understand if you could be suffering from deficiencies.

Vitamin D: Vitamin D acts more like a hormone than a vitamin in the body, as it transfers ingested calcium to the blood. We gather vitamin D from the sun on our skin, and if you live north of the Mason Dixon Line, you are most likely deficient from late September to April. Vitamin D is essential for immune response, bone strength, weight loss, and overall wellness of the human body.

Common symptoms and diseases that have been clinically proven to be associated with low serum levels of Vitamin D include:

• Weight Gain
• Metabolic Syndrome
• Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• Chronic Sinus Infection
• Ear Infection
• Premenstrual Syndrome
• Muscle Weakness
• Muscle Pain
• Cognitive Dysfunction
• Osteoporosis
• Rickets

If you have suffered from any of these symptoms or illnesses, take the Vitamin D Deficiency Quiz. New-Start Health Center will guide you through a healthier lifestyle.