Cholesterol Bad?

Is high cholesterol bad for me and what can I do about it?

When I read an article, I always want to know the bottom line. What is the point? I don't always want to know the process of how someone got there, unless the process is really interesting. I am offering you the same option. In this article the conclusion is first; the explanation follows. Please let me know if you like this format.

To begin at the end, here is the bottom line:

50% of heart attacks occur in people with normal cholesterol levels
Cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, heart attack and stroke
Heart disease has multiple causes, not just one
Cholesterol lowering medication is not safe
Statin cholesterol lowering medication depletes the body of nutrients necessary to prevent cancer and to provide energy to the heart muscle cells
Cholesterol goes up with biological stress (such as aging or surgery)
The best dietary prevention of heart disease is eating whole, natural foods and avoiding processed foods and the continuous consumption of sugar
Eating cholesterol laden food and saturated fat does not raise your cholesterol
Maintaining normal hormone levels is cardio protective

Ok, these ideas may seem scary and way out there. But they are not; they are the conclusion of research that has been conducted to identify how many lives have been saved as a result of lowering cholesterol both from dietary measures and medication. In this article I hope to clarify some misunderstanding and explain the facts behind the conclusions listed above.

Let's take the conclusions one at a time:

50% of heart attacks occur in people with normal cholesterol levels.

According to the National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines, 50% of people who have a heart attack have normal cholesterol. You can identify if you are at risk by taking the Lipoprotein Particle Profile (LPP). The LPP is a highly sophisticated test of your blood to see if your proteins are carrying lipids that are likely to clog your arteries whether your cholesterol is high or low. The buoyant size of a lipid particle is healthy and will not likely cause your arteries to clog. The small dense lipid particles will most likely cause your arteries to clog. The LPP test distinguishes between them and gives you a measure of your actual cardiac risk. The LPP is available by prescription from your doctor and is available through the Center.

Cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

When heart attacks were first researched, fatty streaks made of cholesterol were identified. It was theorized that the cholesterol formed a plug and stopped the flow of blood. Further research has shown that the disease process is very advanced before the cholesterol fatty streak forms. That disease process is free radical damage to the endothelial cells that line the artery. It is here that the prevention and treatment of free radicals is helpful. The free radical injury to the cells causes an immune response which leads to the formation and production of inflammatory cells. These inflammatory cells are the same cells that respond to any injury in the body. The end result is that the artery, which should be a smooth tube, not allowing any leakage, becomes leaky and develops irregularities. This irregular surface means that components of the blood can get stuck on the irregular surface and a plaque forms. One of these blood components is cholesterol. Cholesterol does not cause the plaque; the damage to the artery and the resultant inflammatory process does; but the cholesterol is found at the scene of the crime.

Heart disease has multiple causes, not just one

The cause of heart disease is multi-factorial. Inflammation, endothelial cell injury and dysfunction, platelet stickiness and free radical damage to arteries are all well described causes of heart disease. No reduction in coronary artery disease has actually been demonstrated by the reduction of cholesterol through dietary or medical methods.

Cholesterol lowering medications are not safe

Statin drugs are currently the most widely prescribed medications in the country. Unfortunately their efficacy has been disappointing. There have recently been numerous articles in the popular press highlighting the damaging effects of statin medications. Here are some of the more common side effects:

Statin drugs have been shown to cause inflammation of the muscles. This has occurred even in people without symptoms of muscle pain. It has been shown to turn on the gene artogen-1, a muscle atrophy gene which leads to muscle atrophy.
The statin drugs can also affect mentation, including loss of memory and executive functioning (like the steps needed in making coffee) since they pass through the blood brain barrier. The brain needs cholesterol for normal function. Thus many elderly people become more confused while taking statin drugs and cases of dementia. The elderly are the most likely population to receive statin prescriptions.
Lowering the cholesterol level to 140 or below in fact, leads to an increase in risk of death from all other causes, including violence.

Statin cholesterol lowering medication depletes the body of nutrients necessary to prevent cancer and to provide energy to the heart muscle cells

Statin drugs inhibit not only the production of cholesterol but also of squalene. Squalene is a powerful anti-cancer compound produced by the body in the same pathway as cholesterol. It is particularly important to fight breast cancer. A woman under the age of 50 taking statins is at significantly higher risk of breast cancer if taking a statin drug.
CoQ10 is an enzyme necessary for the optimal function of mitochondria in the heart. The mitochondria are the cellular components that produce energy for the cell. The heart has 5000 mitochondria per muscle cell. Optimizing mitochondrial function is one of the best treatments for any heart disease. CoQ10 is made by the body in the same pathway as cholesterol. Therefore, statin drugs also prevent the production of CoQ10.

Cholesterol goes up with biological stress (such as aging or surgery)

What kind of stress and what does that mean? Any kind of stress will cause cholesterol to rise:

Emotional stress
The stress of intense physical exercise
The physical stress of exposure to toxins such as air pollution, components of medication, exposure to cleaning agents or dyes
Dietary intake of highly processed food such as white sugar, refined white flour, processed and packaged food
The stress of chronic illness
The stress of major surgery
The aging process itself is a stressor for the body

The reason cholesterol goes up during a stress reaction is that it is a necessary ingredient for the repair of tissue and of cellular damage. Cholesterol is in our cell membranes, it is a major component of the myelin sheath which surrounds the nerves of the brain and helps them fire faster, cholesterol is needed to make our hormones like, vitamin D, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol and others. So any time the cells of the body are injured and cellular repair is required cholesterol is required.

The best dietary prevention of heart disease is eating whole, natural foods and avoiding processed foods and the continuous consumption of sugar

Sorry folks, but the bottom line is that the continuous consumption of sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup (found in sodas), sugar in the drunk-all-day category of coffee sweetener and coffee specialty drinks from Starbucks, those early morning donuts and the hidden sugars of grains and fruit juice are heart disasters. The constant consumption of sugar leads to the constant elevation of insulin levels which leads to a resistant cellular response to insulin which leads to inflammation which leads to arterial damage. This does not mean you can never eat sugar or something that is sweet. It means that we tend to consume sugar in many ways without being aware of it. It means that we are often addicted to sugar and eat it excessively. Also white sugar is the norm. It is a highly processed food. The whole, natural food would be sugar cane or another sweetener like maple syrup or unheated raw honey. Most people have never tasted raw honey.

The best dietary prevention of heart disease is eating whole, natural foods and avoiding processed foods. Processed foods are those found in packages, are often made with high fructose corn syrup, highly damaging vegetable oils or trans fats. Eating whole, natural foods contain none of these damaging substances.

What I mean by whole, natural foods is eating the apple, not the juice; eating the fresh whole vegetable itself, not a canned or frozen version, eating cheese, not a packaged cheese sauce, eating fresh meat grown without hormones or antibiotics, not a McDonald's burger filled with additives.

Eating cholesterol laden food and saturated fat does not raise your cholesterol

This was originally believed to be true. Further research measuring serum cholesterol after eating saturated fat and cholesterol laden food showed that the cholesterol levels did not change.

Maintaining normal hormone levels is cardio protective

The excellent research of Dr. Broda O. Barnes demonstrated clearly the protective effect of maintaining normal thyroid levels. Additionally, maintaining normal levels of sex steroids has also been demonstrated to aid the health of the coronary arteries. Testing and maintaining normal hormone levels is a service provided by the Center for Holistic Psychiatry and Pain Management.

For further information on the topic of cholesterol these are excellent resources:

The Weston A. Price Foundation, http://www.westonaprice.org/.