Sunday, May 13, 2007

The Cholesterol Hoax

NutriNews, October 2006, by Douglas Laboratories had a very interesting summary of the various cholesterol studies done around the world. I find this to be very timely considering the latest drug company induced physician recommendation to lower LDL cholesterol to 70 or less. It is a excellent business plan for the drug companies to sell more drugs. Of course they never tell you the problems encountered as a result of the lowered cholesterol regarding memory, immune system compromise, free radical control and mental health issues. Further, it is a well know fact that Statin drugs reduce CoQ10 levels in the body and anyone taking such drugs should be on CoQ10 supplementation. Few doctors know what CoQ10 is let alone prescribe it for supplementation. The following are bits of information conveniently left out of these various studies when they were reported to the public.
• Honolulu Heart Program (2001)
– Increased mortality in elderly with low serum cholesterol
• ALLHAT (2002, Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial)
– Mortality of treatment group and controls after 3 or 6 years was identical
• MIRACL (2001) High dose Lipitor
– No change in death rate and no significant change in re-infarction rate or need for resuscitation from cardiac arrest between test and control subjects
• Heart Protection Study (2002) Harvard
– Mortality rates between drugged and control subjects, only 1.7% difference
• PROSPER (2002, Prospective Study of Provastatin in the Elderly at Risk)
– Total mortality no difference
– Treatment group had increased cancer
• J-LIT (2002, Japanese Lipid Intervention Trial)
– No correlation between LDL lowering and death at 5 years
• Meta-Analysis (2003) 44 trials, 10,000 patients
– Death rate was identical between drugged and controls
– 45% of control, 65% of drugged group had adverse event
• Statins and Plaque (2003)
– No statistical difference in progresion of arterial calcified plaque
• Statins and Women (2003)
– Statins offer no benefit to women for prevention of heart disease
• ASCOT-LLA (2003, Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial – Lipid Lowering Arm)
– Total mortality was not significantly reduced
– Women were fared worse with treatment
• Statins and Plaque (2003)
– No statistical difference in progresion of arterial calcified plaque
• Statins and Women (2003)
– Statins offer no benefit to women for prevention of heart disease
• ASCOT-LLA (2003, Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial – Lipid Lowering Arm)
– Total mortality was not significantly reduced
– Women were fared worse with treatment

If we truly have to lower a person's cholesterol, red rice yeast is a good natural alternative along with plant sterols and good liver support with milk thistle and Metagenics Ultra Clear Plus. To lower triglycerides one might consider lowering carbs in the diet. I often will use the Metagenics Ultra Meal program or Ultra GlycemX program. I also suggest supporting the body with adequate antioxidants expecially the fat soluble vitamins A, D, K, E along with C and fish oils and/or flax oil.

Remember, having a metabolic imbalance is not the same as saying you have a "drug deficiency."

1 comment:

Judge said...

I've heard that even if you take the natural statin, red yeast rice, one must still supplement with Coenzyme Q-10. Your opinion?

Also, another natural supplement, policosanol, supposedly does not inhibit the liver from producing Coenzyme Q-10. Your opinion?