The truth about high cholesterol
and heart disease
I have found that many people are very confused about the relationship of “high” cholesterol and heart disease—mostly because of the onslaught of print and TV ads for statin drugs. The following is from Dr. Al Sears, MD, and a must read for anyone looking to get to the truth about cholesterol.
Cholesterol is the great red herring of mainstream medicine’s take on heart health. Despite twenty years of propaganda from the heart health industry, the fact is that LDL cholesterol levels are still a terribly poor predictor of whether or not you’re going to have a heart attack. It may surprise you to learn that 75% of heart attack victims have normal cholesterol levels. And this is old news. The myth of cholesterol’s role in heart disease has been thoroughly debunked. But somehow, this hasn’t gotten through to the mainstream medical establishment or the media.
Study after study has demonstrated the potentially debilitating effects of statin drugs. They can produce confused states similar to Alzheimer’s disease. They may increase the risk of cancer death. And putting the blame on LDL cholesterol, they don’t even help solve the underlying problems that cause heart disease.
Case in point: An important study out of UC San Diego has gathered conclusive evidence of statins’ profoundly destructive impact on the brain. It turns out they can provoke symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s. In fact, some of the San Diego study’s subjects reported memory loss to the point where they couldn’t recognize people they’d known for decades. Others found that statins had stripped them of their ability to concentrate, work, think clearly or even talk.
In most cases, their mental powers returned once they went off the drugs. But for some, the damage was lasting. The fact is, after muscle pain and weakness, cognitive problems are the most common side effect of statin drugs. But most people don’t know this. I’ve never heard of a single case of a doctor warning a patient of this potential when they discuss the decision to begin the drug.
From a medical point of view, it’s not at all surprising that they cause brain disorders. Cholesterol is crucial to brain function. It protects nerve cells and literally speeds up your brain’s operation in all areas, including your thought processes, recall, and speech. It’s also the building block for synapses, the areas between nerve cells that transmit messages.
Statins sap your body of an important building block with cholesterol. For some folks, the loss is so great that their bodies—and minds—begin to break down.
Still skeptical? An ongoing heart study in Framingham, Massachusetts demonstrated definitively that older folks with low cholesterol levels actually have lower brain function than those with higher levels. Older people with low total cholesterol (under 200) were much more likely to perform poorly on tests of mental function than those with high cholesterol (over 240).
Your high cholesterol may be protecting you from cancer
The big drug makers continue to sell the notion that the best way to fight heart disease is to lower LDL levels, the so-called “bad” cholesterol. However, for many years now, we’ve known that very low cholesterol levels are linked to increased risk of suicide and violent behavior. New research has even found a link between low cholesterol levels and increased risk of death from cancer.
A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology revealed that driving down cholesterol levels actually increases the risk of cancer.
Researchers at the Tufts University School of Medicine found that among people taking “statin” drugs—like Lipitor and Zocor—there was a higher rate of cancer. Although the link between the drugs and cancer wasn’t clear, there was no doubt that drastically low cholesterol levels correlated to cancer risk.
It makes sense that low cholesterol levels are linked to cancer because cholesterol is one of your body’s basic building blocks. You need it to produce testosterone, to build and repair cell membranes, and to preserve your nerve cells through the formation of the protective “sheaths” that cover them.
Starving your body of this critical substance will lead to other health problems. We already know that extremely low cholesterol levels result in muscle weakness, fatigue, depression, decreased sex drive, and “brain fog.” This new research shows that there may be even more deadly consequences.
Bottom line: far from being the enemy that modern medicine claims, cholesterol is really an essential nutrient. Modern medicine’s obsession with it is misguided.
As I tell my patients almost every day, don’t try to lower cholesterol; it’s your HDL or “good” cholesterol level that you should focus on. As long as your HDL count’s high—say, around 75 to 80—you are not at any higher risk of heart disease if your cholesterol is 350.
A recent issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that those with HDL levels below 35 had an eight-fold higher incidence of cardiovascular disease than those with more than 65mg/dl of HDL. And not only that, but each 1mg/dl increase in HDL cholesterol resulted in a 6% lower risk of death from heart attack!
Consume natural fats. Avoid processed or fast foods containing “trans” fats—these man-made substances were never meant for consumption, and your body doesn’t know what to do with them. They wind up clogging your arteries and putting you on the fast track to heart disease.
Instead, get your fat from eggs, nuts, and unprocessed vegetable oils. These are some of the healthiest foods you can eat. The health benefit of these natural fats comes from their balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. Your body needs both but, as with cholesterol, they have to be in balance. Omega-3s are great for your heart. They’ve been shown to prevent irregular heartbeat, reduce clogging of the arteries, lower blood pressure, and decrease inflammation in body tissues.
If you stick to eating natural fats, you’ll automatically get the right ratio of Omega-6 and Omega-3, which is about 2:1. As an added bonus, you’ll automatically raise your “good” cholesterol levels and you’ll reduce your risk of cancer.
I’ve also found this to be true in helping hundreds of my own patients. In fact, one of my patients Roy, saw astounding success because we worked on increasing his HDL. Roy had suffered a heart attack and came to me because he had terrible pain in his back and legs and always felt weak and tired. He felt like he was 80 and thought it was because of the heart attack.
I worked to wean him off the statin drugs his doctor prescribed, and counseled him on diet and exercise. Within a few days of stopping the drugs Roy’s pain lessened and his energy levels started to rise.
Within months of committing to both interval and strength training, Roy went from 235 pounds and 30% body fat to 185 pounds with 16% body fat—and his HDL soared from 40mg/dl to 55mg/dl. His initial stress test after the heart attack showed significant damage to his heart…now his latest stress test showed very minimal damage, to the point where it was difficult to see any evidence that Roy had ever had a heart attack.
That’s the healing power of HDL.
My advice is to forget about cholesterol and statin drugs and focus instead on the true indicators of heart health. Here’s what you should really be looking out for if you want to know whether you’re at risk:
- Triglycerides
- Insulin
- HDL Cholesterol
- Blood Pressure
- Fasting Blood Glucose
- Waist Size
Triglycerides are the kind of fat in your bloodstream that clogs your arteries. You can lower them safely and naturally by getting more omega-3 and vitamin D. Cod liver oil’s a great source of both. Lean meats, fish, and eggs are also rich in omega-3s. You can also get your vitamin D from supplements – 1,000 IEUs per day will do the trick.
Insulin is the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. And high blood sugar levels lead to obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. If your insulin levels are high, you may be developing insulin resistance, the cause of diabetes. Cut carbs out of your diet and replace them with protein.
HDL Cholesterol is the heart of the matter when it comes to heart disease. Your total cholesterol doesn’t matter if your HDL levels are high. If your HDL’s above 85, you’re at no greater risk for heart disease if your total cholesterol is 150 or 350. A combination of exercise and dietary changes are all you need to boost your HDL.
Blood Pressure is another indicator of heart disease risk. You can easily lower it through exercise, diet, and supplements. CoQ10, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin C have all been shown to benefit people with high blood pressure. Garlic and cayenne pepper also contain natural ingredients that reduce hypertension.
…………………………………………………………..
Dr. Al Sears is fast becoming the nation's leading authority on longevity and heart health. Since the release of his latest book, The Doctor's Heart Cure, he has been interviewed on over two dozen nationally syndicated radio programs with an audience of millions. In just three years, Dr. Sears has published over 325 articles and 3 books. In 2002, he was appointed to the international panel of experts at Health Sciences Institute, (HSI) a worldwide consulting service for integrative healthcare. He is also an adjunct professor at Barry University where he teaches courses in human anatomy, physiology and nutrition.
