How to Manage Your Cholesterol Without Taking Dangerous Statin Drugs

One of the worse frauds thrust upon patients by doctors is that high cholesterol causes heart disease. This is wrong. The basis for this lie is due to a long continuing study in Massachusetts called the Framingham Study. This study showed a connection between high cholesterol with a higher incidence of heart attacks. Reseachers and drug companies took this information and built an entire medical program around this connection. Pharmaceutical companies invested billions of dollars to find drugs to lower the levels of this demon called cholesterol.

Eureka, they found one.

It was based on a Chinese supplement made from Red Rice Yeast. This yeast which grows on the rice had been used for three thousand years in China for cardio vascular disease and it's health promoting effects. The drug companies took this supplement, changed its chemical structure a little, so they could patent it, since you cannot patent a natural substance. They then put this "new" drug on the market as the statin class drugs called Lipitor, Zocor and the other "or" drugs. In the best of Chutzpah, the drug companies then turned around and sued the supplement companies, which had been selling the red rice yeast for many years, for selling a drug and they won in court! Red Rice Yeast was removed from the market. Some Naturopathic Doctors continued to prescribed and provide this product to their patients.

But by changing the chemical structure of the red rice yeast so they could then patent it, they made a perfectly safe supplement used for thousands of years into a dangerous "new" drug. This new statin drugs causes such side effects as muscle pains, to muscle destruction, to kidney failure, to liver failure. But hey, that's okay the drug companies were making billions of dollars off these drug. A little damage to the patient was apparently "acceptable collateral damage".

They then sent their drug reps to teach MD's that cholesterol was the source of heart attacks and all the doctors had to do was prescribe Lipitor or Zocor or another statin and the risk would be reduced. "Oh, yea, the reps would say, we're having a convention in Maui, all expenses paid, for the top 10% of prescribers of our drug" or they would say, "we need an experienced doctor to write a research article for us (which was already pre-written for them) and we'll pay you a $10,000 honorarium". To help this scam out, the American Medical Association (AMA) passed a new recommendation, a few years ago, that the "healthy" level of total cholesterol in the blood would be reduced from 200 mg/DL to 180 mg/DL. Thus with this new recommendation...even more people can be placed in the risky category and placed on a statin drug. This will ensure more profit for the drug companies and more "lecture fees" and "free conventions" for the MD's.

What a scam.

Cardiovascular diseae is not a single component disease. There are many factors, more than is actually known by researchers, as to what caues cardiovascular disease and heart attacks in particular. The main cause of cardiovascular disease is INFLAMMATION! Not cholesterol! Plaque that builds up in arteries causing constriction are made up of many things: fibrin, calcium, dead cells and yes cholesterol. But if you listen to the drug companies the only cause is cholesterol and "We have the perfect drug for it!".

To prevent heart attacks you must stop the inflammation, not lower cholesterol.

Inflammation causes damage to the intima (inner lining) of the blood vessels which cause the blood flow to be turbulent, similar to rapids in a river. The body wants to stop this turbulence by laying a coat of "plaque" so the blood will flow smoothly again. If the inflammation is not addressed, the new plaque will become nicked by inflammatory agents (free radicals) and the blood will once again be turbulent. The body responds by laying down another layer of plaque.

As long as the underlying cause (inflammation) is not addressed the turbulence, plaque buildup will continue until the blood vessel is blocked (occluded) and a heart attack or stroke is initiated.

Cholesterol management
Elevated cholesterol is associated with a greater-than-normal risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. While antioxidants can inhibit cholesterol from oxidizing onto the linings of the arteries, knowing and controlling your cholesterol levels is still an important step in preventing cardiovascular disease.
The following nutritional supplements offer synergistic benefits to assist dietary modification to help maintain healthy total serum cholesterol and HDL cholesterol levels for those already within healthy range.

In a later article I will address how to control the CAUSE of heart disease...inflammation.

For now, I would like to try and help those who are still drinking the kool-aide and believe cholesterol is the root of all cardivascular evil. The following information is from Life Extension Organization http://www.lef.org/ and contains their recommendation for controling cholesterol the safe way. Without the use of the physically damaging statin drugs. LEF has excellent research into disease processes and also the best supplements you can purchase. I am not associated in any way with LEF... but I've used their information and products through my medical career.

Good reading. My comments are written in italics.

Elevated cholesterol is associated with (associated with, not the cause of) a greater-than-normal risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. While antioxidants can inhibit cholesterol from oxidizing onto the linings of the arteries, knowing and controlling your cholesterol levels is still an important step in preventing cardiovascular disease.

The following nutritional supplements offer synergistic benefits to assist dietary modification to help maintain healthy total serum cholesterol and HDL cholesterol levels for those already within normal range:

Policosanol, take one tablet twice per day with meals: one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Or Sytrinol, one capsule twice daily. (or red rice yeast)

Fiber, 4 to 6 grams before any high-fat meal. (especially, water soluble fiber such as oats, pectin)

Chitosan, three to six 500-mg chitosan capsules and one 1000 mg ascorbic acid capsule right before a high-fat meal.

Niacin, 1500 to 3000 mg a day (if tolerable).

Artichoke extract, 300 mg, 3 times a day. (keeps the liver healthy in producing and controlling cholesterol)

Garlic, 600 to 4800 mg a day.

Curcumin, 900 to 1800 mg a day. (Helps the liver and stops inflammation)

Gugulipid, 140 mg 1 to 2 times a day. (regulates blood sugar and thus controls cholesterol)

Green tea, 750 mg a day of green tea, 93% polyphenol extract.

Perilla oil, 6000 mg a day. We suggest taking six 1000-mg gel caps daily. If triglycerides are high, consider taking 4-8 softgels of fish oil (EPA/DHA).

Vitamin E, 400 to 800 IU daily (do not use Dl-Alpha vitamin E! Use vitamin E with D-alpha and tocotrienols and tocopherol)

Soy protein extract, 2 heaping teaspoons (5 to 6 grams) of soy powder daily.

Selenium, 200 to 600 mcg daily.

Herbal Cardiovascular Formula, two-six capsules daily with food in divided doses. (A Life Extension Supplement)

If you are interested in keeping your cholesterol with "acceptable" ranges the above will help you to do so.