Safer Ways to Reduce Your Cholesterol

Happy Saturday! Unfortunately I got my fingers caught in a fan last night so typing is slow and difficult. Not a good idea to try to fix a fan in the dark while it's on!

Here are some easy alternative ways to both prevent and treat high cholesterol/cardiovascular problems. Diet and lifestyle, possibly a few supplements, will do wonders.

Watch what you eat.
You are expecting me here to say stop eating milk, cheese, eggs, and beef because they contain high levels of dietary cholesterol. That is definitely not what I’m saying! As reader Jamie pointed out in the first post on Tuesday, studies show that egg consumption has nothing to do with high cholesterol levels.

However, I am suggesting that reducing animal based foods and replacing them with plant-based foods will provide many benefits that will naturally keep your cholesterol in check. Plant based foods contain a lot more antioxidants that could prevent artery damage.

By eating a largely plant-based diet, you would also be consuming more B-vitamins which help keep homocysteine levels down. Again, homocysteine is known to be an independent risk factor for CVD. Grapefruits have been shown to be exceptionally effective in lowering homocysteine.

It is also wise to identify any food sensitivities. The most common foods that people are sensitive to (not allergic as in when their throats close up) are eggs, milk, wheat, soy and corn. By not recognizing food sensitivities, you could be subjecting your body to systemic low-level inflammation that I explained a few days ago is related to poor cardiovascular health.

Eat as little processed foods as possible. The funky chemicals can cause inflammation in the body. Worse, trans-fats actually cause your cholesterol to go up. Margarine claims to have "no cholesterol" but you sure will if you keep eating it!! Also look out for things like Skippy or Jif peanut butter and most commercially produced baked goods.

Consider following the Mediterranean Diet. http://www.mediterraneandiet.gr/

Increase consumption of garlic and onion.

Exercise:
It lowers blood pressure, increases blood flow to the heart, lowers LDL, and raises HDL.

Don’t smoke.

These supplement recommendations for high cholesterol come directly from the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine:

• Flaxseed oil – 1 Tbs daily
• Niacin (as inositol hexaniacinate) – 500 mg three times per day with meals for 2 weeks, then increase dosage to 1,000 mg three times per day with meals. (Talk to you doctor if you are going to use niacin because it does have side effects that should be monitored. These side effects are in no where near those of statin drugs, and niacin has been shown to be a lot more effective in comparison. It is used in Europe all the time. I included more information below.
• Garlic – minimum of 4,000 mcg of allicin per day (allicin is the stuff in garlic that has the cholesterol-lowering effects)
• Vitamin C – 1,000 mg/day

More on niacin: This is the medicine (which is actually a B vitamin) that was used for high cholesterol since the 1950s and is still used in Europe. It is also used in the U.S. but to a much lesser extent, despite the better results. Here are some interesting numbers that also came from the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Studies show benefits like the following:

After 26 weeks of niacin therapy or lovastatin (Mevacor):

LDL Reduction:
Lovastatin: 32%
Niacin: 23%

HDL Increase (you want high HDL):
Lovastatin: 7%
Niacin: 33%

Lp(a) Reduction:
Lovastatin: 0
Niacin 35% (!!)

Niacin has long lasting effects so even after it is stopped, cholesterol levels remain low for a much longer time than statin drugs.

So to conclude on the topic of cholesterol, here are the important things to remember – high cholesterol is only a small part of the picture as it relates to overall heart health. Make sure to look into other risk factors like levels of homocysteine, Lp(a) and C-reactive protein. Before agreeing to any cholesterol-lowering drug, research it thoroughly because it is likely unnecessary and also very dangerous. There are other methods of reducing high cholesterol such as niacin and changes in diet that are safer and more effective.

If anyone wants me to dig up studies or further information for them, I’d be happy to!