LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Cholesterol

How Much Do We Know About “Good” Cholesterol?

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When it comes tocholesterol, we’ve viewed things in black and white.  Total cholesterol is bad.  LDL is bad.  HDL is good.

When drugs to lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol failed miserably (yes—the statins), the drug companies tried to make a drug that raised HDL cholesterol.  Ironically enough, the money for research and development likely came from the money from sales of the near-worthless statin, atorvastatin (Lipitor).

Torcetrapib, the first drug of its time made by Pfizer, indeed did raise HDL cholesterol but ended up killing patients 60% faster in phase III clinical trials so the drug was scrapped.

So what happened?

For some reason, the drug companies still don’t get it.  They don’t seem to understand that it’s not about the NUMBER, it’s about what the number represents.  Any number on your blood work, whether it’s total cholesterol, HDL, fasting glucose, HbA1c or liver enzymes, are merely the snapshot of the entire picture.  You see water leaking from 10 different locations in your house; do you plug all the individual leaks and throw down towels?  Or do you figure out what the problem is (like maybe the roof…) and fix it??

While this seems so obvious with home repair, it seems to have escaped the realm of common sense in medicine.  We find some type of lab value and latch onto it like a toddler with a new toy (or rather, a toddler with the box from the new toy…).  Then we put all of our focus into that lab value and build an entire approach to a disease based on this single lab value.

Back to the HDL issue.  HDL is not a single molecule.  Rather, as this particular study points out, it is actually made up of at least 85 different subtypes of proteins.  85.  So which ones are the best of the best and which ones are irrelevant as far as your risk of heart disease?  Many prescription drugs are designed to target a very specific pathway.  In the example above given for Torcetrapib, it is highly likely that the drug only affected a very small number of the 85+ types of HDL molecules.  Given that we don’t even understand how each of these types of HDL molecules work in concert, messing with only one could potentially lead to disaster, which is what happened.

Contrast this with lifestyle.  Lifestyle changes do not affect a single pathway.  It is likely that the right lifestyle changes geared towards lowering your risk of heart attack and moving you away from diabetes will lead to alterations in a large number of these HDL protein molecules.  Some will shift lower, some will shift higher, all moving in the direction they are supposed to go to protect you from chronic diseases.  Picture the most elaborate concert you have ever heard; each instrument orchestrating beautifully among one another to produce the perfect outcome.  THAT is what lifestyle does.

Pharmaceutical drugs, on the other hand, would be like throwing 2 or 3 toddlers with bats into the percussion section of a philharmonic orchestra.  Not pretty.

This same reason is why, despite the near universal salivation by the drug companies to create a drug that raises HDL cholesterol levels and magically lowers the risk of dying from a heart attack (while at the same time miraculously boosting profits), it will never happen.  Too many variables at play.  Stick with GMO-free soy, exercise and nuts to raise your cholesterol levels instead.

Cholesterol Lowering Drugs and Breast Cancer: Might as Well Smoke Instead

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I am no fan of cholesterol lowering drugs, especially the statins. I thought I was aware of all of the dangerous side effects, but this one caught me by surprise.

My office staff recalls a fundraising event a number of years back for a local cancer organization.  The keynote speaker to a group of maybe 250 attendees was a respected general surgeon here in Chandler.  At the beginning he talked about prevention of breast cancer and my heart rate jumped up slightly in anticipation of hearing him deliver something profound about preventing breast cancer to this captive audience.

Over the next ten minutes or so I went over the long list of things we know to be protective against breast cancer.  Exercise.  Plant based diet.  Non-GMO soy.  Vitamin D.  Less stress.  Cruciferous veggies.  I was trying to guess which one he would throw out to the receptive audience.

Statins.

He mentioned that statins may turn out to lower the risk of breast cancer.  I felt a hand on my shoulder holding me back from running to grab the mike.  Hundreds of things he could have mentioned and he throws out STATINS????  Needless to say we have never gone back to this fundraising event.

Now, years later, we see how completely off base this doctor was.  This particular study looked at whether or not the long term (10+ years) use of statins actually INCREASED the risk of breast cancer.  Here’s what they found:

  1. Current users of statins for 10+ years had an 83% risk of invasive ductal carcinoma (the scary kind).
  2. There was a 97% increased risk of invasive lobular carcinoma.
  3. If there was a diagnosis of elevated cholesterol (and wouldn’t this be almost the entire group??) had a more than double the risk of both invasive ductal carcinoma.
  4. High cholesterol diagnosis and cholesterol lowering drug use ups risk of invasive lobular carcinoma a massive 243%.

Given that this class of drugs flat out sucks at primary prevention of heart attacks, there is not a whole lot more to say on the topic, is there?

CRP Concentrations Correlate With the Severity of Atherosclerosis – (07-24-00)

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CRP Concentrations Correlate With the Severity of Atherosclerosis

C-Reactive Protein is a marker for chronic inflammation in the body. Many experts believe that inflammation is a major contributor to heart disease. Make sure that CRP levels are checked with your cholesterol if you are at risk for heart disease.

Eur Heart J 2000;21:958-960,1000-1008 Dr. Mira-Christine Tataru from Herz- und Gefassklinik, in Bad Neustadt/Saale, and colleagues analyzed the relationship between plasma C-reactive protein levels and the severity of atherosclerosis in 1,112 male and 299 female survivors of acute myocardial infarction and in 326 male and 138 female age-matched controls without coronary disease. Confirming prior studies, Dr. Tataru and colleagues report that plasma C-reactive protein levels increase with age and are higher in smokers than in nonsmokers. Additionally, they report that C-reactive protein concentrations are higher in coronary heart disease patients than in control patients. Among survivors of acute myocardial infarction, C-reactive protein levels correlate with the angiographically detected severity of coronary heart disease. It is also noteworthy, the authors say, that C-reactive protein levels were higher not only in patients with clinically manifest atherosclerosis, but also in patients with preclinical stenoses of the pelvic and leg arteries as well as the extracranial arteries supplying the brain, or aneurysm of the abdominal aorta.

Macadamia nuts improve cholesterol levels – (05-20-00)

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Macadamia nuts improve cholesterol levels

Just because something is high in fat does not mean it’s bad for us. This is a perfect example. Just think what we could do to lower cholesterol levels if we added nuts, cut out on refined carbs, exercise, and possibly added in natural substances such as garlic or red chinese yeast.

Read entire article here

Should You Take Fish Oils? Only if You ALSO Do This

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The concept of omega-3 fatty acids and the benefits for cardiovascular disease originated in the 1970’s with Dyerberg and Bang’s study on the Inuit Eskimos.

Since then, the research on the relationship of omega-3 fatty acids (most popularized by fish oil supplements) has exploded.  Protective effects on cancer rates, seizures, diabetes and heart disease have been demonstrated.  However, lately, research has not been quite as favorable and the most recent study found not effect of fish oil supplements on heart diseae (fish in the diet, however, was still protective).

The are several situations where the benefits of fish oil may not be fully realized.  Here are my thoughts:

  1. Highest on the list is likely that the dosage that many people are taking is generally not high enough (I’ve covered dosage in a previous blog article that can be read by clicking here) and this can definitely affect the benefit.
  2. First, much like anything else, supplements are not designed to work in a vacuum.  In other words, a crappy, processed lifestyle loaded with omega-6 fats will not be counterbalanced by any amount of fish oil supplementation.
  3. The processing of fats in our bodies is complex and requires balance between omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids.  Mother Nature provides the best balance.  Make sure your fish oil supplement contains the omega 6 GLA (black currant, borage oil or evening primrose).  If not, you may generate inflammation rather than protect against it.
  4. Fish oils can become oxidized in our bodies if we are burdened by oxidative stress from a poor quality lifestyle.  A diet loaded with protective phytonutrients from a large array of fruits, veggies and spices will help protect the fats that you take in, whether from a supplement or fish.

With that being said, this particular article just adds additional insight to #2 above.  Researchers looked at the relationship between the levels of EPA + DHA (the fish oils) and physical activity and the ability of the fish oils to lower multiple cardiovascular risk factors.

Not surprisingly, only those who were regularly active got a benefit from higher levels of omega 3 fatty acids in his or her blood.

Hate to use this as a push to be more active, but I’m going to.  Overall, the bottom line is that you HAVE to lower your risk of heart disease and stroke through a comprehensive program.  Singly taking fish oils or singly exercising is not going to give you the bang for your buck that a combination is going to.  And this is yet another reason why mainstream medicines’ approach to heart disease prevention (i.e. “a single pill will fix it all”) is such a failure.

 

CRP–Mediated Low Density Lipoprotein Uptake by Macrophages – (03-22-01)

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CRP–Mediated Low Density Lipoprotein Uptake by Macrophages

I may need to clarify what this article is talking about. First, it is current theory that macrophages become foam cells once they take up LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream. These foam cells are what lead to the buildup of plaque on the arteries. This article is suggesting that CRP (a marker of chronic inflammation) increases the attraction (“opsonizes”) between the LDL and the macrophages. Low level chronic inflammation can come from so many different sources; and can in turn lead to a multitude of chronic diseases.

Circulation — Abstracts: Zwaka et al. 103 (9): 1194

Read entire article here

The “Soy is Evil” Saga Continues: 7 Effects on Prediabetes

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For those of you that read my blog post on soy a few weeks ago and still think I’m off my rocker and being paid under the table by the soy growers association, I present exhibit B.

With the usual caveats of non-processed and non-GMO soy, the research is overwhelmingly in support of soy as part of a healthy lifestyle.  I’ve read the arguments stating that soy was only recently introduced into the human diet maybe 75 years ago, but much like all the other misconceptions about soy, this is untrue and, in this case, the authors are only maybe 5,000 years off (and, in the timeframes of the universe as well as carbon dating techniques, this is merely a rounding error).

In this particular study, authors looked at the ability of genistein (the protective isoflavone found in soy) to help improve prediabetes.  120 women with prediabetes were given 54 mg genistein (about the amount found in a serving of soy) for 1 year.  Here’s what they found:

  1. With genistein use, fasting glucose and fasting insulin dropped.
  2. HDL-C increased an average of 10 mg/dL.
  3. Increased adiponectin levels (an anti-diabetic hormone produced by the fat cells).
  4. Decreased total cholesterol, LDL-C down 30 points, triglycerides and visfatin (another fat derived hormone that drives inflammation and chronic disease).
  5. Homocysteine levels dropped as well (an amino acid linked to heart disease and stroke).
  6. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was also reduced.

To top it all off, genistein users complained of no more side adverse effects than the non-users in the study and did not discontinue the study at any different rate.

Looking at the drop in LDL cholesterol and triglycerides coupled with the increase in HDL, the risk of heart disease is going to plummet with this as well.

Compare this to statins, the wonder drug that I love so much, which ONLY effects one single blood marker (LDL) and will actually LOWER HDL.  So, a drug with loads of side effects (which can be perused ad nauseam in my eBook, which can be found on the eBooks page by clicking here) that has almost no effects on heart disease or stroke rates is not even in the same ballpark as a serving of soy at protecting your heart.

Much life the proverbial death match between the HR Block accountant and the ninja warrior.  Too bad the accountant has billions of dollars backing him up.