LifeCare Chiropractic

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cholesterol

USE OF STATINS INCREASES CIRCULATING LEVELS OF VIT E (02-23-09)

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Early decrease of oxidative stress by atorvastatin in hypercholesterolaemic patients: effect on circulating vitamin E

Homage to the use of statins for preventing heart disease continues. But research suggests that their protective effect (as questionable as that is) comes not from their ability to lower cholesterol, but likely from some type of antioxidant or anti-inflammatory effect.

This study finds that the use of statins increases circulating levels of Vit E, hinting that statins may have some type of antioxidant effects. However, this can be looked at another way. What if the use of statins increases Vit E levels, and this increase in Vit E levels is one of the ways that the risk of heart disease is lowered? Wouldn’t that be a hoot? The pharmaceutical companies would hate to have their $100 / month drug replaced with $10 of Vit E.

Read entire article here

INFLAMMATION IMPAIRS REVERSE CHOLESTEROL TRANSPORT

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With the focus on what we can do to prevent heart disease entirely centered around a drug standpoint, no one seems to care that a large chunk of those with heart disease have normal cholesterol.  But inflammation is a major player in heart and stroke risk, which is evidenced by hsCRP levels.

This particular study finds that inflammation effects the way our bodies process cholesterol, leading to increased risk despite normal cholesterol levels.  Great ways to lower inflammation include higher intake of omega-3 fatty acids, exercise, stress management and a healthier diet.

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AGGRESSIVE TREATMENT OF HIGH CHOLESTEROL WITH STATINS

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Muscle Microvascular Dysfunction in Central Obesity Is Related to Muscle Insulin Insensitivity but Is Not Reversed by High-Dose Statin Treatment

Stop the presses!!  You mean that aggressive treatment of high cholesterol with statins that is caused by insulin resistance will make the numbers look better but will not actually affect the insulin resistance?????  I find this very hard to believe.

So, what we’re saying here is that statins do nothing to fix the actual problem, but DO make it look better?  Always helps to place a sticker over your “check engine” light…

Read entire article here

HYPE ABOUT LOWERING CHOLESTEROL

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Honey on Suppression of Human Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) Damage

Despite all the hype about lowering your cholesterol, the reality is that cholesterol all by its lonesome does not create problems.  It is only when the cholesterol molecule gets oxidatively damaged that it becomes and oxysterol and subsequent damage to our cardiovascular system.  So obviously, anything that protects the cholesterol molecule is a good thing.

This study finds that the large number of protective compounds in honey actually protect cholesterol.  Remember that the darker and locally grown honeys are always going to be the best bet.

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WHY DOESN’T CHOLESTEROL MATTER TO MY HEART?

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MY DOCTOR TELLS ME MY CHOLESTEROL IS HIGH…WHY DOESN’T THIS MATTER TO MY HEART?  To really understand this, you need to understand how the body processes fats through the liver.  Basically, our body uses proteins to carry fats around the body.

In general, the more protein (thus more dense) one of these carrier molecules has, the safer it is for our blood vessels and heart.  The more fat (and less dense) in the molecule the more it can damage the vessels.  In someone who is prediabetic (and has high triglycerides), the liver makes more of the less dense molecules (VLDL attached to Apo C III).  It is a bad shift from dense HDL to very light VLDL and the use of the protein Apo C III.

Total cholesterol is merely one single value in a sea of these molecules, and what types of molecules we have floating in our blood is more of a reflection of how healthy we are rather than having a single value (like total cholesterol) as an indicator.

So, to REALLY get an idea of what our risk of heart disease is, we need an overall total picture of these molecules.  Looking at the single marker (total cholesterol) is the equivalent of looking through a telescope at the ground in front of you as you walk.  Really kind of pointless….

Read entire article here

IS MY CHOLESTEROL BAD FOR MY HEART?

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IS MY CHOLESTEROL BAD FOR MY HEART?  If you’ve been reading my posts now, you’ve got my feedback on the lack of association between cholesterol and heart disease.  Interestingly, without the drug companies and doctors coming out and saying that their is no relationship, we’ve been seeing a form of backpedaling in the medical research.

What we’re seeing is twofold.  First, looking for other markers (like inflammation and homocysteine) that are related to heart disease.  Second, looking at the wonder class of drugs, the mighty savior of the heart, the bastion of all that is good in medicine, the STATINS (you can almost hear the angels humming….) and their effects on these markers.  It’s been a quiet movement, but it’s there.

This study looked at 10 yr risk factors for heart disease based on the NHANES III data .  Guess what is suspiciously absent?  You guessed it–cholesterol.

WHY WEIGHT LOSS IS NOT ABOUT FAT

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Human physiology is beyond description.  There is nothing that happens without a reason.  Every chronic disease is an expected outcome given the circumstances we create in our bodies.  Even fat has a reason to be.

Just ask a bear.  Or a camel.

In bears, fat is a storage depot for extra calories during hibernation.  In the Inuit Eskimos of Greenland have a tendency to store fat, and for the same reasons (no–they don’t hibernate, but would YOU go out looking for food when even the penguins are dying from the cold??).

In the rest of us, excess fat is almost always a result of bad physiology.  Again, the body does nothing without a good reason.  In the case of fat, it is the equivalent of a castle under siege.

What happens when a castle is under seige?  Energy is conserved (which can lead to fatigue despite a massive amount of stored energy).  The armory, weapons and soldiers gear up (inflammation levels go up).  This begins the long term problems with excess weight.

In today’s society, excess fat is usually the result of mixed up messages.  The calories we take in are low quality with low phytonutrient value.  As a result, our cells get lazy and the mitochondria within all of our cells are less efficient.  The analogy I give is with computer programs.  Years ago, with less available memory on our computers programs were smaller and more efficient.  As memory capability has expanded, so have the sizes of the programs.  That’s how our cells work–too much calories and they get lazy and slothful.

When cells themselves are burning off energy less efficiently, the resultant excess calories become stored as fat.  These fat cells then begin to run out of good blood flow (this is actually the most current theory as to why abnormal fat storage begins to wreak havoc).  Less blood flow means less nutrients which leads to a panic state within the fat cell.  The fat cell then begins to crank out inflammatory messengers that wreak further havoc on the current path towards chronic disease.

Sounds just wonderful, huh?

Here’s the problem.  So many people, especially around this time of the year, begin an exercise routine in an attempt to lose weight.  Many become frustrated when no real noticeable weight is lost in the first month.  It’s at this point that many people quit.

You should exercise because it is the right thing to do for our health, NOT because it is a means to losing weight.  Get that thought out of your head right now.  Exercise boosts mood, increases energy, increases sex drive (and really…isn’t this reason enough..??) and improves other markers of health such as blood pressure and inflammatory markers like hsCRP.

This particular article illustrates this concept wonderfully.  Basically, the researchers looked at two groups of overweight patients.  The first group was overweight and unfit (based on VO2 max–a marker of aerobic capacity) and the second group was overweight but fit.

Overall, the overweight but fit patients had better cardiovascular markers (HDL, triglycerides, ALT, insulin resistance markers) than their unfit counterparts.

The bottom line is that exercise has very clear, strong benefits to your health, even if they do not instantly translate into a leaner you.  So don’t quit when the scale doesn’t change.  Just make sure you’re doing something you love so that it never feels like exercise.

DO I BUY THE EXPENSIVE OR THE CHEAP OLIVE OIL??

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DO I BUY THE EXPENSIVE OR THE CHEAP OLIVE OIL??  This article gives some more info.  Basically, cholesterol, despite all the hype of the statins, does not, all by itself, cause problems.  It is not until it gets oxidatively damaged that it becomes an oxysterol and can begin to damage arteries.  So, less oxysterols = better vascular health.

In this study the researchers looked at levels of phenols (class of protective compounds in olive oil) in those who used virgin olive oil vs refined olive oil and found that the VOO users had higher blood levels of phenols and less oxysterols.  Important thing here–most of the phenols are destroyed by heat!!  Bottom line–expensive olive oil for dips, dressings, sauces, cheap stuff for cooking because the protective compounds in the expensive stuff will just get destroyed.