The
new guidelines that were recently issued by the American Medical Association
for the use of statin drugs really ticked me off. Under the new
guidelines, roughly 1/3 of all adults should consider taking
cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Many healthcare practitioners already
feel there is an overuse of statin medication in the United States. Many
people on statins suffer with serious side effects, which I’ll get to in a
bit. Also, 50% of people who die suddenly from heart attacks do not have high
cholesterol. Clearly, handing out statins like PEZ is not the answer –
unless you’re a big pharmaceutical company looking to improve your bottom
line. In this post we’ll discuss the role of cholesterol in the body,
side effects of stain medication, and ways to naturally reduce cholesterol and
reduce the risk of heart attack.
What is Cholesterol and What Does Cholesterol Do in the
Body?
“Everyone” knows
cholesterol is “bad” – which is why you should think twice about going along
with what “everyone” thinks. Cholesterol is not good or bad – unless it’s
oxidized (damaged). Then it can cause problems. Otherwise it’s just
a specific form of lipid (fat). Some studies have even shown that people
with high cholesterol levels live longer.
In truth, cholesterol is
absolutely essential to good health and is used for many functions in your
body, including:
·
Being used to make sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone,
so we can reproduce
·
Required to create cell membranes and coat nerves with a
protective fatty layer that makes up 60-80% of our brain (which is likely why
cholesterol lowering drugs have been linked to dementia)
·
Essential for proper food digestion and fat absorption (and fat soluble
vitamin absorption, such as vitamin A, D, E and K) because cholesterol produces
bile salts
·
Acting as an anti-inflammatory in the body, working to repair
damage due to stress, poor diet, toxin exposure and other other health
challenges
High-density
lipoproteins (HDL) takes cholesterol from the body tissues back to the
liver. Low-density lipoproteins (LDL – so called “bad” cholesterol) takes
cholesterol from the liver out to the rest of the body. As Dr. Kate
Rheaume-Bleue says in the bookVitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox, “blaming
cholesterol for heart disease is a lot like blaming firefighters for a fire“.
In most people, our livers produce about 85 percent of the cholesterol in our
bodies, and 15 percent comes from diet. This is why
switching to a low cholesterol diet is not generally an effective way of
reducing cholesterol. Instead, we should look at ways to reduce the inflammation, i.e., put out
the fire, to help our bodies heal and reduce cholesterol naturally.
Side Effects of Statin Medication
Statin medications work by
reducing the liver’s ability to produce cholesterol. Sometimes this
produces a rebound effect when cholesterol levels get too low (remember, we
need cholesterol), which triggers the liver to produce more cholesterol, which
leads to an increased dose of the medication and so on. But what happens
when you shut down the body’s ability to produce cholesterol?
Use
of statin medication has been linked to:
Muscle Pain and Weakness
The most common complaint
associated with statin use is muscle pain and weakness. People find
themselves unable to get out of bed, unable to walk or climb stairs, or simply
plagued with muscle pain and soreness. In rare cases, Mayo Clinic notes
that “statins can cause life-threatening muscle damage called rhabdomyolysis
(rab-doe-mi-OL-ih-sis). Rhabdomyolysis can cause severe muscle pain, liver
damage, kidney failure and death. Rhabdomyolysis can occur when you take
statins in combination with certain drugs or if you take a high dose of
statins.”
Decreased Cognitive
Function/Memory Loss
Julian Whitaker, MD reports in the article “Statins: Bad for the Brain” reports that ” Hundreds of
cases of statin-induced memory loss and TGA (transient global amnesia) have
been reported to MedWatch, the FDA’s system for filing adverse drug events.”
People can’t concentrate, they can’t remember, they can’t focus – basically,
the brain starts severely malfunctioning.
Liver Damage
Dr. Mercola notes that the
most common adverse drug reaction due to statins received by the Swedish
Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee from 1988-2010 was drug induced liver
damage. This liver damage was linked to death from acute liver failure, liver
transplantation and jaundice.
Kidney Damage
Health Day News reports
that, “(Study) participants who took higher doses of statins were 34 percent
more likely to be hospitalized for acute kidney injury during the first 120
days of treatment, compared to their counterparts who were taking lower doses.
This risk remained elevated two years after starting treatment. The findings
appeared online March 19 in the journal BMJ.” Please see your health care
provider if you have dark urine, difficulty urinating or less frequent
urination.
Heart Damage
Statin medications have been shown to deplete Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)
levels in the body. Both your skeletal muscles and your heart muscles
need CoQ10, but your heart may need as much as 200 times more CoQ10 than your
skeletal muscles. Elderly people, who are most commonly prescribed
statins, also typically have the highest risk of low levels of CoQ10. Put
all this together, and it’s no surprise that statin therapy has been shown
to decrease myocardial (heart) function.
Decreased effectiveness of
exercise
Both statins and exercise are supposed to reduce your health
risks, so researchers recently tested a group of volunteers on an exercise
regime combined with a statin (half the volunteers used a statin, half did
not). The study found that: “The unmedicated
volunteers improved their aerobic fitness significantly after three months of
exercise, by more than 10 percent on average. But the volunteers taking the
statins gained barely 1 percent on average in their fitness, and some possessed
less aerobic capacity at the end of the study than at its start.”
The list of potential
statin side effects goes on and on – digestive issues, rash or flushing,
increased risk of type 2 diabetes – it’s no wonder that many people who try
statin medications stop taking them. As I mentioned above, half of people
who have heart attacks do not have high cholesterol levels. So what can
you do to naturally reduce cholesterol and help keep your heart healthy?
15 Ways to Naturally Reduce Cholesterol and Reduce the Risk of Heart Attack
#1 – Increase Your Magnesium Levels
In
The Magnesium Miracle, Dr. Carolyn Dean explains how magnesium acts as a natural statin, limiting cholesterol production so that it covers necessary functions but is not produced in excess. Foods that are high in magnesium include: kelp, wheat bran, wheat germ, almonds, cashews, molasses, brewer’s yeast, buckwheat, brazil nuts, dulse, filberts, peanuts, wheat grain, millet, pecans, English walnuts, rye, tofu and dark chocolate. many wild plants are also high in magnesium, such as
burdock root,
dandelion,
chickweed and
nettle. It may be difficult for people to get enough magnesium through diet, so applying
magnesium oiltopically can also be helpful.
#2 – Get More Vitamin C
As an antioxidant, vitamin C helps to reduce inflammation. A 2008 study showed a significant decrease in serum LDL cholesterol and tryglyceride concentrations with the supplementation of at least 500mg/d of vitamin C. Some good sources of vitamin C includes citrus fruits; sweet bell peppers – green or red; kiwi; papaya; cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and kale; sweet potatoes and cantaloupe.
#3 – Drink Some Green Tea
Catechin, a major constituent of green tea, has been shown to reduce oxidized (damaged) low-density lipoprotein. In a 2007 study, volunteers consumed the equivalent of 6 to 7 cups of green tea daily and experienced a significant change in plasma LDL concentration.
#4 – Add Some Vitamin K2 to Your Diet
In the book Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox, the author explains how vitamin K2 packs a one-two punch when it comes to heart disease. While K2 can lower serum cholesterol, more importantly, K2 reduces atherosclerois, i.e. plaque accumulation in the arteries. This plaque is the deposits of calcium, fatty substances and scar tissue that together cause “hardening of the arteries”. With plaque build up, the arteries either clog up and reduce or stop blood flow entirely, or get fragile and have a blow out. Vitamin K2 is not the same as vitamin K1, which is abundant in leafy greens and great for bone building. Vitamin K2 works in concert with calcium and vitamin D, making sure the calcium gets where it’s needed – in your bones, not your muscles and arteries. In addition, vitamin K2 can remove calcium buildup in the arteries after it has formed and help restore arterial flexibility. The best source of vitamin K2 is natto, a fermented soybean concoction with a stringy, slimy texture. Other sources of vitamin K2 include goose liver pate, hard cheeses (such as gouda), soft cheeses (such as Brie), egg yolk, butter and chicken liver. Most people in the US are low in vitamin K2, although regular cheese eaters tend to far better than the general population.
#5 – Eat Your Oatmeal
As the much publicized commercials for popular cereal brands note, the soluble fiber in oats helps to lower total and LDL cholesterol levels. Go ahead and enjoy a nice warn bowl of oatmeal (soak overnight for quick morning cooking and easier digestion) or sneak some oatmeal into your snacking with fun recipes such as these
cranberry-walnut powerballs.
#6 – Make Sure Your Thyroid is Functioning Normally
Hypothyroidism (under active thyroid) often correlates with high cholesterol levels. Talk to your health care provider about checking your thyroid. Improving thyroid function may help to naturally reduce cholesterol levels.
#7 – Get a Cat
University of Minnesota Researchers studied more than 400 people for 10 years and found that cat owners had their risk of heart attack reduced by 30%. Of course, this top would probably not be helpful if you are a cat hater like my father-in-law. This may be related to a cat’s ability to purr. In the article “
The Cat’s Purr and Sounds That Heal“, the author states that “The type of frequencies that are found in the cat’s purr are good for healing muscle, tendon, and ligament injuries, as well as for muscle strengthening and toning. They are good for any type of joint injury, wound healing, reduction of infection and swelling, pain relief, and relief of chronic pulmonary disease.”
#8 – Eat some Blueberries
A recent study concluded that “blueberry intake acutely improves vascular function in healthy men in a time- and dose-dependent manner”. Blueberries are high in anti-oxidants, which reduce inflammation
#9 – An Apple a Day Really May Keep the Doctor Away
My grandmother Catherine always loved to say, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. It turns out she was probably right. A 2011 study by researchers from Florida State University found that older women who ate apples every day reduced LDL cholesterol levels by 23% within six months and increased HDL cholesterol levels by 4%. The apple eating women also lost an average of 3.3 pounds.
#10 – Choose Coconut Oil for Lower Cholesterol and a Slimmer Waist
In a 2011 study, woman consuming about 2 tablespoons of coconut oil per day experienced increased levels of HDL, decreased LDL/HDL ratio and reduced waist circumferences.
#11 – Enjoy Some Garlic
A study published in January 2012 analyzed 26 clinical trials and found that garlic was more effective than a placebo in reducing cholesterol levels, specifically total cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Garlic did not appear to have a significant effect on HDL and LDL. Garlic is also anti-viral, antibacterial and anti-fungal, and may help lower blood pressure and improve liver function. Fresh garlic packs more punch than cooked.
#12 – Supplement with Fish Oil
Loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, fish oil is a nutritional powerhouse that reduces inflammation and clotting, lowers triglycerides and increases HDL cholesterol. Make sure to choose a quality brand that has been tested for mercury and other contaminants.
#13 – Get a Little Nutty
Walnuts, like fish oil, are also high in omega-3 fatty acids. Nuts are also high in magnesium. In an unrelated note, getting a little silly to reduce stress is also very good for reducing inflammation and improving overall health.
#14 – Ditch Transfats, Don’t Smoke, and Eat Less Processed Food-like Products
What you shouldn’t eat is as important as what you should eat. The FDA has *finally* admitted that
transfats are bad, after allowing them to dominate the market for years. Of course, manufacturers are likely to come up with some other modified goobledegook that is equally as nasty. When choosing fats (and other foods), look for less processed options. As the saying goes, I trust cows more than chemists, which is why I eat butter. Shop around the edges of the grocery store, looking for items that are minimally processed – real vegetables and fruit, fresh meat and dairy. Learn to
bake your own bread. You can check out our
Recipes page for a wide assortment of homemade fare.
#15 – Exercise
Although exercise is very good for many reasons, promoting circulation and strengthening the body, it’s not a magic bullet when it comes to cholesterol. Cleveland Clinic states that “Exercise has the greatest effect on triglycerides (lowers them) and HDL, the good cholesterol (increases it). Exercise does not have much impact on LDL unless combined with dietary changes and weight loss.” Start out slowly and gradually increase your activity levels.
I hope this post has helped you to realize just how important cholesterol is for our bodies, and how many side effects statin drugs can have. Remember that oxidized (damaged) cholesterol is more of a problem than high cholesterol. Look to reduce inflammation so that your body doesn’t need to produce excess cholesterol to fight inflammation – don’t attack the firefighters for trying to put out the fire! There are alternatives to statin medication.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and is not meant to treat or diagnose any illness. Please work with your health care provider to address any health concerns you may have.
