The Truth About Cholesterol
Poor cholesterol! This waxy fat has been blamed for heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, and weight gain. The cholesterol fear has scared an entire generation from ever eating an egg yolk, meat, seafood, or butter. It has caused the medical profession to put millions of people (including children!) on statin medication to lower cholesterol, despite the long list of side effects. If cholesterol is so evil, why do we even have it in our bodies?
The answer is that we NEED cholesterol. Cholesterol is the main building block of many of our hormones including estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol (the stress hormone). It is a precursor for bile acids that help us digest our food, Vitamin D3 (which has now been shown to help prevent osteoporosis, diabetes, MS, hypertension, and cancer), and cholesterol forms an important part of our cell membranes. In fact, the body’s need for cholesterol is so important that we have a back-up plan to ensure we maintain our cholesterol set point. If you don’t get enough from your diet, your liver will just increase production of cholesterol.
High cholesterol can be part of the equation of heart disease, but it is only a small part. Factors like inflammation, damage to the vessel wall, increased clotting, and blood thickening have a much greater effect on the development of heart disease and heart attacks.
So what are the real causes of heart disease? Damage to the arterial wall is of great concern, as this seems to stimulate inflammation that leads to plaque formation. This damage can be caused by heavy metals and toxins that stick to the vessel wall, a vitamin C deficiency, or excessive amounts of lipoprotein (a), a sticky substance found in the blood. The next major player in heart disease is inflammation. Inflammation has many causes including infection, stress, deficiency of certain essential fatty acids, high insulin levels (caused by increased carbohydrate consumption), toxins, and trans-fats or rancid oils.
Blood thickening can be caused by homocysteine, a substance that occurs when methionine from meat and milk is ingested without enough vital B vitamins and betaine to prevent conversion. Homocysteine is one of the best blood markers to predict the risk of death in patients with cardiovascular disease. Cytokines, a hormone produced by white blood cells in response to inflammation, are another important predictor or mortality risk in patients with congestive heart failure.
With all of these contributing factors, does it make sense that our first line of defense in combating heart disease is to lower cholesterol? The side effects of cholesterol-lowering medication include muscle damage/pain, neuropathy, anemia, tendinitis, low immune system, sexual dysfunction, and liver dysfunction. Now a recent study has shown that statins increase the risk of diabetes in menopausal women by up to 50% and may contribute to certain cancers!
If you are at risk for heart disease, find a health provider who will help you look for real answers to your problem, as opposed to just prescribing a statin medication.
