Thomson Healthcare, Inc.
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 The authors conclude that Psyllium can be viewed as a safe addition to further lowering cholesterol, with Psyllium supplementation along with 10 mg of simvastatin, and appears to function as powerfully in lowering cholesterol as 20 mg of simvastatin alone (Moreyra, 2005).
A study a year earlier was done to test the optimal timing of Psyllium consumption for the purpose of lowering cholesterol, with the hypothesis being that taking it in the morning would have more impact than.taking it in the evening. |
Ray D. Strand
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 Take a look at the amount of money the medical community and the pharmaceutical industry have made by lowering cholesterol with synthetic drugs. Billions and billions of dollars roll in each and every year. Have you ever considered who educated you about the risk of high cholesterol? Who is taking out that full-page ad in USA Today to tell you the importance of lowering your cholesterol? Pharmaceutical companies. Why hasn't someone taken out a TV or newspaper ad to inform you about the importance of lowering your homocysteine? |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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 Nutritional Supplements
Although dietary changes alone can have a powerful effect in reducing the incidence of heart disease, they may not be enough for everyone. lowering cholesterol, lowering blood pressure, inhibiting blood clots, preventing oxidative damage to the vessel walls, and several other mechanisms are all effects that can be achieved with the therapeutic use of nutritional/herbal supplements. This is an exciting and successful area for alternative medicine to make an impact on a large segment of the population. |
| Considerable scientific research exists that demonstrates the effect of these natural therapies and interventions in lowering cholesterol, improving blood lipid ratios, lowering blood pressure, preventing clots and strokes, inhibiting fibrinogen, lowering homocysteine levels, strengthening the cardiac muscle, and preventing the oxidative damage to vessel walls, all of which are implicated in cardiovascular disease risk. |
| Raw carrots may have a more potent effect on lowering cholesterol than do oat products. Eating a raw carrot at breakfast every day for three weeks has been shown to reduce serum cholesterol by 11 percent and increase far excretion by 50 percent.100
Evidence also exists demonstrating that people with a low intake of fruits and vegetables have an increased risk for heart disease.101 Numerous studies have continued to show that a diet high in carotenes and flavonoids found in fruits and vegetables reduces rhe risk of hearr disease and srrokes. |
| Calcium probably has only a small role in lowering cholesterol, but a recent randomized controlled trial suggests that calcium may have a role in decreasing cholesterol via its ability to improve the function of bile in the liver, thereby increasing cholesterol excretion,212 and another study on 223 menopausal women showed that calcium supplementation did decrease cholesterol slightly and with more significant increases in HDL.213 Calcium carbonate 400 mg three times daily can reduce cholesterol and LDL cholesterol by about 4 percent and increase HDL by 4 percent. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 The main phytosterol identified in all the nut and seed samples was beta-sitosterol, which is known not only for lowering cholesterol but also for supporting prostate health.
Pistachio Nuts Give the Immune System a Boost
Unsalted pistachios have a very high potassium-to-sodium ratio, which helps normalize blood pressure and maintain water balance in the body. Pistachio nuts also contain the powerful antioxidant vitamin E, which boosts the immune system. |
| Plant sterols have multiple health benefits, not the least of which is lowering cholesterol.
Pumpkin seeds are a rich source of minerals, especially magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus. Interestingly, the roasted kind have far more protein, at least according to the USDA food database. (They also have a lot more calories.) The roasted kind also have way more magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium, as well as more zinc, fiber, and cancer-fighting selenium. |
Elaine Magee
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 L = normal 150-199 mg/dL = borderline high 200-499 mg/dL = high 500+ mg/dL = very high
If you want to lowe" your triglyceride levels, much of the same advice for lowering cholesterol applies. You should also consider the following:
Cut back on refined carbohydrates. Opt to enjoy sweets, soft drinks, and white bread only occasionally, and try to choose carbs that are lower on the glycemic index, or GI. (Choosing foods at least 12 points lower on the index reduced triglycerides by approximately 9 percent in 10 out of 11 studies. |
Ray D. Strand
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| Rather than concentrating only on lowering cholesterol, you need to understand the necessary steps to decreasing the cause of the inflammation in your arteries. This approach could have significant and dramatic implications in the prevention and reversal of heart disease.
What About Cholesterol?
Did you know that elevated cholesterol in the blood was not always considered a risk factor for coronary artery disease and stroke? When I first began practicing medicine in 1972, we considered any cholesterol level less than 320 normal. |
Dr. Abram Hoffer, MD, FRCP (C) and Dr. Harold D. Foster, PhD
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 On receiving this news, Hoffer organized a study using humans, which revealed similar results in lowering cholesterol levels.? Published in 1955, these results were soon corroborated by Dr William Parsons Jr., then at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.8 Parsons became a great believer in the value of niacin and wrote the book Cholesterol Control without Diet! The Niacin Solution. He considered that niacin was the best substance available to control cholesterol because it decreased the incidence of stroke and coronary disease, thereby extending life expectancy. |
Ray D. Strand
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| Niacin is now also being used along with the statin drugs, which are especially effective in lowering cholesterol.
Vitamin BB (Pyridoxine)
Vitamin B6 is one of the few water-soluble vitamins with a possible risk of toxicity. Doses greater than 2,000 mg can cause symptoms of nerve toxicity. But people using doses between 50 and 100 mg daily have not reported any cases of toxicity.17 Definitely be careful when using higher doses of vitamin B6.
Folic Acid
Folic-acid supplementation may mask an underlying vitamin B12 deficiency. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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| The main phytosterol identified in all the nut and seed samples was beta-sitosterol, which is known for not only lowering cholesterol but for also supporting prostate health.
Sunflower seeds contain a potent antioxidant team of selenium and vitamin E to fight cancer and heart disease. Vitamin E is one of the most powerful antioxidants in the body, and 14 cup serving of dried sunflower seed kernels provides more than 40 percent of the recommended Daily Value (yes, I personally think the Daily Value is too low, but still). |
Marshall Editions
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 Muscle pain may also be due to electrolyte imbalances, such as too little potassium or calcium, or be caused by certain drugs, including statins for lowering cholesterol and ACE inhibitors for lowering blood pressure.
SYMPTOMS
TREATMENT GOAL
• An area of acute tenderness
• Localized pain
• Inactivity due to not being able to move or use a particular part of the body
• Disturbed sleep
• Fatigue
It is important to isolate the cause of the muscle pain and treat the condition accordingly. |
Bottom Line Health
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| Example: Benecol, a soft-spread substitute for margarine or butter, is advertised as promoting heart health by lowering cholesterol. It does this—but it also contains "less than" 0.5 g of trans fats per tablespoon.
This means that if you used one tablespoon four times a day, which is the amount recommended to lower cholesterol, you could consume nearly 14 g of trans fats in a week, just from Benecol spread alone.
Many companies are replacing trans fats with saturated fats, fust because something has zero trans fats doesn't mean people can eat as much as they want. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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 Because cholesterol is found in arteries of the heart that have become clogged, it is assumed that lowering cholesterol will solve the problem. However, the association between elevated cholesterol and heart disease is not as direct as it sounds. Nevertheless, the connection has prompted drug-makers to come up with pharmaceutical solutions to lower bad cholesterol.
Your doctor decides you need cholesterol-lowering medication based on his or her calculation of risk factors that have been quantified by a study called the Framingham Study. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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| The main phytosterol identified in all the nut and seed samples was beta-sitosterol, which is known not only for lowering cholesterol but also for supporting prostate health.
The Calcium Controversy
Sesame seeds are very high in calcium, but there is some controversy over how useful that calcium is to the body since much of it is bound to oxalic acid, making it less bioavailable. According to natural-foods expert Rebecca Wood, hulling (the process of removing the outer skin) removes the oxalic acid, but it also removes most of the calcium, plus the fiber and a lot of the potassium and iron. |
| Finally, in my opinion, we've been way too focused on lowering cholesterol and not focused enough on lowering heart disease and mortality.
They are not the same thing. In the Lyon Diet Heart Study, people who had had a heart attack were either counseled to eat a Mediterranean-type diet (fish, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, nuts) or given routine post-heart attack advice (watch your cholesterol, eat less saturated fat). |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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 The enormous use of statin drugs in the United States is tied into the belief that lowering cholesterol by any means necessary will, for virtually every person, dramatically reduce the chances of having a stroke or heart attack. But the cutting edge of research, which I'm sure will become accepted as fact in not too long, shows that the link between cholesterol and heart disease has been greatly exaggerated. |
| Statin drugs are the most prescribed medicines for lowering cholesterol. In fact, Lipitor (generic name atorvastatin) is the top-selling drug on the planet, a $20 billion industry. They've been heralded as "miracle drugs" that reduce cholesterol counts and battle inflammation. Less frequently used drugs for high cholesterol include the bile acid sequestrants and fibrates.
DRUGS FOR HEART DISEASE RISK FACTORS AND THE NUTRIENTS THEY DEPLETE attack. |
Thomson Healthcare, Inc.
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| Administration of Garlic powder (900 mg/d for 12 weeks) was ineffective in lowering cholesterol levels in hypercholes-terolemic patients. This was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of patients with hypercholesterolemia (defined as 160 mg/dL) low density lipoprotein cholesterol or lower, and a triglyceride level of 350 mg/ dL or lower) (Isaacsohn et al, 1998). |
| A study a year earlier was done to test the optimal timing of Psyllium consumption for the purpose of lowering cholesterol, with the hypothesis being that taking it in the morning would have more impact than.taking it in the evening. But the timing of Psyllium use was found to have no impact, in fact, on its cholesterol-lowering strength in a randomized crossover study in 16 men and 47 women with normal cholesterol levels. A one-month dietary stabilization period was followed by an average daily dose of 12.7 g of Psyllium (hydrophilic mucilloid; a larger dose than the 10. |
| Effect of combining psyllium fiber with simvastatin in lowering cholesterol. Arch Intern Med; 165(1): 1161-1166. 2005.
Murai M, Tamayama Y & Nishibe S. Phenylethanoids in the herb of Plantago lanceolata and inhibitory effect on arachidonic acid-induced mouse ear edema. In: Planta Med; 61(5):479-480, 1995.
Nordgaard I, Hove H, Clausen MR et al., Colonic production of butyrate in patients with previous colon cancer during long-term treatment with dietary fiber (Plantago ovata seeds). In: Scand J Gastroenterol; 31(10): 1011-1020, 1996.
Oshio H, Inouye H. Planta Med 44:204, 1982. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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| It may be most effective to supplement fish oils with statin medications for lowering cholesterol. In one clinical controlled trial, 59 patients who already had coronary heart disease and hypertriglyceridemia who were taking statins were able to significantly lower their levels of triglycerides and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) when taking the fish oil and the statin.276
Another drug/fish oil study showed that 3.36 grams per day of fish oils were able to further decrease the triglycerides, total cholesterol, and apolipoprotein E than just the statin alone. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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| While we hear daily of new drug miracles, more often, it's the latest debacle: Baycol, a drug for lowering cholesterol, withdrawn because of deaths and transplants due to severe liver damage; Vioxx, for arthritis, withdrawn because of heart disease-related complications; and hormones such as Prempro, once seen as a boon to all post-menopausal womankind, now viewed as posing an unacceptable risk of breast cancer and heart attack.
How can this happen? As physicians, we take the Hippocratic oath to "first, do no harm. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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| The results suggested that eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains or obtaining these vitamins through supplementation may be as important as quitting smoking, lowering cholesterol, or controlling high blood pressure in lowering heart disease risk. Folic acid and the lowering of homocysteine has recently been less impressive as a heart disease prevention strategy.
Folic Acid
400 mcg-2.5 mg per day
Vitamin B6
10-25 mg per day
Vitamin B12
400-1,000 meg per day
Essential Fatty Acids. |
Andreas Moritz
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 Two, by lowering cholesterol with the help of statins, you can actually make your body gravely ill. The industry is now faced with an ever-growing number of reports listing the side effects that manifest many months after the commencement of treatment.
A 1999 study at St. Thomas' Hospital in London found that 36 percent of patients on LIPITOR's highest dose reported side effects and 10 percent of the patients at the lowest dose also reported side effects. The steady increase of obvious and hidden side effects (such as liver damage) isn't at all surprising. |
| Taking one-quarter to one-half teaspoon of cinnamon works just as well as the statin drugs in lowering cholesterol and triglycerides as well as blood glucose. Plus, you can get a pound of cinnamon for less than $5, and save yourself dreadful side effects.
According to research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, cinnamon helps to control blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetics. Ground cinnamon helps stimulate the production of glucose-burning enzymes and boosts insulin's effectiveness. In one study, cinnamon made insulin 20 times more capable of breaking down blood sugars. |
| However, they had just spent eight years taking a costly drug with hideous side effects—risking liver failure, muscle wasting, even sudden death. lowering cholesterol either through drugs or low fat diets does not lower the risk of developing heart disease.
All the major European long-term cholesterol studies have confirmed that a low-fat diet did not reduce cholesterol levels by more than 4 percent, in most cases merely 1-2 percent. |
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