Breaking the Cholesterol Myth

by Nicole Bandes, B.S., C.H.S.

Have you seen the latest drug commercial? You know, the one where the guy is walking down a spiral stair case with numbers printed on each step gradually going lower. He’s talking about how your doctors have told you that now you need to get your cholesterol even lower than you did before. It’s a myth; and a dangerous one at that.

Let’s start with just a bit of very basic biology.

What is cholesterol? Cholesterol is part of a group of compounds called sterols. Cholesterol is primarily produced by the liver, however, every cell in the human body is also capable of making cholesterol.

What is the role of cholesterol? Cholesterol is used by the body to form cholic acid which is then used to make bile salts. Bile salts are necessary to digest fat. In addition, cholesterol is necessary for the production of adrenal and reproductive hormones such as DHEA, pregnenolone, progesterone, testosterone, estrogen, aldosterone and cortisol. Cholesterol is also used to make the skin impervious to water and other substances that may be harmful to the body as well as to bind with toxins in the blood which will then reduce inflammation protecting the nerves, brain tissue and heart.

Biology lesson over. We can now understand why cholesterol is important. So why has it been give such a bad rap?

The myth started when scientists determined that there was a correlation between cholesterol in the blood and heart disease. If you had the wonderful opportunity to take any sort of research classes in school, you might remember that a correlation doesn’t mean anything. It simply means two things are present at the same time. This is like circumstantial evidence, just because someone is found holding the gun, doesn’t mean they pulled the trigger.

Working to lower cholesterol as a way to treat heart disease is kind of like getting a bunion removed because you have a headache.

It’s important to note that cholesterol levels that are too high should be addressed. But what is too high? It used to be that what were considered normal were readings between 0 and 200. Anything above 200 was said to indicate heart disease. This was recently lowered to 0 to 169. But why was it lowered? Statistics show that heart disease rates are not improving. Despite statin drugs that are designed to lower cholesterol, people are still dying of heart attacks and more and more individuals are being diagnosed with some form of heart disease. The drug manufacturers certainly don’t want to admit that their drugs aren’t working as intended (even though they are somewhat successful at lowering cholesterol), so they decide that it’s because the cholesterol levels are not low enough. If they drop the normal ranges, then they can sell more drugs and pass the buck for the continuing trend of heart disease.

The natural health experts are still out but there seems to be an unwritten agreement that levels between 175 and 230 are ideal. Levels below 150 or above 250 may indicate the need for more attention but do not necessarily indicate heart disease. There are better methods for determining the risk of heart disease; the ratio between LDL and HDL for example. Better yet is a test gaining popularity and much media attention for something called C-reactive Protein. While it isn’t healthy to have extremely high cholesterol, it also isn’t healthy to have very low cholesterol.

A short word about statin drugs
Despite no scientific evidence showing that statin drugs reduce the risk of heart disease and despite evidence that they are not as successful in the real world for treating cholesterol as they had shown to be in the studies, statin drugs are one of the most commonly over-prescribed drugs in the US. Statins have many side effects, including increasing the risk for heart disease. Statins deplete CoQ10, an important co-enzyme for cardiac health. In addition they lower antioxidant levels, cause headaches, fatigue, memory loss, difficulty sleeping, and, of course, liver damage.

It’s important to be proactive with your health. Don’t let your doctors be the complete authority just as you wouldn’t trust the salesman to give you all the details when making a large purchase. Do your own homework.

Echinacea and Media misinformation

Dear friends,
I expected it. One day after I received a notification from the American Botanical Association (ABC) that there was a flawed study on echinacea, the media is running with a story saying this herb doesn't help colds. As you'll see, the report is just as flawed as the study.
ABC is an organization I have come to trust over the years. It dispenses accurate information about herbs to the public and to health care professionals. It's well respected, and it's not looking to make headlines. Just to tell the truth.
The media is saying that this federally funded, double-blinded study found that echinacea was useless in preventing or treating colds. This study was funded by a branch of the National Institutes of Health and led by a researcher who has consulted with makers of antibiotics in the past. So why am I saying it wasn't a good study?
** They used the wrong species. This study used extracts made from the roots of Echinacea angustifolia. Studies on the flowers and roots of E. purpurea show it is effective.
** They didn't use enough. The college students in this study were given 300 mg of E. angustifolia a day. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that 3 GRAMS (3,000 mg) a day is the proper dosage for this species.
** The participants were young and probably had strong immune systems. A better study would have included older people with more compromised immunity. After all, if Echinacea boosts immunity, it has a greater effect on people with lowered immunity than those who are not compromised.
Dr. Nan Fuchs

Nature's Cortisol Formula

Is this product safe for diabetics? -Janey J

Researchers have begun to notice a connection between cortisol levels and weight management indicators, such as calorie consumption and weight gain. Cortisol is a hormone produced in the adrenal glands in response to stress. It promotes the formation of glucose, which is used as fuel during stressful situations. Nature's Cortisol Formula contains Relora® to help the body manage stress and maintain cortisol levels already within the normal range.
Other key ingredients—banaba, holy basil, chromim and vanadium—help maintain blood glucose levels already within the normal range. This product also features DHEA, a hormone precursor that interacts with the adrenal glands, and which subsequently may help to lower cortisol production. Nature’s Cortisol Formula also features decaffeinated green tea extract (60% EGCG), l-theanine (supports the body during times of stress) and calcium ascorbate.

Nature’s Cortisol Formula is safe for those with diabetes but it is always best to check first with your doctor. It is also important to note that Nature's Cortisol Formula (and all other products formulated to reduce cortisol levels) are only effective if there is an excess of Cortisol. This can be determined by a blood test.

Welcome to the Town of Allopath - pt 3

This is a fable about a town that put all it's trust in "specialists" and the fate of that town.
...continued from pt 2.

It was at that moment that most of the townspeople realized there own jobs were at stake. If stop signs were built, nearly everyone would be unemployed. They all had jobs in emergency response services, car repair shops, hospitals and teflon coating maintenance. Some were now sales representatives of the roadaceuticals company. Others were importers of glass, tires, steel and other parts for cars. A few clever people were making a fortune selling wheelchairs and crutches to accident victims.
One enterprising young gentleman started a scientific journal that published research papers describing all the different kind of Skid Marks Diseases that had been observed and documented. Another person, a fitness enthusiast, organized an annual run to raise funds to find the cure for Skid Marks Disease. It was a popular event, and all the townspeople participated as best they could: jogging, walking, or just pushing themselves along in their wheelchairs.
One way or another, nearly everyone in Allopath was economically tied to Skid Marks Disease.
Out of fear of losing this economic prosperity, the townspeople voted to create a new public safety agency: the Frequent Drivers Association (FDA). This FDA would be responsible for approving or rejecting all signage, technology and chemical coatings related to the town's roads.
The FDA's board members were chosen from among the business leaders of the community: the owner of the car shop, the owner of the ambulance company, and of course, Dr. West.
Soon after its inception, the FDA announced that Skid Marks Disease was, indeed, very real, as it had been carefully documented by a doctor and recently published in the town Skid Marks Disease journal. Since there were no studies whatsoever showing stop signs to be effective for reducing traffic accidents, the FDA announced that stop signs were to be outlawed, and that any person attempting to sell stop signs would be charged with fraud and locked up in the town jail.
This pleased the townspeople of Allopath. With the FDA, they knew their jobs were safe. They could go on living their lives of economic prosperity, with secure jobs, knowing that the FDA would outlaw any attempt to take away their livelihood. They still had a lot of traffic accidents, but at least their jobs were secure.
And so life continued in Allopath. For a short while, at least. As traffic accidents continued at a devastating rate, more and more residents of Allopath were injured or killed. Many were left bed-ridden, unable to work, due to their injuries.
In time, the population dwindled. The once-booming town of Allopath eventually became little more than a ghost town. The hospital closed its doors, the FDA was disbanded, and the Skid Marks Disease journal stopped printing.
The few residents remaining eventually realized nothing good had come of Skid Marks Disease, the teflon coatings and the FDA. No one was any better off, as all the town's money had been spent on the disease: the teflon coatings, car parts and emergency services. No one was any healthier, or happier, or longer-lived. Most, in fact, had lost their entire families to Skid Marks Disease.

And the hermit? He continued to live just outside of town, at the end of a winding country road, where he lived a simple life with no cars, no roads, no teflon coatings and no FDA.
He outlived every single resident of Allopath. He gardened, took long walks through the forest, and gathered roots, leaves and berries to feed himself. In his spare time, he constructed stop signs, waiting for the next population to come along, and hoping they might listen to an old hermit with a crazy idea:

...that prevention is the answer, not the treatment of symptoms.

This fable was written by Mike Adams and originally posted here. Reposted with permission.

Welcome to the Town of Allopath - pt 2

This is a fable about a town that put all it's trust in "specialists" and the fate of that town.
...Continued from pt 1.

But things weren't well in Allopath. Traffic accidents quadrupled. Hospital beds were overflowing with injured residents. Auto repair businesses were booming so much that most of the city council members decided to either open their own car repair shops or invest in existing ones.
Week after week, more and more residents of Allopath were injured, and their cars were repeatedly damaged. Money piled into the pockets of the car repair shops, hospitals, tow truck companies and car parts retailers.
The town economic advisor, observing this sharp increase in economic activity, announced that Allopath was booming. Its economy was healthier than ever, and Allopath could look forward to a great year of economic prosperity!
There were jobs to be had at the car repair shops. There were more nurses needed at the hospital. "Help wanted" signs appeared all over town at the paramedic station, the tow truck shops, and the auto glass businesses. Unemployment dropped to near zero.
But the traffic accidents continued to increase. And yet there were no skid marks.
The city council was baffled. They thought they had solved this problem. Skid Marks Disease had been eradicated by the teflon treatment. Why were traffic accidents still happening?
They called a town meeting to discuss the problem, and following a short discussion of the problem, an old hermit, who lived in the forest just outside of Allopath, addressed the townspeople. "There is no such thing as Skid Marks Disease," he explained. "This disease was invented by the roadaceuticals company to sell you teflon coatings."
The townspeople were horrified to hear such a statement. They knew Skid Marks Disease existed. The doctor had told them so. How could this hermit, who had no Motor Division (M.D.) degree, dare tell them otherwise? How could he question their collective town wisdom in such a way?
"This is a simple problem," the hermit continued. "All we need to do is build stop signs and traffic lights. Then the traffic accidents will cease."
Without pause, one city council member remarked, "But how can we afford stop signs? We've spent all our money on teflon treatments!"
The townspeople agreed. They had no money to buy stop signs.
Another council member added, "And how can we stop anyway? The streets are all coated with teflon. If we build stop signs, we'll waste all the money we've spent on teflon!"
The townspeople agreed, again. What use were stop signs if they couldn't stop their cars anyway?
The hermit replied, "But the stop signs will eliminate the need for teflon. People will be able to stop their cars, and accidents will cease. The solution is simple."
But what might happen if stop signs actually worked, the townspeople wondered. How would it affect the booming economy of Allopath? Realizing the consequences, a burly old man who owned a local repair shop jumped to his feet and said, "If we build these stop signs, and traffic accidents go down, I'll have to fire most of my workers!"

To Be Continued...

This fable was written by Mike Adams and originally posted here. Reposted with permission.

Welcome to the Town of Allopath

This fable was written by Mike Adams and originally posted here. Reposted with permission.

There once was a town called Allopath. It had many people, streets and cars, but due to budget limitations, there were no stop signs or traffic lights anywhere in Allopath.
Not surprisingly, traffic accidents were common. Cars would crash into each other at nearly every intersection. But business was booming for the auto repair shops and local hospitals, which dominated the economy of Allopath.
As the population of Allopath grew, traffic accidents increased to an alarming level. Out of desperation, the city council hired Doctor West, a doctor of the Motor Division (M.D.) to find a solution.
Dr. West spent days examining traffic accidents. He carried an assortment of technical gear -- microscopes, chemical analysis equipment, lab gear -- and put them all to work as part of his investigation. The townspeople of Allopath watched on with great curiosity while Dr. West went about his work, meticulously documenting and analyzing each traffic accident, and they awaited his final report with great interest.
After weeks of investigation, Dr. West called the people of Allopath to a town meeting for the release of his report. There, in front of the city council and most of the residents of Allopath, he announced his findings: "Traffic accidents are caused by skid marks."
As Dr. West explained, he found and documented a near-100% correlation between traffic accidents and skid marks. "Wherever we find these cars colliding," he explained, "we also find these skid marks."
The town had "Skid Marks Disease," the doctor explained, and the answer to the town's epidemic of traffic accidents would, "...require nothing more than treating Skid Marks Disease by making the streets skid-proof," Dr. West exclaimed, to great applause from the townspeople.
The city paid Dr. West his consulting fee, then asked the good doctor to propose a method for treating this Skid Marks Disease. As chance would have it, Dr. West had recently been on a trip to Hawaii paid for by a chemical company that manufactured roadaceuticals: special chemicals used to treat roads for situations just like this one. He recommended a particular chemical coating to the city council: teflon.
"We can treat this Skid Marks Disease by coating the roads with teflon," Dr. West explained. "The streets will then be skid-proof, and all the traffic accidents will cease!" He went on to describe the physical properties of teflon and how its near-frictionless coating would deter nearly all vehicle skids.
The city council heartily agreed with Dr. West, and they issued new public bonds to raise the money required to buy enough teflon to coat all the city's streets. Within weeks, the streets were completely coated, and the skid marks all but disappeared.
The city council paid Dr. West another consulting fee and thanked him for his expertise. The problem of traffic accidents in Allopath was solved, they thought. Although the cure was expensive, they were convinced it was worth it.

To Be Continued...

Hair Loss

On the advice of a herbal shop manager I purchased Saw Palmetto and Ho Shou Wu. The lady said she had taken these two for hair loss. When I got home, I read that Saw Palmetto is recommended for men for prostate gland health. Is this safe for women to take? Instead of the recommended dosage of two capsules of the Saw Palmetto, she recommended that I take one in the a.m. and one Ho Shou Wu in the evening. Ho Shou Wu directions say to take 4 per day. Neither Saw Palmetto nor Ho Shou Wu say they are recommended for hair loss in women...I'm confused! -C. Wilson

While Saw Palmetto is commonly recommended for men, herbs are often recommended for conditions other than the most commonly known conditions. Saw Palmetto is safe for use in women. And, while I can’t say I have any direct experience using these herbs for this purpose, you can feel safe using this program as recommended.

Natural Diuretic

I'm looking for a natural diuretic. -G Anderson

The very best natural diuretic is water. Drinking plenty of water (8-10 glasses is a minimum) each day will provide your body with the hydration it needs on a regular basis and prevent your body from retaining excess water.

In addition, there are many herbs that can be used as natural diuretics. Some of these include Anamu, Astragalus, Cornsilk, Dnadelion, Feverfew, Hops, Juniper Berries, Kava Kava, Hydrangea, Marshmallow, Parsley, Olive leaf and Yarrow. They vary in their mode of operation and most, excluding water, should not be used in conjunction with any other diuretics whether natural or prescription.