“All truth passes through three stages.

First, it is ridiculed.

Second, it is violently opposed.

Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

Arthur Schopenhauer

(1788 – 1860)

What is the unfeigned cause of heart disease, and how may we veritably reduce the danger of death?

Atherosclerosis, or Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), is the leading cause of death in both men and women. In the U.S. alone, there are more than one million heart attacks each year, one third of them resulting in death. The majority of men and women presently have, or are actively developing, atherosclerosis. By age 20, most persons already have a 15-25% narrowing of their arteries due to plaque formation. By age 40, there is a 30-50% clogging of their arteries.

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, congestive heart sickness (CHD) was for the most part a result of rheumatic fever, which was a childhood disease. However by the year 1936 there was a dramatic change in the main cause of heart disease. Cardiovascular disease caused by atherosclerosis, or plaque buildup, took initial place as the important cause of heart disease, making congestive heart failure a distant second.

During the 1950′s, the autopsies conducted on men who passed from physical life of heart sickness that revealed plaque-clogged arteries concluded that cholesterol was the cause of hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) and coronary artery disease. Cholesterol, not calcium, was considered the “cause” of heart disease, in spite of plaque consisting of 95% calcium and a comparatively little percentage of cholesterol. By 1956 there were 600,000 deaths each year from heart impairment of normal physiological function in the U.S. Of those 600,000, 90% were caused by atherosclerosis, or clogged arteries. In less than 25 years, the number one cause of death in the U.S. had changed dramatically …from congestive heart sickness to coronary artery disease.

Because cholesterol was dubbed the “cause” of atherosclerosis, the crusade to lower cholesterol by any means started out in earnest. Both the feed industry and the pharmaceutical industry seized upon this prospect to cash in on a cholesterol-lowering effort by creating foods and drugs that would supposedly save lives. Diets, such as the Prudent Diet, were traditionalisti to lower the amount of cholesterol intake from food. There was no doubt that both polyunsaturated oils and drugs scaled down cholesterol, but by 1966 it was likewise apparent that letting down cholesterol did not translate into a scaled down peril of death from heart disease.

As there was so much cash to be made from pharmaceutical development, the venture to construct cholesterol-lowering drugs kicked into high gear, in spite of the lack of proof showing that the letting down cholesterol scaled down the peril of untimely death from heart disease.

Heart sickness kills 725,000 Americans annually, with women accounting for 2/3 or almost 500,000 of those deaths. After thirty years of cholesterol-lowering medications’ failure to significantly lower the death rate from cardiovascular disease, in 1987 a new and more dangerous class of drugs was unleashed upon the world: the “statin” drugs. Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are now the general of care that physicians are indoctrinated into prescribing to reduce cardiovascular disease. Are statin drugs the best way to prevent heart attacks and death?

Before 1936 the most mutual type of heart disease was congestive heart sickness (CHD). It seldom caused sudden death and could be treated with the drug digitalis. The incidence of CHD remained stable until 1987, after which the incidence of the sickness skyrocketed. Interestingly, the timing of the increased incidence of congestive heart impairment of normal physiological function coincides with the introduction of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Could cholesterol-lowering statin drugs have something to do with the weakening of heart muscles and the increased incidence of congestive heart failure? We will see that letting down the body’s co-enzyme Q10 levels, a side effect of statin drugs, does in truth increase the danger of muscle damage, including the muscles of the heart.

Atherosclerosis is a disease characterized principally by inflammation of the arterial lining caused by oxidative harm from homocysteine, a toxic amino acid intermediary found in everyone. Homocsyteine, in combining with other free radicals and toxins, oxidizes arteries, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, which in turn releases C Reactive Protein (CRP) from the liver-a marker of an inflammatory response within the arteries. Inflammation (oxidation) is the beginning of plaque buildup and ultimately, cardiovascular disease. Plaque, combined with the thickening of arterial smooth muscles, arterial spasms, and clotting, puts a person at a high danger of suffering heart attack or stroke.

For years, doctors have hyper-focused on cholesterol levels. First it was the total cholesterol; later the focus became the ratio of “good” HDL cholesterol to “bad” LDL cholesterol. In other words, how much of your cholesterol was good, and how much was bad? Of the two, the primary parameter is the level of HDL cholesterol, not LDL cholesterol. HDL, or high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, is responsible for clearing out the LDL cholesterol that sticks to arterial walls. Exercise, vitamins, minerals, and other antioxidants, particularly the bioflavonoid and olive polyphenol antioxidants, increase HDL cholesterol levels and protect the LDL cholesterol from oxidative damage, and consequently do more to reduce the risk of heart impairment of normal physiological function than any medication ever could.

There is not one thing inherent bad regarding LDL cholesterol. LDL cholesterol is critical to maintain life. LDL cholesterol only becomes “bad” when it is damaged, or oxidized by free radicals. Only the damaged, or oxidized form of LDL cholesterol sticks to the arterial walls to initiate the formation of plaque.

Let us look towards cigarette smoking for a simple example demonstrating that we in truth need to reduce oxidized LDL cholesterol to prevent atherosclerosis, as opposed to indiscriminately letting down LDL cholesterol with statin drugs. Everyone knows that cigarette smoking increments the danger of a good deal of chronic diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Smokers with normal levels of LDL cholesterol are at an even more outstanding risk of constructing heart impairment of normal physiological function than a non-smoker who has elevated levels of LDL cholesterol. Of course the reason why a smoker with normal levels of LDL cholesterol is at dandier danger of sickness is because his LDL gets excessively oxidized.

Cigarette smoke releases so a great deal of toxins and free radicals that the LDL cholesterol, the triglycerides, and the arterial walls are extensive oxidized. Homocysteine levels are also increased by cigarette smoking which further oxidizes LDL cholesterol and the arterial lining. Oxidation is the initiating cause of atherosclerosis. Therefore, the more and longer one smokes, the more oxidative harm he sustains and the more outstanding his peril of formulating heart disease. The degree of oxidation directly corresponds to the danger of heart disease.

If you are not taking vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants then your LDL cholesterol is being oxidized, it is sticking to your arterial walls, and you ARE formulating heart impairment of normal physiological function EVEN IF YOUR CHOLESTEROL LEVELS ARE NORMAL! LDL cholesterol starts sticking to arterial walls before the age of 5.

Among the a heap of free radicals that harm cholesterol, triglycerides and the arterial lining is homocysteine, a toxic intermediate biochemical devised for the duration of the conversion of the amino acid methionine into another primary amino acid, cysteine. Both methionine and cysteine are non-toxic, but homocysteine is very toxic to the lining of the arterial endothelium. Homocysteine oxidizes LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and the arterial lining.

Homocysteine is an amino acid ordinarily produced in little amounts from the amino acid methionine. The normal role of homocysteine in the body is to control growth and aid bone and tissue formation. However a problem arises when homocysteine levels in the body are elevated, causing exuberant harm to LDL cholesterol, as well as to arteries. Furthermore, homocysteine genuinely stimulates growth of arteriosclerotic plaque, which leads to heart disease.

Thyroid hormone controls the level of homocysteine, but a good deal of constituents play a role in the elevation of homocysteine. Normal aging, kidney failure, smoking, a great deal of medications, and industrial toxins all elevate homocysteine levels. Interestingly, estrogen helps lower homocysteine.

Homocysteine becomes elevated in the blood with a deficiency of the B vitamins-B6, B12 and folic acid. Genetics likewise play a role. About 12% of the population has an undetected defect requiring higher levels of folic acid than the rest of population to help maintain homocysteine levels in a safe range (below 6.5). Therefore if you have high homocysteine levels (> 7.0) even though you are taking supplemental B complex vitamins, then you may be amongst the 12% who need more than 1000 mcg of folic acid per day. In addition, betaine, likewise known as trimethylglycine (TMG) lowers homocysteine.

Homocysteine is second only to cigarette smoking in it is oxidative destruction. It causes little nicks or tears in the arterial lining, while also oxidizing and damaging LDL cholesterol. The damaged, or oxidized LDL cholesterol sticks to the homocysteine-damaged areas of the arterial lining. The combining of oxidized LDL cholesterol and a damaged arterial lining is what causes LDL cholesterol to stick to the arteries, whether or not the LDL cholesterol level is normal.

Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are the general for treating high cholesterol. This is dogma, and any individual who states other than as supposed or expected is committing medical heresy. Many humans find it hard to believe that pharmaceutical companies could ever succeed in paying medical researchers, medical associations, and doctors to commend something damaging to our health.

Most persons do not recognise that pharmaceutical companies fund medical institutions, medical education, medical conferences, and still reward doctors and exploration foundations for providing favorable results on their drugs. Likewise, pharmaceutical companies often suppress negative results from studies done on their drugs. Money has the power to sweep negative results and severe side effects beneath the rug. Money has the power to influence the FDA to determine which drugs make it to market and which drugs become the “standard” of treatment.

Former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), Dr. Marcia Angell, admonished of the problem of commercializing scientific exploration in her outgoing editorial titled “Is Academic Medicine for Sale?” Angell called for more inviolable limitations on pharmaceutical stock ownership and other financial incentives for researchers. She said that growing conflicts of interest were tainting science, warning “When the boundaries amidst industry and academic medicine become as blurred as they are now, the business goals of industry influence the mission of medical schools in multiple ways.” She did not discount the gains of exploration but said, “a Faustian bargain” now existed amid medical schools and the pharmaceutical industry. Angell left the NEJM in June 2000 and has written a book, “The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It.”

Two years later, in June 2002, the NEJM declared that it was going to get started accepting articles that were written by biased researchers, as there weren’t sufficient unbiased researchers left to write articles. In other words, most exploration originations were now financed by one or more of the a lot of pharmaceutical companies.

An ABC report cited that a survey of clinical tryouts revealed that when a drug company did not fund a study, favorable results when it comes to a drug were found only 50% of the time. In studies financed by drug companies favorable results in regards to the drugs were reported an awful 90% of the time. Money may and does buy the desired results. This is how most medical exploration and drugs are now invented and brought to market.

In 1977, the internationally-renowned heart surgeon, Dr. Michael DeBakey pointed out that only 30-40% of people with blocked arteries and heart disease have elevated blood cholesterol levels, and posed the logical question, “How do you explain the other 60-70%?”

Because letting down cholesterol did not reduce the peril of death from heart disease, the Cholesterol Consensus Conference in 1984 invented new guidelines to lower the “acceptable level” of cholesterol. High cholesterol would now be the diagnosis for any man or woman with a cholesterol level over 200. Doctors had to convince their persons who requires medical care that they had the impairment of normal physiological function and necessitated to take one or more costly drugs for the rest of their lives.

However, when letting down total cholesterol levels underneath 200 did not translate into saving lives from heart attacks, the focus then turned to LDL cholesterol levels. The “disease” of high cholesterol was refined to the sickness of high LDL cholesterol. The ominous patient who had an LDL cholesterol level above 130 was now condemned to a lifetime of pricey drugs. Though completely illogical, even when a person with normal LDL cholesterol levels suffered a heart attack, he would still be prescribed a cholesterol-lowering drug.

As we shall see, statin drugs reduce the peril of death by repeat heart attacks by as much as 30%, but interestingly enough, the mechanism of action in reducing the risk of death after a heart attack is not thru statin drugs’ capacity to lower cholesterol! It has been came upon that statin drugs have a modest anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect. Yet, there are a great deal of natural antioxidants that reduce inflammation and oxidation of LDL cholesterol and the lining of the arteries, which may soon be ran into to be more effective in reducing the risk of death than “antioxidant drugs,” without toxic side effects.

The myth that high LDL cholesterol is the indispensable cause of heart disease, and that we must be on drugs to protect ourselves is dispelled by the evidence. If the premise were unfeigned that persons with high levels of LDL cholesterol get heart disease, then we could assume that humans with normal levels of LDL ought to not get heart disease, or at least very few will have to get it. However, as Dr. DeBakey observed, approximately 60% of those who die from heart impairment of normal physiological function have normal LDL cholesterol levels!

Furthermore, after over 45 years of doctors prescribing cholesterol-lowering drugs, heart disease and stroke still stay the number one cause of death in both women and men. This says that disregarding of whether you have a high or a normal level of cholesterol, you have a 50% chance of dying from heart disease. If this is so, and it is, then why take a dangerous drug to try to lower your cholesterol in the basi place?

In 2001, the target level of LDL cholesterol was lowered from 130 to 100, and for the length of one night the number of persons considered to be campaigners for cholesterol statin drugs doubled. Many persons such as myself bristled at the news, because we knew the effectiveness of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants in preventing and reversing heart disease. Many of us could see the conspiracy for what it was.

The level at which LDL cholesterol is considered normal has continually been influenced by pharmaceutical companies, who pull the financial strings of exploration grants that keep medical schools and medical organizations in business. The lower they may establish the level at which LDL cholesterol is considered to be normal, the more people mechanically become victims of the dreaded impairment of normal physiological function of “high cholesterol.” Therefore, more people will be persuaded that they need to be taking a statin drug, and voilà, more earnings for the manufacturers. When you consider the size of the profits already received, let alone the potential net profit from statin drugs over the next assorted years, the cholesterol conspiracy is one of the biggest cash making systems ever perpetrated on the world.

In July 2004, the level of LDL cholesterol considered normal underwent another change. The new norm plunged from 100 to 70, nearly doubling again the number of humans who are “infected” with the plague of high cholesterol. Why, it’s the epidemic of our time! Many enlightened people howled at this news, marveling if the masses would ever wake up and see who is behind this, and why. Why is the medical institution ignoring the thousands of published medical studies that show the beneficial effects of nutritional supplements versus heart disease? Why is the medical establishment down-playing the dangerous and deadly side effects of statin drugs?

The “updated” LDL cholesterol recommendations were published in the July 2004 issue of the American Heart Association’s publication, Circulation. A panel from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, which is endorsed by the American College of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association, were the ones who in truth pronounced the new cholesterol level at which drugs must be prescribed. Sounds beauteous official and dependable if these powerful medical foundations are backing up these recommendations, right?

The fact is eight of the nine panel members making the new LDL cholesterol recommendations were being remunerated by the statin-producing pharmaceutical companies. The panelists did not disclose their financial conflict of interest. This info was uncovered by Newsday, a Long Island, New York

newspaper (D. Ricks and R. Robins, Newsday, July 15, 2004). Seven of the nine panelists have financial connections to Pfizer, the makers of Lipitor®. Five of the nine served as “consultants” to Pfizer. So, what did the other two panelists do to is worthy of their money? Seven of the nine panelists also received cash from Merck, the makers of Zocor®, with four of them serving as “consultants” to the company. Eight of the panelists who made the recommendations that would increase the prescribing of statin drugs have received either exploration grants or honoraria from Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Glaxo Smith Kline, Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, and some other drug companies that construct statin drugs.

You would think that with all the promotion and recommendations from medical experts on the gains of statin drugs, the medical community would possess overpowering proof that the drugs reduce the peril of death from cardiovascular disease. A hint of some of the smoke and mirrors in the pharmaceutical companies’ advertising may be seen in their TV commercials. Read conservatively the little print on a heap of of Crestor’s® mercantile advertising. Their mercantile states how much it lowers LDL cholesterol. However, in the same ad you may read, “…Crestor® has not been shown to reduce the risk of heart impairment of normal physiological function or heart attack.” If so, then why take it? Isn’t the bottom line to prevent death?

The scheme for reporting averse effects from medications is tremendously flawed, so much so that a great deal of humans are gravely harmed or killed by a great deal of medications before they are in the long run got rid of from the market. Most doctors do not know what sensations or changes or effects are due to the drug, what will have to be reported, or even to whom to report averse effects. They assume that the exploration that went into developing the drug has already identified all the effects and that a drug brought to market is “safe.” However, only one in twenty side effects is ever reported to either hospital administrators or the FDA.

Statin drugs block cholesterol production in the body by inhibiting the enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase in the early steps of it is synthesis in the mevalonate pathway. Cholesterol is one of three end merchandise in the mevalonate chain. This same biosynthetic pathway is likewise employed to fabricate co-enzyme Q10, or co-Q10, as well as dilochol. Therefore, one ominous consequence of statin drugs is the unintentional inhibition of both Co-Q10 and dilochol synthesis.

The drug data insert of a statin drug states that it lowers co-enzyme Q10 levels. Most doctors have forgotten their biochemistry class in medical school, and forgotten regarding the importance of Co-Q10. Therefore they apparently are not concerned with regards to such a statement on the drug labeling info sheet. They may even reassure their persons who requires medical care that letting down Co-Q10 is not one thing to worry about, but at the same time warn them that the drug may cause liver harm and to have their liver enzymes checked each three to six months to make sure the drug isn’t killing them. They do not realize that it is the depletion of Co-Q10 that leads to liver harm and death.

Ubiquinone, or co-enzyme Q10, is a critical cellular nutrient produced in the cell’s mitochondria, the “engines” that give rise to energy for the cell. Mitochondria use sugar, oxygen, and water to give rise to energy molecules known as ATP. Without ATP cells could do nothing. Damaged tissues could not be repaired. Cells could not divide or manufacture or utilize proteins, enzymes, or hormones. Death of cells, and without doubt of the humane body would take place if ATP could no longer be invented and utilized. Co-Q10 functions within the mitochondria as an electron carrier to cytochrome oxidase, our main respitory enzyme, which helps turn oxygen and sugar into energy. The heart requires high levels of oxygen, sugar, and Co-Q10 since it utilizes a lot of energy. A form of Co-Q10 called ubiquinone is found in all cell membranes, where it plays a role in preserving membrane integrity, so critical to nerve conduction and muscle contraction. Co-Q10 is likewise critical for the formation of elastin and collagen, which make up the connective tissues of the skin, musculature, and the cardiovascular system.

The most mutual side effect of statin drugs is muscle pain and weakness. In fact, a lot of persons who requires medical care who start out on the statin drugs closely without delay detect generalized fatigue and muscle weakness. This is due to the depletion of Co-Q10 necessitated to aid muscle function. Dr. Beatrice Golomb of San Diego, California, is presently conducting a series of studies on statin side effects. The pharmaceutical industry insists that only 2-3% of persons who requires medical care get muscle aches and cramps, when in fact in one study, Golomb found that 98% of people who are in need of medical care taking Lipitor®, and one-third of the persons who requires medical care taking Mevacor® (a lower dose statin), suffered noticeable to significant muscle problems.

Some persons on statin drugs lose coordination of their muscles. Some develop pain in their muscles, some are not capable to write due to loss of fine motor skills. Many lose the strength to exercise. Others are falling more ofttimes as their muscles give out, still others have disturb sleeping due to muscle cramping and twitching. Even worse, some people are experiencing most of these side effects. The difficultnesses are so numerous, it is difficult to list all the sensations or changes humans might experience. These difficulties do not come from the “disease” of high cholesterol, but the sickness of ignorance in prescribing these drugs.

As we age, Co-Q10 levels decline naturally. From the age of 20 to 80, Co-Q10 levels fall by closely 50%. Along with the natural decline of Co-Q10, comes a natural decrease in energy and an increase in the danger of heart disease, stroke, and cancer. If the natural decline of Co-Q10 levels increments the peril of fatigue, cancer, heart disease, and stroke, would it not make sense that accelerating the decline of Co-Q10 levels with statin drugs would have the same effect? They do indeed!

Demonstrating the importance of Co-Q10 to cardiovascular health, in a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study of humans either taking or not taking statin drugs, supplementation with Co-Q10 scaled down the risk of heart attacks and death in those with heart sickness and prior heart attacks by 50%, irrespective of whether they were on a statin drug or not. (Singh R, Neki N, Kartikey K, et al. Effect of coenzyme Q10 on danger of atherosclerosis in persons who requires medical care with recent myocardial infarction. Mol Cell Biochem. 2003 Apr; 246(1-2):75-82.)

Additionally, Co-Q10 was shown to increase blood levels of vitamin E and significantly increase the levels of protective HDL. As low HDL is a major danger factor for heart disease, increasing it is a definitive benefit. Statin drugs were shown not to provide any gain beyond that of supplementing with Co-Q10. Let me make this clear – in this study only the co-enzyme Q10 provided any benefit, not the drugs!

Cardiologist Dr. Peter Langsjoen of East Texas University reported the effects of Lipitor® amidst 20 persons who requires medical care who started with wholly normal hearts. After six months on a low dose of 20 mg of Lipitor® per day, two thirds of the people who are in need of medical care started to show signs of heart failure, as seen by abnormalities in the heart’s filling phase. According to Dr. Langsjoen, this malfunction is due to Co-Q10 depletion. Nine controlled tryouts using statin drugs in persons have been conducted thence far. Eight of these showed substantial statin-induced Co-Q10 depletion leading to a decline in left ventricular function and other biochemical imbalances.

In the United States, the incidence of heart attacks over the past ten to fifteen years has declined slightly. But congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy have risen alarmingly. Is it a coincidence that statin drugs were initial marketed in 1987, and then from 1989 to 1997, deaths from congestive heart failure more than doubled? 38 It frightens me that nearly all people who are in need of medical care with heart failure are put on statin drugs, even if their cholesterol is already low. In my opinion, the worst thing to do for a failing heart is take a statin drug. The best thing is to take is a full range of quality nutritional supplements, …vitamins, minerals, fish oil, and other antioxidants, including Co-Q10.

Various antioxidants work synergistically, each contributing to the fight versus free radicals in dissimilar areas and in dissimilar ways. In the blood stream, water-soluble antioxidants, such as vitamin C, and grape seed extract come in contact with and neutralize free radicals before they harm LDL-cholesterol. Other antioxidants saturate arterial walls and other tissues, and protect collagen and elastic fibers from free radical damage, reducing inflammation and plaque formation. The fat-soluble antioxidants, vitamin E, beta carotene, and co-enzyme Q10 ride along in the blood fat (triglycerides) and LDL cholesterol, protecting them and the endothelium from oxidation. Vitamin E sits on the surface of LDL cholesterol, protecting it from free radical damage. Beta carotene, grape seed extract and olive extract penetrate deeper inside the LDL cholesterol and arterial walls, adding more shelter from oxidation. Quercetin and alpha lipoic acid work through nitrous oxide pathways to reduce high blood pressure, a major peril factor for heart disease.

A report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2005 looked at 97 double-blind controlled studies comparing the efficacy of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to fish oil. They found that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs scaled down the peril of death from heart disease by only 13%, and

interesting sufficient it was NOT due to the effect of letting down cholesterol. The benefits, even though small, were derived from the fact that statin drugs have a slight antioxidant effect.

Even more interesting, the salmon oil was shown to reduce the peril of death from heart disease by 23%, almost double the gain of statin drugs. Salmon oil is an omega-3 fatty acid that gets integrated into cholesterol and triglycerides and prevents the oxidation of LDL cholesterol. Since LDL cholesterol is protected from exuberant oxidation there is less plaque buildup and less peril of heart disease.

Inflammation is a well-known factor in the formation of atherosclerosis. To keep it simple, think of inflammation and oxidation as the same process. The immune system’s response to inflammation is to

release peroxides that act like acid to break down damaged tissues, so that cells from the immune system, macrophages, may consume the molecules and clean up the site. But peroxides escalate the oxidation/inflammation process, thence damaging more tissue. The arterial walls become more inflamed, escalating the formation of plaque and scarring. The downward cycle proceeds until atherosclerosis is so progressed that the occurrence of a heart attack or stroke becomes imminent.

The liver’s response to inflammation is to release C reactive protein (CRP) into the blood. Other inflammatory causes may cause elevated CRP levels, including cigarette smoking, obesity, insulin insensitivity, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, infections, dementia, colorectal cancer, high blood pressure, and aging. Accordingly, elevated CRP levels are a direct indication of inflammation in the body and that atherosclerosis, including heart disease, is actively developing.

Homocysteine and high sensitivity CRP levels may and must be tested. Dr. Jialal, of the Universtity of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas, is well known for his exploration correlating oxidized LDL cholesterol as the true cause of atherosclerosis, has likewise identified high sensitivity C reactive protein as a predictive risk element for inflammation of arterial walls and plaque formation. Your doctor may not test for these routinely, but you ought to insist on getting these tests done. Both of these predictive values may be kept at “safe” levels. Vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids may lower the levels of homocysteine and CRP. The B vitamins, along with betaine, or tri-methyl-glycine (TMG), modify homocysteine into safer amino acids and reduce inflammation of the LDL cholesterol and the arterial lining.

When you receive the results of your homocysteine test, do not receive the answer, “Your test was normal.” Ask for the actual number. The doctor and nurse commonly know what is normal by what the lab slip states as the “normal range.” Most lab results report a normal homocysteine level as being beneath 10.4, when in fact, since the early 1990′s, researchers have known that a homocysteine count above 6.5 signals a rapid linear rise in the peril for heart disease.

Furthermore, with each 3 point elevation of homocysteine above 6.5, e.g., when homocysteine levels are 9.5, the danger of coronary artery disease (CAD) rises by an further and added 35%! Yet you may be told that 9.5 is “normal and not to worry.” With a homocysteine level of 12.5, the increase in the

risk for heart sickness surpasses 70%. The dandier the homocysteine level, the dandier the oxidation

of both LDL cholesterol and the arterial lining. The dandier the inflammation, the higher the CRP. Is it any wonder that homocysteine and CRP levels are more predictive for danger of heart impairment of normal physiological function than cholesterol levels and ratios?

I need to emphasize that anybody whether they have a medical problem or not, will have to talk about this selective information with their physician before acting upon anything written here. The selective information provided is not meant to diagnose or treat any disease. It is for informational purposes only; and no one ought to make conclusions in regards to their medications without consulting with their physician. No one must come off a cholesterol-lowering statin drug in lieu of nutritional supplements without a indepth discussion with their physician who is keenly conscious of all the masters and cons of both treatment modalities.

In summary, I commend a full spectrum of quality nutritional supplements, along with a healthful diet and exercise, to support obtain and maintain optimal heart and arterial health. I believe all would agree that modus vivendi changes are the most indispensable factor for optimal health, …and galore believe that quality nutritional supplements are key in protecting versus the procedure that leads to, and accelerates the development of almost all chronic degenerative diseases, that of oxidation. To combat oxidation we need a full range of quality antioxidants.

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The Great Cholesterol Con The Truth About What

Statins are the so-called “wonder drugs” widely prescribed to lower blood cholesterol levels that assert to offer unparalleled shelter versus heart disease. Many experts assert that they are wholly safe and that they are also competent of preventing a whole series of other conditions. This groundbreaking study discloses the truth behind the hype surrounding statins and reveals a number of necessary facts, including that high cholesterol levels do not cause heart disease; that high-fat diets—saturated or otherwise—do not affect blood cholesterol levels; and that for most men and all women the gains offered by statins are negligible at best. Other data is also provided that shows that statins have some more side affects than is oftentimes acknowledged. This hard-hitting survey also points a finger at the powerful pharmaceutical industry and an unquestioning medical profession as perpetrators of the largely facetious conceptions of “good” and “bad” cholesterol that are designed to convince millions of humans to spend billions on statins. With clarity and wit, this appeal to mutual sense and scientific fact debunks mutual assumptions on what constitutes a healthful life style and diet, as well as the idea that there is a miracle heal for heart disease.