Watching this little film clip made me think about our medical treatment options offered today. Most of us have family members who, upon learning their cholesterol is high, are immediately offered a prescription to take care of it. Should we really be abdicating control of our own personal health?

Dietary and lifestyle choices have been shown to be far better than treatment. According to Dr. Dean Ornish, author of Reversing Heart Disease, there is a genetic variability in how efficiently (or inefficiently) a person metabolizes dietary saturated fat and cholesterol.  Some people can eat almost anything yet their blood cholesterol levels do not increase very much.  Others find that even a small amount of dietary fat or cholesterol makes their blood cholesterol levels increase.  Most people are somewhere in between on this spectrum.

In 1985 Drs. Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of LDL-cholesterol receptors, located primarily in liver cells, and they bind and remove cholesterol from the bloodstream.  According to Ornish,  “The more cholesterol receptors you have, the more efficiently you can metabolize and remove cholesterol from your blood.”  And this is, in part, genetically determined.

So what is the answer?  Ornish goes on to state that if the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in your diet is low enough, then your blood cholesterol level will be low even if you don’t have very many cholesterol receptors.  Three fourths of the cholesterol in our blood is made by the body.   It’s the excessive amounts of cholesterol and saturated fat in our diet that lead to coronary heart disease.

By eating healthier, controlling our weight and supplementing wisely, the rewards can be great, particularly over a lifetime.  According to Ornish, if drugs are used to control a patient’s symptoms without also treating the underlying causes of the illness, than that patient will probably have to take these drugs for the rest of his or her life, often in ever-increasing dosages and with unpleasant and sometimes dangerous side effects.  Not a pretty picture!

With one in three American adults having high cholesterol, one option is using a natural way to lower it.  Natural compounds called plant sterols and stanols, when added to a healthy diet, can significantly reduce LDL cholesterol.  These sterols and stanols are found naturally in plants, fruits, vegetables and grains and because their structure is similar to cholesterol, they compete for absorption, and thereby may help to decrease the level of cholesterol in the body.  Ask me about it.

I am so happy and grateful that I am still prescription-free just as I celebrate my 69th birthday.  Fortunately I took control of my own health and it has been very rewarding for me.  What about you?   What changes are you making daily that keep you on the path of wellness?  I would love to hear your comments.

Are you one of the many who have been prescribed a statin drug by your doctor as a way to prevent heart disease?   A recent study  of postmenopausal women,  led by Dr. Yunsheng Ma of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, has found that statins may increase some people’s chances of developing Type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Steven Nissen, cardiology chairman at the Cleveland Clinic, who was not involved in the research, fears that people who need and will benefit from statins will be scared off of using the drugs because of reports like this.

So what exactly are statins?  According to the Mayo Clinic,  statins are drugs that can lower your cholesterol. They work by blocking a substance your body needs to make cholesterol. Statins may also help your body reabsorb cholesterol that has built up in plaques on your artery walls, preventing further blockage in your blood vessels and heart attacks.

Statins include well-known medications such as atorvastatin (Lipitor), simvastatin (Zocor), lovastatin (Mevacor), pravastatin (Pravachol), rosuvastatin (Crestor) and others. Lower cost generic versions of many statin medications are available.  This class of medication, cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, generate more than $15 billion in worldwide sales every year; and 40 million Americans have been recommended to take them for the rest of their lives.  Basically, statins have become the most profitable drug class in the world.

One interesting fact about statins ~ In Canada all statin drugs require warnings that the drugs reduce the coenzyme Q10 level ~ one  the substances needed for the creation of energy by virtually every cell of your body.

According to Michael B. Schachter, M.D., when these drugs are given to lower LDL cholesterol levels in order to reduce risks of a heart attack, CoQ10 levels in the tissues are lowered, thus increasing risk for heart disease.  He believes anyone taking Mevacor or similar type drugs should be on a significant dosage of CoQ10.  He also mentions beta blockers, drugs that are used extensively to treat heart disease, high blood pressure and other conditions, also deplete the heart and other tissues of  CoQ10.  Unfortunately, most cardiologists and conventional physicians in the U.S. are unaware of this fact and do not give patients on these drugs supplements of CoQ10.

The Women’s Health study mentioned above certainly can be looked at as a needed note of caution for women.  Taking a statin cholesterol-lowering drug should be your last resort, but if you do take one, it might be advantageous that you also take the supplement  CoQ10 to replenish what has been lost by taking that statin.

My husband was recently requested by his doctor to begin taking a statin to reduce his cholesterol.  Rather than take a drug, he chose to take a heart-healthy choice,  containing 2,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols found naturally in plants, fruits, vegetables, and grains,  and clinically proven by more than 80 studies to lower LDL cholesterol.  Other suggested lifestyle changes for lowering our cholesterol include:

1. Decreasing our intake of saturated at to less than 7% of total calories
2. Decreasing our dietary cholesterol intake to less than 200 mg per day
3. Losing 10 pounds if overweight
4. Adding  5-10 g of soluble fiber to our diet each day
5. And adding that 2,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols to our diet each day

DID YOU KNOW

According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) comparing the nutrient profiles of the leading species of wild and cultivated fish and shellfish (protein and fat-ratios) of farm versus wild salmon show that:

• The fat content of farmed salmon is excessively high–30-35% by weight.
• Wild salmon have a 20% higher protein content and a 20% lower fat content than farm-raised salmon.
• Farm-raised fish contain much higher amounts of pro-inflammatory omega 6 fats than wild fish.

The picture above shows salmon leaping up cold rocky streams. Others swim through frigid ocean waters.  Unfortunately, the farm-raised fish, all fattier, spend their time  in crowded pens going in circles, and eating fish chow pellets.   Not a pretty picture.

Picture that color chart at the local Home Depot paint department and you can now imagine how industrial salmon farms use artificial color to make farmed fish—whose flesh is typically grayish white—appear a more appetizing “salmon” pink.   Wild salmon get their color from their prey, particularly krill.  Market research found that consumers “buy with their eyes” and put a premium on color. Since 1982, the use of artificial coloring in farmed salmon has more than tripled.  One of the most commonly used dyes, Canthaxanthin, has been linked to human eye defects and retinal damage.

Our wild salmon found in rivers, lakes and oceans, their natural environment, feed on  smaller forage fish, algae and seaweeds — good sources of omega-3s.   Most commercial salmon feeds contain about 45 percent fish meal and 25 percent fish oil. Depending on market prices, the fish meal contains forage fish or poultry by-products (even feathers) and blood meal, with grains such as corn, soy and wheat used as a binder or filler.  Consumer Reports has noted that half of the U.S. soy crop and one-third of the corn crop were genetically modified — a shock to those who believe such foods are dangerous.

The advantages of adding Omega 3 to our diets is well known. Dr. Stephen Chaney, Nutrition Professor at the University of North Caroliina,  just recently wrote of a  study published May 31, 2011 in the British Journal of Nutrition regarding this subject.   A meta-analysis of 8 previously published prospective clinical trials looking at 214,426 adults aged 34 to 84 with no prior history or evidence of heart disease,  the study found  that the individuals consuming           > 250 mg/day of omega-3s were 35% less likely to experience sudden cardiac death and were 17% less likely to experience fatal coronary heart disease of all causes than individuals consuming < 250 mg/day of omega-3s.

In other words…..even if you are perfectly healthy with no known risk of heart disease, adding omega-3′s to your diet can significantly reduce your risk of a fatal heart attack!

My own decision about adding omega-3′s to my diet is to definitely choose wild salmon over farm-raised salmon when either shopping or eating in restaurants.  By choosing wild over farmed I, as a consumer, can make a difference.    Adding a  daily supplement offering ultra-pure, pharmaceutical-grade omega 3 fatty acids is also an option that I choose.   I found the following film very informative about this subject.

What about you? Where do you get your daily omega-3′s?

Researchers in Britain just released a study that tracked 14,000 children and what they ate and drank at the ages of 3, 4, 7, and 8.5 years of age, by asking parents to complete questionnaires detailing their child’s diet.

Not suprisingly, the study found evidence that when 3 year old children eat a diet rich in foods that are high in fat, high in sugar and are processed, their IQ may find a small decrease in their IQ five years later. And on the flip side, this new study suggests eating a healthy, nutrient rich diet may be associated with a small increase in IQ.

Dr. Sandra Hassink, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Obesity Leadership Workgroup, believes that there are “so many variables in a child’s life which makes it very difficult to tease out what exactly is leading to a drop in IQ assessments.”  Until more research is available, Hassink says, the AAP recommends giving your child a healthy diet, reading to your child, having family routines and structure and lots of physical activity,  all which contribute to the healthy development of children.

One of the biggest contributors of fast food, the soft drink industry, has just recently been under fire  because of a possible link between the consumption of diet sodas and a higher risk of stroke, heart attack and vascular-related deaths.  This study was just presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in 2011.  In findings involving 2,564 people in the large, multi-ethnic Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS), scientists said people who drank diet sodas every day had a 61% higher risk of vascular events than those who reported no soda drinking.

Last July another study using data from the large, ongoing Framingham Heart Study reported that people who daily downed one or more sodas – regular or diet – increased their risk of developing metabolic syndrome by 56%  (The components of metabolic syndrome include excess fat around the waist or abdomen, high blood pressure, and abnormal levels of blood sugar, triglycerides and HLD, or “good” cholesterol.)  There were also animal studies that indicated the caramel coloring was also linked to vascular problems.

Lyn M. Steffen, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and co-author of the second study, states, “The most likely explanation is that people who drink diet soda have other behaviors that might promote the syndrome.  Perhaps consumers of diet soda have less healthy diets than their non-diet-soda-drinking peers.  Or maybe they are less physically active.”    Hannah Gardener, Sc.D, lead author and epidemiologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Fla states, “If our results are confirmed with further studies, then it would suggest that diet soda may not be the optimal substitute for sugar-sweetened beverages for protection against vascular outcomes.”

Regardless of whether poor diet, lack of exercise, etc. were involved in the results of these particular studies, the consumption of soft drinks is now, according to the National Soft Drink Association,  over 600 12 oz. servings per person per year.  Since 1978, soda consumption in the US has tripled for boys and doubled for girls.  Young males age 12-29 are the biggest consumes of over 160 gallons per year – that is almost 2 quarts per day.  At these levels, the calories from soft drinks contribute as much as 10% of the total caloric intake for a growing boy!

The advertising of soft drinks alone has been targeting the young. According to an article in Beverage, January 1999, “influencing elementary school students is very important to soft drink marketers.”  Have you noticed that the size of a single serving beverage has increased from 6  1/2 oz. to a 20-ounce bottle?  In fact, when I see bottles at 7-Eleven stores and movie theaters, the most popular size is now the 64 oz. “Double Gulp!”  Last year soft drink companies grossed over $57 billion in sales in the U.S. alone.

Studies revealing vascular problems is just the tip of the iceberg .  It does not even address the problem of the loss of enamel on the teeth caused by phosphoric acid found in soft drinks, which causes tooth rot as well as digestive problems and bone loss.

High fructose corn syrup, now used in preference to sugar in soft drinks, is associated with poor development of collagen in growing animals.  Because all fructose must be metabolized by the liver, animals on high-fructose diets develop liver problem similar to those of alcoholics.  It costs less to make, is sweeter to the taste, and mixes more easily with other ingredients.    We consume nearly 63 pounds of it per person per year in drinks, sweets, etc.   Aspartame, used in the diet sodas, is a potent neurotoxin and endocrine disrupter.  And of course the caffeine present in soft drinks can lead to adrenal exhaustion.

Did you know soda works really well in cleaning car engines? It is because of all of the chemical acids present in the sodas such as acetic fumaric, gluconic and phosphoric acids, all synthetically produced.  If it can clean your car engine, what is it doing to our insides?  It can upset the acid-alkaline balance of our stomach and other gastric lining, creating a continuous acid environment.

Just as the risks of smoking  began to emerge in the late 70′s alarming people of the dangers of smoking cigarettes, perhaps  it is time  to begin to pay attention and sound the alarm about the dangers of all of the processed foods, including soft drinks, that are being consumed.  Six out of every ten deaths in our country our directly related to diet.  A typical American diet consists of 90% cooked, processed, packaged, adulterated, and even irradiated and possibly genetically-engineered foods, filled with chemicals, preservatives, grown in nutrient-depleted soil, and stored on shelves for long periods of time, resulting in massive nutritional loss, literally creating a “dead-food diet.”  We cannot build strong new cells and maintain a healthy immune system to prevent disease, when we only eat lifeless food.  What are you doing for you and your family to lead a more healthful life through diet?  Asking yourself and your family members these questions….are you tired most of the time?  Is depression your constant companion?  Do you have frequent colds, flu, etc?  Are you living with arthritis or worse?  If anyone answers yes to any of these questions, it is time to build up your defense system by building and repairing your immune system, not with “dead” processed food, but with good tasting, healthful food and nutritional supplements that deliver nutrients to the cells.

The other day while visiting a family member she told me that the doctor had told her that one of her tests he had taken showed  that her vitamin D levels were extremely low.  I had just recently been reading about how important a role this nutrient plays in our health so was very concerned.

This deficiency can lead to not only bone loss, but other serious health conditions such as heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, depression, and some autoimmune disorders.  Even MS has been linked to a lack of Vitamin D.

It takes about  15 minutes of exposure to sunlight on your hands and face  for your body to make enough vitamin D under normal circumstances.   Pulling ourselves away from the computer, workplace, tv, etc. to get that brief exposure can make a tremendous difference.  Sunscreens that we apply daily to protect ourselves from the sun’s rays can also prevent enough exposure as well as protective clothing.    If we reside up north or way down south we may need to spend a little more time outside.

Foods which contain vitamin D include salmon, sardines, shrimp, milk, cod, and eggs. Among salmon, wild-caught fish have been shown to average significantly more vitamin D than non-organically farmed fish.   Supplements can also be taken.  It is the overwhelming consensus of researchers that D3 is our best bet when supplementing with vitamin D.   (For more information about how to obtain such a supplement,  contact me here).

For an excellent discussion about what this valuable nutrient can do for you, check out this site.  I was amazed to learn how linked this vitamin is to so many of the health issues we are dealing with today.  Have you had your vitamin D levels checked recently?