Re: Cholesterol

x-no-archive: yes

jonaheal@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Any links with studies that prove correlation ? Is high cholesterol
cause or simpotom of cardio problems ?

What about this :
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E2D61F3EF934A35754C0A9649C8B63&sec=health&pagewanted=2
<quote>
Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard
School of Public Health:
Our cholesterol levels have been declining, and we have been smoking
less, and yet the incidence of heart disease has not declined as would
be expected. ''That is very disconcerting,'' Willett says. ''It
suggests that something else bad is happening.''

<end quote>

Same article:
<quote>
Atkins also noted that **** starches and sugar **** were harmful in any
event because they raised triglyceride levels and

that this was a greater risk factor for heart disease than cholesterol.

<end quote>


As a lay person with high risk for CVD in my family history and my own, I've looked into this question a great deal.

I think that simply measuring total cholesterol or LDL and defining risk by those misses the true risk profile, which is far more complex. Further, the same kind of clinician who diagnoses using only those markers is likely to recommend a diet that will make things worse in the long run, then rx meds to overcome the problem when diet and exercise are "not enough."

A better screen, IMO, for risk would be complex, give more weight to triglycerides above 100 (a predictive measure for CVD research indicates is more accurate than cholesterol or LDL), assessment of LDL particle size, since large fluffy particles are not the ones that oxidize and cause damage, a measure of small, dense VLDL which is damaging, HDL, and ratios of all the above. Further, an HbA1c, or glycated hemoglobin above 5% is associated with increased CVD risk in diabetics and non-diabetics, every point along the spectrum of normal. The same is true for the spectrum of fasting blood sugar, with increases in CVD beginning even in the lowest quintile of normal and increasing along the whole normal spectrum. Waist to hip ratio should be considered, too, in evaluating CVD risk.

A reduced starch and sugar diet will improve ratios and risk measures in most folks. Combined with exercise, especially weight bearing, it's often enough to reduce risk markers dramatically. This means increasing fats, and adding those that are associated with increased heart health would be wise. This means fish oil (preferably from eating wild caught oily fish or supplementation if one won't eat fish), olive oil, nut oils, avocado oil. If possible, meats and dairy should be from animals that have been grass fed, not supermarket feed lot beef; these are rich in heart healthy fats, compared to grain fed beef. Same as people. :-)

Just my opinion, as a lay person at high risk who's done a lot of homework and experimenting. I reduced my TC a total of about 100 pt. with diet, pantethine (must be liquid gel cap, I learned with experimentation), doubled my HDL and reduced my TGLs a couple of hundred points, even while an undiagnosed type 2 diabetic.

Susan
.

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