| |
Cholesterol is not the bugaboo that mainstream medicine and the media make it seem. Despite the glowing reports issued by big pharma, many statin drugs do little to help you. Yes they do lower cholesterol, but there is a cost. Users often suffer from memory lapses, liver toxicity, muscle cramps, nausea, constipation and even heartburn. And that doesn't include the high price of statins and the possibility of a future heart attack.
There is a measure that you don't hear about in the news but is known in medical circles as NNT which stands for Number Needed to Treat. It refers to the number of patients that would need to be treated in order to prevent one bad result. Any NNT over 50 is considered to be "worse than a lottery ticket". The antibiotics used for treating the H-pylori, the main cause of stomach upsets has an NNT of 1.1. In other words 10 out of 11 people who take it get free from the virus.
Not so with statin drugs. Most of them have NNTs between 250, 500 or higher. Lipidor, for example, has an NNT of 100 which simply means that 100 people have to be treated in order to prevent one from suffering a heart attack. The other 99 receive no benefit!
Cholesterol alone is simply not as important as C-Reactive protein and your homocysteine levels which are better markers for predicting future heart attacks.
But if you are fixated on lowering your cholesterol at any cost and do it safely and inexpensively you should try the following natural, more safer methods:
--Fish Oil and Flax seed: Fish oil and flaxseed are rich is omega-3 oils and improve blood flow and prevents blood clotting. Consuming less than one ounce of fish daily has been shown to reduce glucose intolerance. Fish oil helps to normalize heart rhythm and reduce the risk of sudden cardiac arrest. You should take 2 to 8 grams of fish oil daily.
--Folic Acid: Along with B6 and B-12 it help lower your levels of homocysteine and cleans out arterial plaque. Homocysteine has been shown to damage artery walls and helps cholesterol stick to those artery walls. 800 to 1200 mcg is the recommended daily dose.
--Magnesium: It relaxes the artery walls and improves blood flow and lowers blood pressure. Most magnesium comes from seeds, nuts, legumes, tofu and green leafy vegetables. Unfortunately, most peole don't get enough magnesium. Take between 300 to 600 mg.
--Vitamin C and E both work to prevent free radical damage that contributes to cardiovascular disease. Vitamin C helps in maintaining the elasticity and function of the blood vessels and helps maintain proper blood pressure control. Vitamin E prevents free radical damage from LDL (bad) cholesterol and the damage to vascular linings. 1000 to 5000mg of vitamin C and 400 to 800 IU of vitamin E are the recommended doses.
--CoQ10: If you are taking a statin, supplementing with CoQ10 is a must. Statins rob your heart of this important enzyme and can lead to a heart attack. It helps to increase the efficiency of the heart muscle. It is a powerful antioxidant and has the ability to trigger beta-cell function in the pancreas that helps to produce more insulin leading to better sugar control in diabetics. Take between 100 to 400 mg daily.
--Niacin: It's a B-3 vitamin that helps reduce fats in the blood and has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels by 18%, triglycerides by 26% and increase the good HDL cholesterol by 30% when 1800 to 3000mg is used daily.
Rather than use statins which prove to be worthless, the above natural substances are better alternatives to controlling cholesterol.
The author has many concerns about the need to use drugs to control a great many ailments. He prefers natural treatments to synthetic drugs that do more harm than good. Among those to control cholesterol is Antioxidant Plus. You can find out about it here: http://www.click-here-4.info/?i=145763
 EasyPublish™ this article - publishers click here
More articles by Mario Carini
- Knee Pain Relief - Ligament Injuries & Sports Knee Braces - How You Can Help Protect Your Knees (Daniel Sims)
Have you recently sustained a knee injury due to sports? Or, maybe you are trying to avoid a future knee problem. If so, you should read this article - Chronic Lower Back Pain and The Medication Soma (Bruce Holms)
Soma (Carisoprodol
Brand ) is used, along with rest and other measures, for the relief of shoulder pain, neck pain, and spasms due to injury. A very important point; Soma alone will not heal your muscles. It is important to follow a doctor prescribed program of physical therapy, rest, and/or exercise. Many writers play down the effects of drugs like Soma by writing their effects in sentences. I write in easy to follow lists.
|