Health – Cholesterol and Statin Drugs – Are They Safe?

I am a researcher – not a doctor.  I research many sources of health and nutrition and evaluate the good and bad and pass on information that I believe everyone should know.  My position on statin drugs is that they probably have a place in medical treatment, but not at the level they are being provided by doctors today.  Cholesterol is produced by your body.  Cholesterol is also available from the food you eat.

Statin drugs lower cholesterol by blocking the enzyme, hydroxy-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase), responsible for producing of cholesterol by your liver.  Why does your body produce cholesterol?  Because it is critical for your health – it is critical for the normal function of every cell in your body.  Cholesterol can contribute to the development of atherosclerosis – a condition in which your artery wall thickens because of cholesterol and other fatty materials build up as a result ofoxidation.  Atherosclerosis is also known as ‘hardening of your arteries.

Over time cholesterol and other oxidized fatty plaques can accumulate on the inside surface of your artery walls.  As these plaques grow it is possible to reduce or block the flow of blood to your heart.  You may notice this constriction from pain around your heart – angina.  The interesting thing that I’ve discovered is that half the people who die from a heart attack have no warning – no chest pain.  Half the people who die from a heart attack have healthy levels of cholesterol.  What does that mean?  Maybe cholesterol is not the ‘marker’ to be measured for heart disease.  Most of the studies I’ve researched indicate that heart disease can be moderated by reducing the inflammation in your body. 

Cholesterol is measured differently around the world.  In the United States, cholesterol is measured in totality and is broken down into components.  A total cholesterol reading of 200 mg/dL is considered desirable, yet friends of mine have a total cholesterol reading less than 200 and their doctors want to put them on statin drugs to ‘prevent’ a future risk.  WHY?  Borderline high total cholesterol has been defined as 200-239 mg/dL.  High total cholesterol is defined as anything over 240 mg/dL. 

Two of the primary components of cholesterol are LDL and HDL.  Cholesterol is made up of five groups of lipoproteins.  The smallest are chylomicrons followed in increasing size by VLDL (very low density lipoprotein), IDL (intermediate density lipoprotein), LDL (low density lipoprotein) and HDL (high density lipoprotein). LDL is considered as ’bad’ cholesterol and HDL is considered to be “good” cholesterol.

LDL cholesterol levels are defined as follows:  Very high LDL is 190 mg/dL or above; high LDL is 160-189 mg/dL; borderline LDL is 130-159 mg/dL; and, near ideal LDL is 100-129 mg/dL.  It is interesting that two other levels are defined for people with high risk of heart disease. 

For people at risk of heart disease, LDL cholesterol should be below 100 mg/dL.  For people at very high risk of heart disease, your LDL cholesterol should be below 70 mg/dL.  High risk of heart disease is someone who has had a previous heart attack or stroke.  It also includes artery blockages detected in your carotid (neck) and peripheral (arms and/or legs) arteries.  The following activities are also contained in the definition of high risk of heart disease:  smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, family history of early heart disease and age – older than 45 for men and older than 55 for women.

HDL cholesterol has been defined by the following levels.  Poor or low HDL cholesterol is below 40 mg/dL for men and 50 mg/dL for women.  ‘Better’ HDL is defined as 50-59 mg/dL.  The ‘best’ HDL is defined as 60 mg/dL or above.  HDL cholesterol has been shown to reduce or lessen the build-up of plaque on your artery walls.

Statin drugs are dangerous – read the side effects.  Statin drugs are linked to chronic fatigue, liver damage, muscle pain, nausea, lowered mental performance, cardiomyopathy (deterioration of your heart’s function), heart problems (depletion of coenzyme Q 10 in your heart – which can cause congestive heart failure) and even death.  You will feel older and look older if you take statin drugs for a long time.  They sap your strength.  Fatigue results in weight gain and other health problems.  Are these side effects worth a perceived lowering of your risk of heart disease caused by high levels of cholesterol? 

If half the people who die from a heart attack have healthy levels of cholesterol, why take a drug that has side effects that can do you real harm?  What’s even worse is that doctors are now prescribing statin drugs to children as young as 8 years old.  Should you accept the side effect risks for your child?  Say NO to statin drugs!

So, what can you do?  Many things, but you actually have to do them.  You can take statin drugs and maintain your lifestyle and you will see no improvement in your life.  You must do something differently to improve your health.  Here are a few things to consider:  short bursts of high intensity exercise (at least twelve minutes a day), reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat – especially refined grains and sugars, eat foods rich in omega-3 oil (fish, nuts, etc), supplement using vitamin B3 (niacin) – consider using a sustained release variety, but no more than 500 mg/day, eat more soluble fibers (oatmeal, beans, fruits, vegetables, etc), and lose weight (if you are overweight).

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Health – 7 Keys to Ideal Heart Health – part one

I am always intrigued by articles that start with a title such as this blog today. I found this particular article in a recent Health and Nutrition Letter that I receive monthly. It’s a good source that I use occasionally. You or I could agree or disagree with most things that are written about health. It’s important to look at things critically, especially if they focus on your health.  Don’t blindly accept what is published, even my blogs.  You are responsible for your own health. Allow me the opportunity to agree and disagree with this particular article.

The first key is to never have smoked cigarettes or quit smoking more than one year ago. Obviously your heart health will be better if you never smoked. The long-term effects of cigarette smoking on the heart is extensive – deterioration of the elasticity of your aorta, increased stress on your sympathetic nervous system, and decrease in estrogen in women to name a few. So, I ask myself the following question as I’m reading this key to ideal heart health – can one year repair all this damage? I don’t think so, but I don’t know. Everyone is different. Smoking also increases your risk for lung, throat, mouth, esophageal, leukemia, stomach, bladder, kidney, pancreas and cervical cancers. Your risk is also increased for degenerative diseases of your bones and joints. Smokers typically have a higher chance of developing ulcers, thyroid disease, macular degeneration and premature aging. Quitting smoking is a key to better help overall.

The second key is to have a body mass index (BMI) less than 25. BMI or the Quetelet index has been around since the mid 1800’s when a Belgian mathematician, Adolphe Quetelet, defined the term. His index is simply the individual’s body weight divided by the square of the height. It’s not a measure of health, but a numerical assessment of thinness or fatness. It was a social measure to classify people, not a measure to indicate health for those people who were living an inactive lifestyle. Currently our medical profession interprets your BMI as follows – less than 17.5 and you are classified as having anorexia nervosa or a related disorder; less than 18.5 you are simply underweight; less than 25 and you are at your optimal weight; less than 30 and you are obese and over 40 you are morbidly obese. Since the BMI is less than accurate for tall people, the Ponderal index was developed to better assess fatness and thinness. Overweight and obese people tend to have more health related problems, many of which affect your cardiovascular system. I’m sure that most people will agree that being closer to the ideal weight for your height is healthier for your heart. But, what about being underweight – a BMI less than 18.5? Underweight individuals tend to have anemia, hair loss, more stress, depression, malnutrition, dental and oral problems, osteoporosis, higher incidences of miscarriage, memory loss, digestive diseases, hypothermia and infertility.

The third key is moderate physical activity of at lest 150 minutes or vigorous physical activity for at least 75 minutes per week. I am a proponent of vigorous and intense physical activity. I believe that exercising your heart muscles is definitely a key to a stronger and a healthier heart. Exercise increases the number of free radicals in your body – they attack every cell thousands of times a day. Anti-oxidants through food or supplements help to fight this daily battle. Exercise promotes a lot of systems in your body. But, like most things in life, there has to be moderation. I don’t think the time guidelines for this key to heart health are unhealthy. I think it is a reasonable measure for exercise time per week. It’s the types of exercises that you do that count. I prefer to run fartleks rather than long-slow running. Fartleks put a maximum demand on your heart for short periods of time. Then you rest for a moment for allow your heart rate to approach the normal range – then you increase your pace again. I prefer heart exercises that vary the intensity of exercise to my heart muscles rather than keep my heart rate elevated for extended periods of time. Again, this is my opinion.

The fourth key is total cholesterol less than 200 mg/dL. I believe that cholesterol is not a good indicator of heart health. Why, you may ask? Because 50% of the people who die from a heart attack have normal, healthy levels of cholesterol. If half the dead people have healthy levels of cholesterol, why is total cholesterol an effective measure of heart health? I read an article years ago that stated doctors back in the 50’s and before weren’t worried about total cholesterol unless if was over 300, and then they weren’t worried than much about it. Then statin drugs came into vogue and the world has changed. Total cholesterol is one measure, but the important measure in cholesterol is your HDL – the higher than number the better you are since HDL removes oxidized LDL which becomes the plaque deposited on your arteries. The American Heart Association recommends a ratio of HDL to total cholesterol no higher than 5:1 with an optimum ratio of 3.5:1. What does that mean? If your HDL is 50 and your total cholesterol is 200, then your ratio is 4:1. I believe the ratio is much more important that the total cholesterol number when looking at cholesterol. However, your homocysteine level is a better gage of heart health in my opinion as a researcher and article writer.

Homocysteine is an amino acid in your blood stream. If it is too high your risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease increases. Homocysteine is not obtained from the foods you eat, but is influenced from them as well as your genes. B vitamins are effective in reducing your homocysteine levels. Low levels of B vitamins have been related to cardiovascular and memory problems. Folic acid, vitamin B-6 and vitamin B-12 are the preferred B vitamins for heart health.

The other three keys are diet, blood pressure and blood glucose levels. I will cover these remaining three keys to ideal heart health in my next blog.

Choices have consequences. Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin