Cholesterol - the common causes of raised levels
From DoctorMyhill
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There is a general belief that a high fat diet results in high cholesterol, which results in arterial and heart disease. This is a myth put about by the food and pharmaceutical companies to promote low fat foods and cholesterol lowering drugs. The evidence to support this theory is poor - the single largest culprits in arterial disease are sugars and refined carbohydrates.
Cholesterol is an essential molecule without which we would all be dead. It is the raw material from which many essential molecules are made including hormones, in particular the adrenal and sex hormones, serotonin receptors (which help protect us against depression), vitamin D (through the action of sunshine on cholesterol in the skin - vitamin D is highly protectve against heart disease and cancer) bile salts (essential for digesting foods) and so on. The highest concentrations of cholesterol are found in breast milk where it is essential for infant nourishment and brain development.
Cholesterol comes into play in healing and repair of blood vessels. Blood vessels have a delicate lining and are at the mercy of turbulent blood flow. Turbulence is created where blood vessels divide and blood pressure is high. In this event the lining becomes damaged and has to be repaired. The first sign of repair is a fatty streak, then plaque formation and plaque stabilisation. This process involves LDL (bad cholesterol) and HDL (good cholesterol). Simplistically LDL lays down the fat and HDL carries fatty lumps away. It is ratio between the two which is important.
So do not be satisfied with just being told that your total cholesterol is whatever - the important result is the ratio between the good cholesterol and the bad cholesterol. The first clue that this may be a problem is the total cholesterol but in every case one needs a breakdown.
It is likely that a high cholesterol is a symptom of arterial disease rather than the cause.
Having said that some people do have genetically high levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad one) and do suffer excessively from arterial diseae. My guess is the excess cholesterol lends itself to an exaggerated healing response to minor damage and arteries get blocked as a result.
Causes of a high total cholesterol with poor ratio
- The wrong sort of exercise. See Exercise - the right sort
- Borderline hypothyroidism. Indeed 30 years ago a raised cholesterol was almost routinely treated with thyroid hormones. See Hypothyroidism
- Vitamin D deficiency. Cholesterol is the raw material which, through the action of sunshine on the skin, is converted to vitamin D. If the body perceives the deficiency in vitamin D3, and this is almost universal in our low sunshine climate, then the liver pushes out more cholesterol so that when sunshine does land on the skin there is plenty of substrate for vitamin D3 to be made. Vitamin D3 deficiency is itself a major risk factor for arterial disease.
- Vitamin B3 deficiency. B3 is essential for the metabolism of cholesterol and deficiencies are common. The converse is also true - high levels of vitamin B3 bring cholesterol levels down - the only problem is that the form of B3 which does this has a tendency to cause flushing - the body does acclimatise to this and one needs to start off with small doses such as 100mgs three times daily and build up gradually.
- Copper deficiency. There is an inverse relationship between cholesterol levels and copper - so the higher the copper in the blood (so long as it is in the normal range) the lower the cholesterol and vice versa. The best test of copper is to measure superoxide dismutase since this is a good functional test of copper (and incidentally zinc and manganese levels).
A high cholesterol with poor ratio of HDL/LDL may be a symptom of arterial damage - that is to say cholesterol is being mobilised for healing and repair. So anything which damages arteries will cause a secondary rise in LDL cholesterol. Things to consider would be:
- Stone Age Diet (dairy is pro-inflammatory, refined carbohydrates are high glycaemic index). A Stoneage diet helps prevents obesity and Diabetes
- Exercise - the right sort
- Stress - lack of sleep, high adrenaline lifestyle resulting in high sugar levels.
- Poor Antioxidants status - results in excessive inflammatory reactions.
- Poisoning by heavy metals, pollution - damages artery walls directly.
- Phospholipid exchange
Any or all of the above could result in Blood pressure
Again see The general approach to maintaining and restoring good health
The Problem with Statins
The main problem with statins is they make too much money for drug companies and therefore are mindlessly promoted. The interesting thing about statins is that they do reduce ones' risk of many diseases, but the degree to which they protect one is not commensurate with the degree with which they reduce cholesterol levels. We now know the reason why. Statins are vitamin D mimics - they look exactly like vitamin D and have many of vitamin D's beneficial effects. Vitamin D evolved because of sunshine which is markedly pro-inflammatory. By making vitamin D in the skin in response to the sunshine, and vitamin D is very anti-inflammatory, this allowed people to tolerate the pro-inflammatory effects of sunshine. This anti-inflammatory effect of vitamin D spreads through the whole body. Many degenerative diseases of ageing are associated with inflammation and vitamin D protects against this. Therefore it is highly protective against arterial disease, heart disease, cancer, autoimmunity (including multiple sclerosis and type I diabetes), neurodegenerative conditions, osteoporosis, allergies and so on, indeed any condition associated with inflammation.
The main problem with statins is that they inhibit two important enzyme systems. Firstly Coenzyme Q 10 - this is the most important antioxidant inside mitochondria and the main acceptor and donor of electrons. This means that mitochondria will go slow and the ageing process will be accelerated. There is now good evidence to show that poor mitochondrial function is a central part of chronic fatigue syndrome and this explains why statins almost invariably make patients with chronic fatigue worse.
Statins also inhibit formation of selenium based proteins such as glutathione peroxidase. This is one of the most important antioxidants in the blood.
It is a combination of the above two factors which explains the devastating effect statins have on some people with muscle metabolism. People get obvious muscle soreness, stiffness, weakness and fatiguability. Heart muscle is little different from normal muscle so it is no wonder that the heart is also affected and this can result in heart failure. In fact there is now good evidence to suggest that it is statins that are responsible for the epidemic of heart failure due to heart muscle disease that we are now seeing clinically.
Related Tests
- Thyroid profile: free T3, free T4 and TSH
- SODase (superoxide dismutase) studies
- Mitochondrial Function Profile
- Co-enzyme Q10
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References
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