still on statins ? - read this

John Parsons  · from Dr jack Kruse (paraphrased by me):
 How does low cholesterol make your brain soft? The most important role of cholesterol in humans is its unique ability to allow freedom of movement to ions in cell membranes because of its chemical composition. It has both a lipid and polar component that allow it to have diversity of chemical benefits in animal cells.
 This allows the molecule of cholesterol to have both fat and water soluble abilities in our bodies. This allows for the formation of” lipid rafts” in tissue that allow for ion transfers. In fact, insulin is taken up into muscle cells because of the presence of these cholesterol lipid rafts in the membranes!
Plants contain no cholesterol at all. Moreover, all of our hormones in the human body are also made form cholesterol. Hormones are the manner in which the brain is able to control the 20 trillion cells in our body. Its importance cannot be more apparent.
 Our liver is designed to make the LDL our brains need to thrive.... It has never made any sense to me why cardiologists do not exam the brain data closely about longevity because it is clear higher LDL levels are protective of life and don’t confer a shortened lifespan even from heart disease. It also follows, with this evidence why higher cancer rates are associated with LOWER cholesterol levels.
 Cancer is a disease of cellular stress hence it is associated with lower cholesterol levels. This result has been found in numerous studies in the literature as well... Here I have laid out two biochemical reasons why a ketogenic diet ( high in protein and fats, low in carbs) works in our brains to increase cognition. It also makes sense why in neurodegeneration we see brains starved of cholesterol and DHA levels.

The ketogenic diet is the best and most ideal way to restore both of these key fats to the brain in this time of stress to increase cognition. The bottom line is as you age, the evidence is accumulating, that you should be eating a more ketogenic diet with a liberal amount of saturated fat in MCT (coconut oil and pastured butter) and one that supports a substantial production of LDL from your liver via your diet…that is also devoid of glycosylation from carbohydrates.
This describes the ancestral paleolithic diet well. It is a version of the ketogenic diet. If one has a formal neurologic condition a more stringent version of the paleo diet should be entertained. But if you are interesting in optimizing for longevity as you age a ketogenic diet confers huge advantages. If you are overweight and wish to shred weight this option is an excellent choice. As always, discuss this with your doctor before deciding what to do.
I recommend the book “The Paleo Solution” to my patients as a resource to get them started on what the paleolithic diet means. So how should we consider eating as we age when neolithic diseases (eg Alzeimers) increase in incidence and prevalence?
 1. First, eat fats (MCT and saturated fats, PUFA’s last to decrease inflammation) then consider moderate protein (controls mTOR pathway) and then low carbs (to decrease inflammation and glycation)
 2……and those macro’s should increase as one ages for health and longevity to keep your hormones in the best balance they can be. Remember every single hormone we have are made from cholesterol!!!! If you go into aging with hormonal imbalance due to a bad diet, you will age much faster. If you eat a SAD you will age and die much faster of neolithic diseases....
 4. I completely reject the lipid hypothesis as it currently stands. I think this blog makes you understand why. You may want to consider throwing your statin Rx away at some point. The data on statins for people over the age of 60 without any risk factors says no one should be on a statin based upon the data. Only those people who listen to the opinions of cholesterol panelists that have ties to big pharma will tell you its a good thing to do.
 The older you get the more LDL your brain needs and the less carbohydrate it needs
. CITES: 1. http://jcs.biologists.org/content/123/4/595.full.pdf (Tong et al. 2009) 2. http://bms.ucsf.edu/sites/ucsf-bms.ixm.ca/files/varoninjillian_04072011.pdf 3. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1471-4159.2010.06768.x/pdf (cholesterol deficiency decrease synapse vesicle recycling) 4. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413110003980 5. http://www.pnas.org/content/107/17/7927.full.pdf

are cholesterol drugs dangerous?

Cholesterol Drugs (Statins) Under Fire as Ineffective and Possibly Dangerous

Several articles call into question the safety and effectiveness of the group of drugs designed to lower cholesterol known as Statins. Statin drugs are a class of drugs that that are supposed to lower cholesterol levels by blocking enzymes that are essential to cholesterol production. Among the statin drugs are: Lipitor (atorvastatin), Pravachol (pravastatin), Zocor (simvastatin), Mevacor (lovastatin), Lescol (fluvastatin), Baycol (Cerivastatin) (This drug has been recalled).
vv

From the Canadian publication First Word, the September 9, 2003 issue starts off by saying, "A group of Canadian researchers from the University of British Columbia warns that statins may do as much harm as good." Dr. Jim Wright, said that there appears to be almost no preventive benefit. The data showed that there was a 1.4 percent reduction in the risk of heart attack and stroke over a three- to five-year period, a news source reports. This would translate, Wright said, into a doctor having to treat 71 patients until one benefits. Side effects of the statins were the main concern among the Canadian researchers. These side effects can include, Fever, Muscle Cramps, Stomach Pain, Fatigue, Constipation, Diarrhea, Dizziness, Gas, Skin rash, Nausea.

On the heals of the Canadian study a British study reported on October 5, 2003 in the British Reuters, that states, "Half of British heart disease patients failed to get their cholesterol down to recommended levels after taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs." Dr. Adrian Brady, consultant cardiologist at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, told a meeting of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society in Dublin that only 48 percent of 14,000 patients evaluated in a UK study reached national cholesterol goals. One of these drugs, Lipitor, produced by Pfizer Inc's, is now the world's top-selling medicine with annual sales of $8 billion.

experience on statins

"I was a competitive runner with a number of sub 3 hour marathons under my belt before I was prescribed statins for elevated cholesterol 2 years ago. The first go round was 40mg zocor but muscle soreness and loss of strength started within 2 months. Switched to NIASPAN but couldn't tolerate it. The last 7 months have been on 10mg of Lipitor and now have intense pain in my legs, soreness in my wrist and thumb and swollen feet. I can still run but much less than before and much slower. I regularly go to the gym but have seen a steady decrease in the amount of weight I am able to lift. I have a blood test in a couple of days and will be looking for myalgia again. I have discontinued the statin and don't plan to start again. I was healthier before the DR decided to "help" me with my cholesterol problem."
-- By runinva

cholesterol

from DR Al SEARS MD:
"Why Cholesterol Will Make You Live Better, Longer
Is everyone still telling you that cholesterol will kill you? Every time you see your doctor does he tell you to drive your cholesterol lower? And all those
TV commercials tell you how important it is to get your cholesterol
low.
But I've got a stack of studies on my desk proving that people with
the highest cholesterol live the longest!
Your body needs a
good supply of cholesterol. Even LDL, which youve been told
is bad cholesterol is needed by your body. I can prove that
LDL is critical for fighting infection in your body. And theres
proof that people with low LDL are more vulnerable to infection. This
sometimes can be fatal.
The truth is if you follow modern medicine's advice on cholesterol, you may as well be playing Russian roulette with a loaded gun. Drive your cholesterol
levels down and you put yourself at greater risk for cancer, major
depression, chronic illness, fatigue, low sex drive, broken bones and
weakened muscles, and brain disorders.

the benefits of high cholesterol

This is from an interesting article on the weston price website( www.westonaprice.org) :

By Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD

People with high cholesterol live the longest. This statement seems so incredible that it takes a long time to clear one´s brainwashed mind to fully understand its importance. Yet the fact that people with high cholesterol live the longest emerges clearly from many scientific papers. Consider the finding of Dr. Harlan Krumholz of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University, who reported in 1994 that old people with low cholesterol died twice as often from a heart attack as did old people with a high cholesterol.1 Supporters of the cholesterol campaign consistently ignore his observation, or consider it as a rare exception, produced by chance among a huge number of studies finding the opposite.

But it is not an exception; there are now a large number of findings that contradict the lipid hypothesis. To be more specific, most studies of old people have shown that high cholesterol is not a risk factor for coronary heart disease. This was the result of my search in the Medline database for studies addressing that question.2 Eleven studies of old people came up with that result, and a further seven studies found that high cholesterol did not predict all-cause mortality either.

saturated fats that are good for you:

The following nutrient-rich traditional fats have nourished healthy population groups for thousands of years:

Butter
Beef and lamb tallow
Lard
Chicken, goose and duck fat
Coconut, palm and sesame oils
Cold pressed olive oil
Cold pressed flax oil
Marine oils
The following new-fangled fats can cause cancer, heart disease, immune system dysfunction, sterility, learning disabilities, growth problems and osteoporosis:

All hydrogenated oils
Soy, corn and safflower oils
Cottonseed oil
Canola oil
All fats heated to very high temperatures in processing and frying

statins, cholesterol, etc, etc.

More from Dr Al Sears MD : "Bombshell #1:
Statin Drugs Weaken Your Heart: Cholesterol-lowering
drugs rob your heart of the very nutrient that could save it. CoQ10
supplies your heart with the energy it needs. Without it, your heart
literally starves. And guess what? Statin drugs destroy your
supply of this life-giving enzyme.

Bombshell #2:
Low Cholesterol Kills Your Sex Drive: Your doctor ; and
all those TV commercials ; tell you to get your cholesterol
lower. But cholesterol is essential for life and health. When your
cholesterol is too low, your body can't make sex hormones. Aside
from causing other health problems, it has disastrous effects in
the bedroom."

statins - atrogen-1

A team from Harvard Medical School says it has cracked the mystery behind statins' tendency to cause muscle damage in some patients
Statins basically are an unnatural way of lowering cholesterol level, and in the new study researchers found that statins activate a gene signal in muscles called atrogen-1. When this gene activates, it targets key muscle proteins for destruction. The activation of this gene drives the process of muscle atrophy and muscle wasting. It is induced in cardiac muscle in failing hearts. Why on earth would any person want this gene activated by a drug?

Lower cholesterol means higher death rate

Yet another study defies the unscientific notion that cholesterol is bad for you.
This study shows that lower cholesterol levels result in increased death rates.

A study of more than 3,500 Japanese-American men over the age of 70 found a steadily
increasing death rate from all causes when cholesterol levels drop. The death rate
for those with the highest cholesterol reading was 35% lower than for those with the
lowest readings. [Schatz IJ. Cholesterol and all-cause mortality in elderly people
from the Honolulu Heart Program: a cohort study. Lancet. 2001;358(9279):351-355.]

So enjoy the fat - eggs, cheese, butter, cream, schmaltz, etc. - it's good for you.
Avoid pasteurized foods, hydrogenated oils, margarine and commercial foods that have
trans-fats.

nutrition - fats - myths and facts

Myth: For good health, serum cholesterol should be less than 180 mg/dl.
Truth: The all-cause death rate is higher in individuals with cholesterol levels
lower than 180 mg/dl. (Circulation. 1992;86(3):1026-1029.)

Myth: Animal fats cause cancer and heart disease.
Truth: Animal fats contain many nutrients that protect against cancer and heart
disease; elevated rates of cancer and heart disease are associated with consumption
of large amounts of vegetable oils. (Fed Proc. 1978;37:2215.)

Myth: Children benefit from a low-fat diet.
Truth: Children on low-fat diets suffer from growth problems, failure to thrive &
learning disabilities. (Food Chem News. 10/3/94.)

Myth: A low-fat diet will make you "feel better . and increase your joy of living."
Truth: Low-fat diets are associated with increased rates of depression,
psychological problems, fatigue, violence and suicide. (Lancet 3/21/92;339.)

Myth: To avoid heart disease, we should use margarine instead of butter.
Truth: Margarine eaters have twice the rate of heart disease as butter eaters.
(Nutrition Week. 3/22/91;21:12.)

Myth: Americans do not consume enough essential fatty acids.
Truth: Americans consume far too much of one kind of EFA (omega-6 EFAs found in most
polyunsaturated vegetable oils) but not enough of another kind of EFA (omega-3 EFAs
found in fish, fish oils, eggs from properly fed chickens, dark green vegetables and
herbs, and oils from certain seeds such as flax and chia, nuts such as walnuts and
in small amounts in all whole grains). (Am J Clin Nutr. 1991;54:438-463.)


Myth: Low-fat diets prevent breast cancer.
Truth: A recent study found that women on very low-fat diets (less than 20%) had the
same rate of breast cancer as women who consumed large amounts of fat. (NEJM.
2/8/96.)