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Supplement, supplement, supplement!
There are so many vitamins, minerals, and botanicals known to lower serum cholesterol that drugs are almost never necessary. There’s inositol hexaniacinate, lecithin, pantethine, L-carnatine, beta-sitosterol, fish
oil and fish-oil concentrates, phosphatidyl choline, choline itself (usually with inositol and methionone), vitamin C, calcium, vanadium, magnesium, chromium, and vitamin E, which have all been found to raise levels of HDL cholesterol, the “good” cholesterol. Then there are the botanicals, including guggulipid, garlic oil, “red yeast rice,” ginger, pectin, curcumin, fenugreek powder, reishi mushrooms, silymarin, turmeric, garcinia, and artichokes.
But perhaps the most effective way to lower cholesterol naturally is with something called policosanol, a natural supplement derived from sugar cane. In numerous studies comparing it directly with patent cholesterol-lowering medicines, policosanol was moreeffective at lowering levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol.
But that’s not all. Unlike the patent medicine products, policosanol
also lowered triglyceride levels and elevated HDL
(good) cholesterol levels. In two studies, it also significantly lowered blood pressure as well. The good news is that it does not require a prescription and is available at most natural food stores, compounding pharmacies, and even online. And it doesn’t come with the negative
side effects associated with statin drugs. You don’t need to take ALL of these different supplements, of course; the point is, there are so many to try that chances are good you won’t ever need to take cholesterol-lowering drugs.
David MacElvoy’s program:
David began taking vitamin E, the “mixed tocopherol” type, 400 IU daily; inositol hexaniacinate, 600 milligrams twice daily; vitamin C, 2 grams twice daily; and a high-potency multiple vitamin-mineral with at least
200 micrograms of chromium and 300 to 400 milligrams of magnesium. (You may need to get a separate multiple mineral if you can’t find a vitamin-mineral combination.)
And last, lecithin. Remember those phospholipids for brain cells? Besides eggs, soy lecithin is the only other diet source, and as a “bonus,” lecithin lowers serum cholesterol. Take two 19-grain capsules daily. After six months, David’s total cholesterol level was down to 237 and his HDL cholesterol level had risen to 41. At the end of one year, his numbers were
188 and 46––that means his total cholesterol dropped
an impressive 134 points!
But even better than just improving his “numbers,” David had substantially reduced his risk of following his father and grandfather to an early cardiac death. This exact combination of supplements and this diet
plan may not work for you. But there are many different combinations you can try. It’s best to check with a doctor skilled in natural and nutritional medicine who can help you tailor a supplement program suited exactly
for your needs. For a list of such doctors in your area, contact the American College for Advancement in
Medicine at (800)532-3688 or www.acam.org.
Cholesterol: How low should you go? Let’s face it: Much more attention is given to high cholesterol than low cholesterol. But like any other biologic marker, there’s always a range that’s “too high,”
“too low,” or “just right.”
I’m not denying that having high serum cholesterol carries a risk for heart disease. I’m just saying that many people probably don’t know that low serum
cholesterol may also carry risks––namely cancer, stroke, and depression.
All naturally occurring steroid hormones such as DHEA, estrogens, progesterone, testosterone, and pregnenolone are made in our bodies from a single starting material: cholesterol. And cholesterol is a key component in every cell membrane in our bodies.
That’s why it’s important not just to make sure cholesterol isn’t too high or too low, but that it’s just right. High serum cholesterol is usually considered at or above 200 mg/dl (milligrams per 100 cc’s of blood).
Low cholesterol is defined by many researchers as being at or below 160 mg/dl.
I pay particular attention to my patients’ low cholesterol levels when they get to be around 140 mg/dl and advise them to take manganese. Manganese is a
key co-factor in the transformation of cholesterol to steroid hormones. Although manganese doesn’t raise serum cholesterol to the normal range 100 percent of the time, it is partially or completely effective in more
than 50 percent of the cases. I usually recommend 50 milligrams of manganese citrate, once or twice daily.
Once your level returns to normal, you can cut your dose to 10 to 15 milligrams a day.
There is one caution in regards to manganese supplementation: Very high levels of manganese intake have been found to cause Parkinson’s disease in manganese miners and other industrial workers. However, case reports of manganese poisoning from oral intake are extremely rare (only one case report exists of toxicity from supplementation; others have been from well water with excess manganese).
But in my 30 years of practice, I’ve never observed problems from the doses necessary to raise low serum cholesterol.
The high-fat/low-fat debate: choosing which diet is best for you
There are two basic approaches to a cholesterollowering diet: The first is the politically correct, lowfat, high-complex-carbohydrate plan, which was the mainstay of nutritional “experts” for years. And there’s also the high-protein, low-carbohydrate approach. It seems strange that such opposite plans can both work, but remember that no one diet is best for every person