Prominent heart doctor exposes the myths about cholesterol, statins and low fat diets

Tuesday, April 10, 2012 by: Tony Isaacs
Tags: cholesterol, myths, heart doctor

(NaturalNews) Renowned heart surgeon Dr. Dwight Lundell recently stepped forward to expose how embracing the high cholesterol myth has been wrong and the harm that has resulted, stating that the recommendations to lower cholesterol and severely restrict fat intake "are no longer scientifically or morally defensible."

Dr. Lundell explained that inflammation in our arterial walls is the real culprit for heart disease and stated that "the injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine."

"Simply stated," said Dr. Lundell, "without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel."

In addition, said Dr. Lundell, "The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences."¹

Studies reveal the truth about statins, high cholesterol and inflammation

For several decades, mainstream medicine has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising and propaganda creating and perpetuating the high cholesterol myth. As a result, millions of Americans have followed the advice to severely restrict their intakes of fats and tens of millions have taken dangerous cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.

As Dr. Lundell revealed, the emerging truth is that inflammation is the real culprit in heart disease and drugs and diets designed to lower cholesterol actually contribute to heart disease as well as other health problems. Recent year studies on statin drugs have backed up Dr. Lundell and demonstrated that what few benefits may be derived from dangerous statin drugs actually come from lowering inflammation levels.

For example, researchers with the recent large-scale JUPITER study found that patients who had "healthy cholesterol profiles" but who also had high CRP levels (a marker for inflammation) dramatically reduced their risks of cardiovascular events and death when they took a statin drug which lowered measured CRP levels.²

The conclusions of other recent year statin drug studies give further indications that lowering inflammation is a primary mechanism for cardiovascular benefits. Some excerpts:

"Patients who have low CRP levels after statin therapy have better clinical outcomes than those with higher CRP levels, regardless of the resultant level of LDL cholesterol."³

"The reduced rate of progression of atherosclerosis associated with intensive statin treatment, as compared with moderate statin treatment, is significantly related to greater reductions in the levels of both atherogenic lipoproteins and CRP."⁴

"These results demonstrate that statins reduce IL-6-induced CRP production . . .These findings furnish new evidence for direct antiinflammatory properties of statins . . ."⁵

"initiation of statin therapy was associated with improved survival regardless of the lipid levels. The benefit of statin therapy occurred primarily in patients with elevated CRP."⁶

Indications are that mainstream medicine intends to continue espousing the high cholesterol myth while using the results of studies about inflammation-lowering to tout additional "benefits" for statin drugs.

The inconvenient truth is that statin drugs are not needed to lower inflammation any more than they are needed to lower cholesterol. Natural items such as diet, lifestyle and natural foods and herbs such as turmeric, ginger and omega-3s can effectively lower inflammation far more safely than statin drugs.

According to Dr. Lundell and other experts, the simple solution to quieting inflammation and preventing heart disease is to return to foods closer to their natural state, include colorful vegetables and fruits and some healthy fats in our diets, build muscle, eat more protein and cut down or eliminate foods with inflammation-causing omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil.

Sources:

¹ http://preventdisease.com/news/12/030112_Wor...
² http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/12/01/...
³ http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0...
⁴ http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0...
⁵ http://atvb.ahajournals.org/content/25/6/123...
⁶ http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/full/36/6/1774

About the author:
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Tony Isaacs, is a natural health author, advocate and researcher who hosts The Best Years in Life website for those who wish to avoid prescription drugs and mainstream managed illness and live longer, healthier and happier lives naturally. Mr. Isaacs is the author of books and articles about natural health, longevity and beating cancer including "Cancer's Natural Enemy" and is working on a major book project due to be published later this year.

Mr. Isaacs also hosts the Yahoo Oleandersoup group of over 3000 members and the The Best Years in Life Radio Show" on BlogTalk Radio.