Originally published May 1 2014
Preoccupation with lowering cholesterol winds up spreading heart health misinformation
by Paul Fassa
(NaturalNews) When most health articles pass on the health virtues of the foods or supplements they cover, they parrot "lowers cholesterol" as a significant feature. That seems irrelevant now that some outspoken cardiologists and physicians have written books that debunk cholesterol as the source of heart disease.
They include doctors Stephen Sinatra and Dwight Lundell, both cardiologists and authors of books that defy the saturated fat and cholesterol sources of heart disease dogma.
They cite other sources of heart disease, all of which create inflammation. The overall consensus among them and some others is that arterial inflammation is the source of heart disease.
As inflamed arteries begin swelling or tearing apart, cholesterol may be called in to patch those points temporarily.
About those numbers...
"The cholesterol number is essentially worthless," claims Dr. Arthur Agatston. The Miami cardiologist and South Beach diet books author says the cholesterol of people who have heart attacks and those who don't are almost identical.
A study published in the American Heart Journal in 2009 found that almost half of patients admitted to hospitals for heart disease had LDL cholesterol levels below 100, traditionally considered "low risk."
Your cholesterol numbers are blood level readings. They don't measure any accumulations of arterial cholesterol wherever they are directed to repair arterial inflammation damage. But if one's inflammatory diet isn't curbed or changed, the free radical activity and pH acidity overwhelms attempts to repair inflamed arteries until one ruptures or causes a heart attack.
Plaque usually occurs when there is a build-up of oxidized cholesterol. In most cases, inflamed arteries break down even when obstructed only half-way or less with oxidized cholesterol plaques, indicating that the damage had already occurred before blockage.
Cholesterol is vital for producing hormones, building brain tissue, synthesizing vitamin D from sunshine and sometimes acting as an antioxidant to repair arterial inflammation damage.
Dietary approaches
Oxidized cholesterol and other inflammatory conditions can be alleviated or avoided by taking antioxidant supplements and anti-inflammatory foods or herbs, such as ginger and turmeric (curcumin), as well as by avoiding processed foods and hydrogenated oils.
Cold-pressed olive oil and other cold-pressed nut and seed oils provide some oleic acid (omega-9), which protects against oxidation of cholesterol. Canola oil's health claims are bogus. Avoid it. Most pure saturated fats, including fish and fish oils, are healthy. They provide easily assimilable omega-3 fatty acids.
The imbalance of omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids from processed oils and foods is another source of inflammation throughout the body. The ideal ratio should be from 1:1 to 3:1 omega-6s to omega-3s. It's estimated that the Standard American Diet (SAD) of processed foods places many in ratios of 20 to 1, omega-6 to omega-3. This imbalance alone creates chronic inflammation, the basis of most disease.
Dairy should be unprocessed, even unpasteurized without hormones that force excessive milking, if possible. Meats should come from humanely treated free grass grazing livestock that aren't fed GMOs and filled with antibiotics to make them fatter faster.
"High cholesterol is not a diagnosis. It's a symptom. It's like a fever. The first step is to figure out what's going on," says Dr. James A. Underberg, a professor at New York University School of Medicine. The fever analogy is pretty good, since, like fever, high cholesterol can be an indication of arterial inflammation under repair.
So cut out inflammatory foods made with bleached white flours and refined sugar, especially HFCS or "corn syrup." Consume organic vegetables and grains. Minimize alcohol and don't smoke chemically saturated commercial cigarettes.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.cnn.com
http://newsroom.ucla.edu
http://science.naturalnews.com
[PDF] http://beyondhealth.com
About the author:
Paul Fassa is dedicated to warning others about the current corruption of food and medicine and guiding them towards direction for better health with no restrictions on health freedom.
You can check out his many non-compromising cutting edge, non-fluff articles here http://www.naturalnews.com/Author712.html
And you can visit his blog at http://healthmaven.blogspot.com
Paul Fassa is dedicated to warning others about the current corruption of food and medicine and guiding them towards direction for better health with no restrictions on health freedom.
You can check out his many non-compromising cutting edge, non-fluff articles here http://www.naturalnews.com/Author712.html
And you can visit his blog at http://healthmaven.blogspot.com
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