Cholesterol levels

shopndrop

It has been suggested that my husband needs to take statins to lower his cholesterol. Anyone know of any natural alternative to taking 10mg per day for life? Are there any foods that he should eat more of to raise his natural statins. I know it will work out cheaper to buy a pre-payment if he does need these on prescription but would rather use an alternative to tablets if possible.

jobbingmusician

You might get a good reponse to this thread if you post on https://www.differentstrokes.co.uk

Dora_the_Explorer_5

If his gp has diagnosed high cholesteral then the most useful thing he can do is make an appointment with one of the practice nurses to discuss what he can eat and what he should avoid like the plague. On my gp's advice I've just completed a 3 month trial of Benecol drink and spread and not eaten forbidden foods. The Benecol website suggests doing this should lower cholesterol by about a third - mine reduced from 7.2 to 6.6 so wasn't effective for me as a cholesterol reducer. I've had the most wonderful blowout over Christmas, indulging in everything I will never be able to eat again when I go onto statins first week in January :snow_laug
Exercise is also suggested for lowering high cholesterol. :rolleyes:
The bottom line is that it's nicer to gobble statins for the rest of one's life than have a stroke , and death by cheese is not very rock and roll.

Ted_Hutchinson

Special Report: Lower High Cholesterol

Hypertension: Symptoms, Treatment and Results

NHLBI, DASH Eating Plan [size=-2][PDF][/size] Facts about the DASH Eating Plan

World's Healthiest foods
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Lowering Cholesterol with a Healthier Way of Eating
From The Vitamin D council
You are much more likely to die from a heart attack in the winter than the summer.
The dramatic decrease in deaths from myocardial infarction over the last 20 years is only partially explained by improved medical care and remains something of a mystery. The reason for the large seasonal variations in death rates (you are much more likely to die from a heart attack in the winter) is more of a mystery, although many experts believe that colder temperatures cause heart attacks. If cold weather causes heart attacks, then people who live at higher altitudes, where it is generally colder, will be more likely to die from heart attacks.

QJM. 2003 Jan;96(1):45-52.

Greek researchers recently confirmed that those who live at higher altitudes are much less likely to die from heart disease.
Both the men and women living at 950 meters, where vitamin D producing UVB light is much more intense, had significantly lower total and cardiac mortality than their lowland cousins. The lowland men were more than twice as likely to die from a heart attack in spite of having lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol.

J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005 Apr;59(4):274-8.Three epidemiological facts about heart attacks cry out for a simple explanation, a single theory that explains all the facts. The three facts: heart attacks are less common closer to the equator, less common in the summer, and less common at higher altitudes. Three more facts: vitamin D producing UVB light is higher closer to the equator, higher in the summer, and higher at higher altitudes.
Cardiovascular disease from Sunlight Robbery
A case/control study of myocardial infarction (heart attack) in New Zealand has shown that MI patients have lower blood levels of vitamin D than controls at all times of year [110]. The authors concluded that their results supported the hypothesis that increased exposure to sunlight is protective against coronary heart disease. As Zittermann [25] has pointed out the nadir of vitamin D levels in winter in the UK [111] is paralleled by an increased cardiovascular morbidity [112].
Relatively small differences in the number of hours of sunlight between one place and another in the UK may make a substantial difference because we have a relatively low number of hours overall. An inverse correlation between hours of sunlight and death rate from coronary disease has been shown for four towns in Lancashire:Burnley, Blackburn, Preston and Blackpool. Blackpool has 27% more hours of sunshine per year than Burnley and 9% fewer deaths [113]. Indeed gardening outdoors in summer is sufficient in the UK to increase vitamin D levels and reduce serum cholesterol [113]
High mortality from heart disease occurs in winter in countries such as the UK [114]. This can be compared with alpine areas which are much colder in winter yet have a low incidence of deaths from heart disease at that time of year. This may be explained by the increased exposure to UV that occurs at altitude. Evidence that benefits of sunlight may be replaced by vitamin D obtained from the diet come from studies of Inuit (Eskimo). The low risk of heart disease in Inuit despite low UV levels in the Arctic [115] can be explained by their diet which consists almost exclusively of fish and marine meat such as seal which are rich in vitamin D.
These epidemiological observations are backed up by comprehensive biochemical and physiological studies and animal work. Zittermann points out that there is now increasing evidence that arteriosclerosis is a low-grade systemic inflammatory disease characterised by an increase in C-reactive protein which is regulated by the cytokines IL-6 and TNF-alpha [25, 116]. Calcitriol, the active metabolite of vitamin D, suppresses the secretion of these cytokines in a dose dependent manner [117]. Furthermore an inverse association between TNF-alpha and vitamin D levels in human subjects has been observed by Zittermann [108]. Vitamin D also appears to have a role in arterial calcification which occurs in 90% of coronary artery lesions [118].The cheapest source of High Strenght Omega 3 I know is ZIPVIT OMEGA JUICEThe cheapest source of vitamin d Cholecalciferol is Healthy Directvia quidco

You do need to be aware that your body makes 12000iu cholecalciferol in about 10 minutes full body skin exposure to direct sunlight midday when it's available where you live see Vitamind D calculator Google Earth will find your latitude and longitude or multimap.

Your body makes this amount then junks the rest so staying in the sun longer will not significantly increase your VIT D but will increase your risk of getting sunburnt and thus increase your risk of skin cancer. Bearing in mind that only 10% of skin cancers are directly attributable to sun exposure and for single person dying of skin cancer 25 people die from cancers which would not have happened if they were not vitamin D deficient. Not counting the others diseases/conditions vitamin d deficiency is associated with.

A sunbed/tanning lamp can be obtained either from Ebay, Amazon, tesco's for relatively minor expenditure.

One point I haven't mentioned in my various posts on vitamin d is that Changes of vitamin D status, that is suddenly dropping of the amount circulating, can trigger incidents. So if you decide your option is to go to the Canaries for a top up, when you come back do try to keep your levels topped up either by supplementing with tablet (4000iu daily is what we use) or by using a sunlamp tanning studio.

shopndrop

Following on from the above posts, anyone know if a daylight lamp will help with Vit D levels or Flora Pro-Active will make any difference?

Ted_Hutchinson

shopndrop wrote:

Following on from the above posts, anyone know if a daylight lamp will help with Vit D levels or Flora Pro-Active will make any difference?

Daylight or Full spectrum tubes only look like sunlight. They don't usually contain UVB Rays which are needed to create first vitamin d then a suntan and then skin cancer if you get burnt.
It may be possible if you've the right kind of tubes in your daylight lamp be able to swap the tubes for UVB suntan/bed tubes The Amazon.co.uk: Philips HB175 Facial Solaria: Personal Care looks like you could swap those tubes for daylight sadlight type tubes but you would have to have a DANGER WARNING notice on them so that when you had the sadlight tubes you didn't wear goggles but when you wanted the vitamin d pre tan UVB tubes you DID WEAR goggles. I expect when you use it you would know from the heat which tubes were in but as I have only used a sadlight and not a facial solaria I'm not sure what they are like when operating.

So to increase your Vitamin D levels using a suntan lamp it must produce UVB rays and as these will cause burning if you have them on too long you must protect your eyes.

But strokes mainly happen in the winter when levels of vitamin d are low so increasing your vitamin d to summer levels MAY help. It certainly won't do any harm.

Ted_Hutchinson

shopndrop wrote:

Will Flora Pro-Active will make any difference?

Possibly it could reduce levels by 10% You can find out more at the Flora Pro-active website
I personally think you will do better by increasing exercise, raising vitamin d levels, consuming more oily fish/cod liver oil, and paying attention to your diet. But there is good scientific evidence to support the flora proactive claims but it cannot be regarded as a magic bullet that solves the problem. It could be part of the solution if you ensure the exercise regime/ diet regime are also in place.
There are many ways you will learn to improve your diet. Simply adding advocado to a tomato or carrot salad will increase Carotenoid absorption

shokadelika

If you got to https://www.vitamincfoundation.org you will see down the page highlighted in red alerts relating to statin drugs.Linus Pauling the Nobel Prize winner found that a combination of vitamin C and the Amino Acid lysine cleared arteries and acted like a statin drug.https://www.mercola.com also has interesting information if you use the search box.Omega 3 Cod Liver OIl/Fish oil virgin olive oil,coconut oil and BUTTER are heart protective margarine which is hydrogenated is not!.Google "vitamin C lysine" for lots of information such as http://www.thecureforheartdisease.com/owen/HeartCureRD.htm

The drugs that so many Americans now take to lower their cholesterol are called statins. They work by blocking an important enzyme the body uses to make cholesterol. Researchers say that statins are completely safe, even though study after study shows a correlation of statin use with increased risk of cancer, intestinal diseases, stroke, depression, accidents and suicide. In May, a retired physician participated in an interview on The People's Pharmacy, a national radio show, to describe another side effect—memory loss. Dr. Duane Graveline said he experienced bouts of total amnesia while taking the drug. Spokesmen for Pfizer, the makers of the statin-drug Lipitor, say that there has never been a single case of amnesia reported in any of the clinical trials on the drug. (Emphasis ours.) Nevertheless, a warning of potential problems with memory, insomnia or depression is listed on the product label. Dr. Graveline says he would never take another statin drug and is concerned that doctors may attribute cognitive problems in their patients to aging or Alzheimers rather than consider that statin drugs might be the cause. (The May 28 issue of US News & World Report follows its article on the new guidelines with an article on Alzheimers, oblivious of the irony.) Even worse, he said, is the possibility that doctors may prescribe statins to people whose memory loss might be disastrous, such as airline pilots or school bus drivers.

gravitytolls

My husbs mum died aged 73 last Nov. She'd been in heart failure for a looong time. She'd been ill for several years, despite a triple bypass 12 years earlier.

His father had a stroke 15 years ago, he is now disabled, having lost the use of most of one side.

His bro had a massive heart attakc in March, his cholesterol was 3.6. He is 51.

My husb had his checked following recent events, cos I nagged him. He has been taking Omega 3 for about 7 mths, but his cholesterol is a whopping 11.8! He is 46.

Of course he's been given statins, advised to continue the omega 3, and to take aspirin.

The Nurse told him that diet contributes only about 10% to the total. I don't consider our diet to be too bad, but we doubtless consume more fats than we should.

What else can we do to ensure his future is healthy?

scope

With cholesterol this high I'd guess he has familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), which is quite common these days. FH is inherited from the parents, so again, this sounds possible. FH causes the body to only remove half the LDL cholesterol in the body, which means the cholesterol level doubles.

Going on statins and looking at your diet are the main areas, but you will also need to cut the smoking and drinking, if thats something your husband does. Regular excersice will also help bringing it down. People with FH should get their cholesterol below 3-4.

Have a look here for more useful information.

Good luck with bringing it down, I have had several in my family with Chol this high, and it does come down if you try hard enough.