Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally

Many people find elevated cholesterol levels to be worrisome. They’ve been convinced that having a high cholesterol level means having an increased heart attack risk. I want you to understand why you need cholesterol for your health. You should also know the truth behind the cholesterol-heart disease theory. I can also share some natural ways to lower your cholesterol.

Dr. Michael Cutler | Mar 25, 2013 

Why You Need Cholesterol
The liver produces about 80 percent of the cholesterol in your body. You must have sufficient cholesterol in your diet to make sufficient amounts of these critically important hormones:

• Progesterone and estrogens (for women).
• Aldosterone.
• Cortisol.
• DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone).
• Testosterone.

As you can see in the diagram below, these and other vital hormones are manufactured from cholesterol:


The Cholesterol-Heart Disease Theory
Both doctors and the public embrace the idea that dietary cholesterol is bad for you and that high cholesterol is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). It’s true that high LD (bad) cholesterol can be associated with CVD, but it is not the actual cause of heart disease. ^[1] Inflammation is the real cause. We know that elevated, oxidized LDL cholesterol is simply a result of inflammation and that there are numerous causes for inflammation. If your doctor measures your cholesterol to monitor cardiovascular risk, make sure he measures the particle number and particle size of your LDL. That is the new standard in lipid measurements.

Origins Of Theory
The cholesterol-heart disease theory originated in the early 1950s when political pressure was put on the medical industry to find a cause for CVD, a problem that was becoming the top killer in the United States.

In 1964, the famous heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey of Houston reported that he and his colleagues studied 1,700 surgical patients and found no correlation between blood cholesterol levels and the extent of coronary artery disease seen during open heart surgery. This was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. ^[2]

You should also know that about 50 percent of people hospitalized for heart attacks or undergoing CABG (coronary artery bypass graft) surgery have normal cholesterol levels.

Furthermore, in 1992, Dr. William P. Castelli, former director of the Framingham Heart Study, reported a similar discovery: “[I]n Framingham, Mass., the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person’s serum cholesterol…” ^[3]
I’ll qualify this quote by stating two important points. First, animal meat in high amounts generally triggers inflammation, but fresh produce lowers inflammation. Secondly, 15 percent to 25 percent of the population is sensitive to dietary cholesterol, with a threefold disease increase among these hyper-responders. Also, obesity, diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance contribute to a hyper-response to dietary cholesterol. And, according to some recent scientific literature, consuming one to seven eggs per week does not increase the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke in men and women.

Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally
So you want to lower your risk of heart attack? The most important and effective way to lower heart attack risk is to lower inflammation in your body through a clean (nutrient-rich, whole food) diet, low emotional stress and consistent, enjoyable exercise and then to use nutrient supplements to help even further.

It has been shown scientifically that you can lower (normalize) your lipid measurements with targeted nutrient supplements that rival or surpass what prescription medications can do. ^[4] The best recommendations for this, according to the American Academy of Anti-aging Medicine (and these references found in the peer-reviewed scientific literature), ^{[5] [6]} include:

• Eat mostly whole foods, with six vegetable and four fruit servings daily. ^[7]
• Exercise 60 minutes daily, both aerobic and resistance exercise.

You should also use a variety of these supplements:

• Vitamin E (gamma/delta tocotrienols 200 mg) each night with food.
• Pantethine (active form of vitamin B5) 450 mg twice daily.
• Omega 3 fatty acids 4,000 mg daily with EPA/DHA at a 3/2 ratio.
• Lycopene 20 mg daily.
• Trans-resveratrol 250 mg daily.
• N-acetyl cysteine 500 mg twice daily.
• Aged garlic (Kyolic) standardized 600 mg twice daily.
• Carnosine 500 mg twice daily.
• Quercetin 500 mg twice daily.
• Niacin (nicotinic acid) 500 mg to 3,000 mg daily as tolerated. (To prevent flushing, precede this with a baby aspirin or applesauce or other food.)
• Red yeast rice 2,400 mg to 4,800 mg at night (with food).
• Probiotics standardized to 15 billion organisms twice daily.
• Curcumin 500 mg twice daily.
• EGCG 500 mg twice daily or 60 ounces to 100 ounces of green tea daily.
• Plant sterols 1.6 grams to 3 grams daily.
• Pomegranate juice 8 ounces daily with the juice of one lemon or lime.
• CoQ10 (Ubiquinone) 200 mg to 300 mg per day to inhibit LDL-cholesterol oxidation.

It’s worth taking a dedicated trip to the health food store to find these. The higher your risk for heart disease, the more on this list you’ll want to add to your treatment regimen.
To feeling good for life,
Michael Cutler, M.D.
Easy Health Options

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[1] Djoussé L, Gaziano JM. Dietary cholesterol and coronary artery disease: a systematic review. Current Atherosclerosis Reports 2009 Nov;11(6):418-22.

[2] DeBakey, Michael: JAMA 189:655, 1964

[3] Castelli, William P: Arch Int Med 152:1371, 1992

[4] Houston M. The role of nutraceutical supplements in the treatment of dyslipidemia.
J Clin Hypertens 2012 Feb;14(2):121-32.

[5] Houston, MC et al. Nonpharmacologic Treatment of Dyslipidemia. Progress in Cardiovascular Disease 2009;52:61-94

[6] Nijjar PS, Burke FM, Bloesch A, Rader DJ. Role of dietary supplements in lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol: a review. J Clin Lipidol. 2010 Jul-Aug;4(4):248-58.

[7] J Am Diet Assoc 1995; 95:775-780.