So what's the deal with cholesterol? Is it important? Is it a big fat lie? Is it the
most important thing that you've seen in health care? And what about all of the
statin drugs? Is it good for you, is it not good for you? What are the side
effects? Well that's what we're going to cover in this video, of what we can do to
help with your cholesterol, your liver, your brain, lots of good information.
Here it is.
Something I get asked about all the time is about statin drugs, the side
effect of a statin drug and so what we're going to cover in this video is,
what is a statin drug, where does that come from,
what are natural treatments for statins because cholesterol is something that's
really really important and I'm not sure it's the bad guy that most of
conventional medicine says it is. Cholesterol is a waxy substance found
naturally in the blood, it's predominantly produced in the
liver but it's also found in foods such as red meat, high fat, cheese, butter and
eggs and cholesterol is essential for maintaining good health.
Every hormone has to have a cholesterol structure that you could build the
chemical messengers so that your body can communicate with itself. Cholesterol
is kind of like blood sugar, if it gets too high, bad things happen, if it gets
too little, bad things happen and statins are medically produced product, it's a
class of drugs that includes things like lipitor or zocor and it's among the most
effective drugs for lowering cholesterol. However, there's a ton of side effects.
Now these are some of the most widely prescribed drugs of all time and like
other drugs, statins have potentially serious side effects and there may be
instances in which they should not be taken and so here's a rundown of things
you should look out for if you're taking a statin and at times when you
should steer clear of the drugs altogether. Now the first thing that
happens with any type of elevated cholesterol is, many times, it's a
lifestyle problem. People aren't putting the right things in their system, they're
not moving enough, they're putting the wrong foods in their system, they're not
getting enough water. So the cholesterol rage that is sweeping through the
country for the last 20 or 25 years, the commonly prescribed medications include
lipitor, pravachol, zocor, the intentional effect is to lower
the cholesterol but here are some of the concerning side effects. Statins can
cause muscle pain and soreness, it can cause leg pain, muscle, eyes weakness,
generalized pain and weakness, vomiting, stomach cramps, brown discolored urine
caused by the breakdown of muscle cells being passed into the urine and other
side effects associated with statins include diarrhea, joint pain, cold
symptoms, insomnia, urinary tract infections, nausea, increased liver
enzymes and so some safe alternative to statins is to remember that statins do
not treat disease, they simply lower cholesterol levels and in the process,
they block the production of a protective enzyme called CoQ10. In my
opinion, the potential benefits of these drugs pales in comparison to their known
dangers. Most of the time, elevated cholesterol is a lifestyle choice, if you
choose things differently and you get out and you exercise and you move and
you eat better, you can almost always reduce your cholesterol and there is
nothing, and I repeat, noting that these drugs add to the program of cardiac
rrevention that can't be achieved with safer less expensive natural therapies
in my clinical opinion. High cholesterol is not a disease, it's simple, one of the
risk factors that's associated with heart disease and that's why when
patients are taking statins and they come to the different clinics, they go to
the Whitaker Institute, they go to the Mayo Clinic, they come to our office, our
first business is to get them a reasonable alternatives to a
prescriptive free lifestyle when appropriate and when we start them on a
multi-pronged program that reduces cholesterol, that increases energy, that
reduces heart disease and improve aspects of our health, they almost always
improve, their cholesterol comes back into healthy range. Now lifestyle changes
for a healthy heart begins with a diet that lowers the cholesterol and helps to
quell inflammation and reduce, this includes a lots of fiber rich vegetables,
beans, legumes, a little bit of fruit and plenty of lean protein with the emphasis
on things that help with healthy fats like salmon
and tuna. Now for extra fiber, you can add a quarter cup of fresh ground flaxseed,
to water, to smoothies, to salads or to other foods to help improve your healthy
fat. It's been known for a long time that exercises raises protective HDL
cholesterol but according to a 2009 study involving nearly 9,000 adults that
don't move very much, it also lowers LDL especially in women and so our goal
should be a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most of the
days a week and for optimal results, adding two to three sessions of
resistance training or weight training is really really healthy. UCLA
researchers found that when postmenopausal women followed this diet
and exercise program for just two weeks, they had a significant improvement in
HDL and LDL cholesterol, blood sugar, and body mass index and have 45% drop
in their C reactive protein, it's a marker for inflammation. So lower
cholesterol helps to suppress inflammation which is really the
cardiovascular disease. Now in place of drugs,
there's nutritional supplements and for tackling cholesterol, we recommend plan
steroids and a substantial increase in fiber and most important probably the
B vitamin niacin. Now what niacin does is, it helps to not
only lower LDL but it helps to raise HDL, a feat no drugs is able to accomplish
and in fact, a Pfizer drug study aimed at increasing HDL was scrapped in 2007
after was found that it worsens heart problems, an increasing risk of death but
niacin, the story gets even better, results from the recent clinical trial
published in the New England Journal of Medicine prove that this supplement
actually reverses blockages in the carotid arteries. For its broad
cardiovascular benefits, we recommend that high doses of fish oil, EPA and DHA,
fish oils, primary omega-3 fatty acids reduces inflammation, it lowers blood
lipids especially the triglycerides and it improves blood viscosity.
It normalizes heart rhythms and protects against sudden cardiac death.
Okay, to summarize what we can do about statins and statin drug alternatives.
So the first thing that happens, we do have any cholesterol concern, it's a sign
of ill health, it means the liver is not working right, it means that we're
not emulsifying and breaking down fats, that you may be eating too many junk
foods, that you're not drinking enough, maybe you're not moving or exercising
enough and if you'll do those, you could really really take a little step in the
right direction for cholesterol. Now some of the neatest things that we can do
from a natural perspective, I like to use a company called Natures NX,
you could use a product called Low Rider which is red rice yeast you can use Ultimate
Omega or essential fatty acids about five to six thousand milligrams, you can
use a product called filter flush that helps to filter out the liver. There are
many options for cholesterol and cardiovascular concerns outside a statin
drug therapy but you need to take ownership of your health, put your body
on a schedule, drink enough water, prayer meditation, which is really good for all
of your health, all the way around and those are some considerations for
alternatives to statin and to be aware of some of the unintentional statin side effects.
Hi, this is Dr. Jason West. You just saw the video about statin drugs,
what to do about cholesterol, your liver health, why it's so important for your
brain. Remember, we're across all different platforms, we're always doing
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I'll see you tomorrow.