Demythifying Cholesterol

The Martial Art of Wellness
Volume 8 – July 2009

(Archive of Previous BioNews)

DEAR FRIENDS

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“ It is important to remember that the mere introduction of germs into the living organism does not ensure their multiplication or the production of disease. The condition of the organism itself has much influence on the result. Pasteur has certainly made a hasty generalization in declaring that the only condition which determines an epidemic is the greater or less abundance of germs. ”

~ Dr. Ted Cooper, MD, Former US assistant health secretary

THIS ISSUE’S TESTIMONIALS:

He told me that I would never have glaucoma

“ I want to let you know that late last year I went to a glaucoma specialist to get my eyes checked on since I was diagnosed five years ago with being a glaucoma suspect and the doctor was astonished to see how strong my eyes are. He was absolutely amazed. He told me that I would never have glaucoma. He said “your retina, cornea, and retinal blood vessel are incredibly strong.” I was absolutely grateful and relieved to know that I would not get glaucoma ever. I continue to take your product and my nails continue to grow as before my nails never grew. They were paper thin and just did not grow. I am ever grateful to your company. I am 27 years old and feel wonderful. Thank you. ”

– Vanessa, USA

REALITY CHECK ( Demythifying Cholesterol )

This year in each month’s BioNews I have committed to demythify either a substance, a supplement or a certain concept of health. This month I have chosen to demythify “Cholesterol” which is a re-occurring topic in the medical industry. By the way, I am no expert on cholesterol, but over many years I have observed and read hundreds of articles on cholesterol, seen hundreds of clients on cholesterol lowering medication, and like you seen hundreds if not thousands of cholesterol lowering medications ads on television, and I have made up my own mind on this issue.

As you know I am an advocate of health and not so much for diseases and their medicines. I am not for Conventional Medicine, neither am I for Alternative Medicine. I am all out for Natural Health, and when it comes to redressing non-health, I recommend prevention first, then do no harm, then food and fasting as medicines.

The information that follows was gathered from several written discussions from experts that are close to the cholesterol debate and its science. With this information I hope that you can simplify your life, protect your health and save your money. Do your own research when facing a decision to medicate or not. I am providing enough information, whith names of related articles and many web site addresses for you to become an expert. When it comes to your health, do not rely on just your doctor, or on any ONE expert. YOU become the expert by learning from the many experts from both side of the debate, then YOU will be able to make up your OWN mind.

Demythifying Cholesterol

Cholesterol, a word that everyone hears all the time on television – but almost certainly for marketing reasons.

Over the past couple of decades there has been growing fears about fats and cholesterol. Dieticians, nutritionists, doctors and pharmaceutical marketers have been telling us that fat and cholesterol are killers. Governments have introduced policies based around its reduction. We are told to eat less cholesterol, saturated fat and salt, and to eat more fibre-rich foods. It appears incontrovertible that if we do not, we are doomed to heart disease.

And despite the certainty implied by the propaganda, the debate continues in the medical journals, behind the scenes. Is cholesterol a killer? Apart from those with a very rare disease, has cholesterol got anything to do with heart disease – or any other disease? Much of the evidence used in the cholesterol debate is complex. Nevertheless, with so much of only one side of the debate having been published, and your having been subjected to so much misleading television ads, let me attempt to explain another side as simply as possible in this news. By now most people are thinking that cholesterol is a harmful fat substance that must be avoided at all costs. Let me tell you that nothing could be further from the truth.

What is cholesterol?

Before explaining what cholesterol is, let me say what cholesterol is not: Cholesterol is not a fat; it’s not made from fat; it’s not even made from saturated fat. Cholesterol is actually an alcohol called lipid alcohol.

Cholesterol is an essential component in the body and a major building block from which cell walls are made. It is found in all the cells of the body, particularly in the cells of the brain and nerves. Body cells are continually dying while new ones are also continually being made. Obvious examples are finger nails, hair and skin cells, but almost all body cells are replaced many times over during a person’s life. If you radically restrict your cholesterol intake to the point that there is not enough cholesterol to repair and build tissue, cell growth is disrupted. Cholesterol may be ingested from animal or other foods, but less than twenty percent of your body’s need for cholesterol will be supplied in this way. Your body then makes up the difference. If you eat less cholesterol, your body compensates by making more. Although the media and food companies still warn against cholesterol in diet, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that the level of cholesterol in your blood is affected very little by the amount of cholesterol you eat. The truth is that cholesterol is not a harmful alien substance, but is arguably the most important substance in your body with a wide range of uses:

• Cholesterol is the major building block for the growth, repair and replacement of all body cells (If cholesterol is too low, cell growth is disrupted).
• Cholesterol is essential to maintain the integrity of cell membranes,
• Cholesterol is vital to keep cell membranes permeable so that nutrients can pass into the cells, and waste products can leave them.
• Cholesterol is also found in the brain and nerve cells, where it is essential for nerve transmission and for brain function.
• Cholesterol is used to maintain normal hormone production including the sex hormones in both men and women.
• Cholesterol is crucial for the manufacture of the important anti-stress hormone, cortisol.
• Cholesterol is used, in conjunction with sunlight on the skin, to make Vitamin D3.
• Cholesterol is used to make bile acids, essential for proper digestion of fats and in ridding the body of waste products.
• Cholesterol is so important that practically every body cell has the ability to make it.
• Because of the above, cholesterol is essential for a healthy and effective immune system.

In other words, cholesterol is not only vital for your health, cholesterol is vital for life itself.

Eat as much cholesterol as you like

The body uses large quantities of cholesterol every day and the substance is so important that, with the exception of brain cells, every cell in our body has the ability to manufacture it. Your body can absorb only about 300 mg of cholesterol per day from the foods you eat and, as your body needs many times that amount, it makes up the difference. Or if you eat more cholesterol, your body will make less. For those reasons, you can eat foods containing as much as 5 times the usual 300 mg without it having any effect on the amount of cholesterol in your blood. So it doesn’t matter how much cholesterol you eat. Mostly because of wrong information, it has taken decades to realized that we can eat as much cholesterol as we like. Yet still the unsupported dogma goes on.

Neither HDL nor LDL is ‘bad’; both are essential

It turns out here is no such thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cholesterol. Cholesterol is just a chemical compound and all cholesterol is exactly the same. Talking of LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol as if they were two different types of cholesterol is very misleading and serves the current medication model well.

Since cholesterol is not water soluble and cannot travel where needed in the bloodstream on its own, it is transported in little packets together with other materials, notably fats and proteins as the graphic of LDL shows. These little packets are called lipoproteins, a contraction of the words ‘lipid’ (a class of substances which includes fats, cholesterol and waxes) and protein. LDL stands for Low-Density Lipoprotein and HDL is High-Density Lipoprotein. Neither LDL nor HDL is cholesterol, they are merely the carriers of cholesterol.

There are also other lipoproteins: VLDL (very low density lipoprotein), IDL (Intermediate density lipoprotein), and there is even an HDL2 and HDL3, not to mention chylomicrons. And when your doctor measures your cholesterol level, he is not making a definitive measurement but a guess, albeit a well-informed one.

The functions of the two lipoproteins is that LDL carries cholesterol from the liver out around the body to where it is needed for cell repair and all the other jobs that cholesterol does; and, as the body abhors waste and is a great recycler, HDL carries ‘second-hand’ cholesterol from cells being replaced back to the liver for re-use.

Studies scotches the myths about LDL and HDL

Three recent studies really scotched the myths about LDL and HDL.

1. The first, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, was to determine the relationship between established cardiovascular risk factors such as cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, C-reactive protein, et cetera, and the extent of coronary atherosclerosis.[1] The most significant finding was that LDL was NOT a predictor of greater disease, and this was confirmed by a joint Canadian and American group who also found that levels of LDL did not predict CHD.[2] And to ascertain this further, another research team showed that it was raised levels of HDL which predicted recurrent coronary events in some heart attack patients.[3]
2. In the THROMBO (Postinfarction Thromogenic Factors and Recurrent Coronary Events) study, while studying the interaction between LDL, HDL and inflammation, researchers demonstrated that in a sub-group of patients, only elevated HDL was a significant and independent predictor of risk.
3. Confirmation of the falsity of the LDL = ‘bad’ myth became apparent with the publication of a third study in 2007 which showed that of 270,655 hospitalizations from 541 hospitals, fully half the patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease had very low LDL levels of less than 2.6 mmol/L (100 mg/dL);[4] and more than one in six had LDL levels below 1.8 mmol/L

What these studies say, therefore, is that LDL is not ‘bad’ after all and HDL isn’t necessarily ‘good’. Which, of course, is the exact opposite of what we have been told for a quarter of a century.

The dangers of having low cholesterol

Today, there is much medical evidence which proves conclusively that “low cholesterol” and/or lowering your cholesterol is probably the biggest mistake you can make. We know that cholesterol is an essential chemical in our bodies with a wide range of uses and applications. Just as our body temperature is held within very fine limits for the whole of our lives, so are hundreds of other processes and chemicals. We don’t need to measure and ‘correct’ even one of them; our bodies can and do regulate these automatically within fine limits and with great accuracy. Unlike body temperature, cholesterol rises naturally as we age and the idea that everyone, young or old, male or female, should all have exactly the same amount of cholesterol in their blood is not reasonable. Reasonable observations tells us that deficiency in cholesterol could have catastrophic effects:

• Low cholesterol increases overall risk of death
• Low cholesterol increases death rates in young
• Low cholesterol increases total mortality in the middle-aged
• Low cholesterol increases death rates in the elderly
• Low cholesterol increases stroke risk
• Low cholesterol increases cancer risk
• Low blood cholesterol compromises immune function
• Low cholesterol means more infections and deaths in surgical patients
• Low cholesterol increases depression
• Low cholesterol increases suicide risk
• Low cholesterol increases resistance to authority by adults
• Low cholesterol increases mental illness and crime in children
• Low cholesterol increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease
• Low cholesterol may increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease
• Low cholesterol, diabetes and obesity
• Low cholesterol increases kidney disease risk
• Low cholesterol and sickle cell anaemia

The benefits of high cholesterol

We have all heard the claims that a high blood cholesterol level is harmful. We hear and see this message several times every day in news bulletins, magazine articles, advertisements for cholesterol-lowering foods, drugs, and even breakfast cereals. But the evidence now available refutes all these claims.

• High cholesterol protects against all the conditions caused by low cholesterol
• High cholesterol means greater life expectancy – The oldest people in care homes are the ones with high cholesterol.
• High cholesterol even protects against heart disease risk

There is a growing amount of evidence for a hypothesis that the first step in the formation of atherosclerosis is an inflammatory response to some injury of the arterial wall caused by damage to that wall, perhaps by an infectious bacterium or virus. And there is evidence that low levels of cholesterol harm the body’s immune system. Putting these two factors together shows how a high cholesterol level could actually protect against atherosclerosis. This may also explain why, although most cardiovascular diseases are seen after the age of 60, studies of the elderly find that those with high cholesterol have fewer heart attacks than those with low cholesterol.

Sources:

1. Nicholls SJ, Murat Tuzcu E, Crowe T, et al. Relationship Between Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Atherosclerotic Disease Burden Measured by Intravascular Ultrasound. J Am Coll Cardiol 2006; 47:1967-1975.
2. Liu J, Sempos CT, Donahue RP, et al. Non-High-Density Lipoprotein and Very-Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Their Risk Predictive Values in Coronary Heart Disease. Am J Cardiol 2006; 98: 1363-1368
3. Corsetti JP, Zareba W, Moss AJ, et al. Elevated HDL is a risk factor for recurrent coronary events in a subgroup of non-diabetic postinfarction patients with hypercholesterolemia and inflammation. Atherosclerosis 2006; 187: 191-197.
4. Fonarow GC, Cannon CP, Deedwania PC, et al. Lipid Levels in Patients Hospitalized with Coronary Artery Disease: An Analysis of 136,905 Hospitalizations in GWTG-CAD. http://astute.cardiosource.com/2007/vposters/pdf/275_Fonarow.pdf.
5. The Farmingham Heart Study: http://www.framinghamheartstudy.org/
6. Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial
7. The Tecumseh Study
8. WHO European Coronary Prevention Study
9. The North Karelia Project
10. J W Gofman, et al. The role of lipids and lipoproteins in atherosclerosis . Science. 1950; 111: 166.
11. J P Strong, H C McGill jr. The natural history of coronary atherosclerosis. Am J Pathol. 1962; 40: 37.
12. W F Enos, R H Holmes, J Beyer. Coronary disease among United States soldiers killed in action in Korea. Preliminary report. JAMA 1953; 152: 1090.

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Thousands of articles on cholesterol

Next is a partial list amongs thousands of available internet links to articles related to the cholesterol debate. If you are able to read this newsletter, then you can likely access those articles.

• Useless Cholesterol Drugs
  Are you on the new drug hit list?
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/06/17/1-5-million-more-people-to-be-prescribed-useless-cholesterol-drugs.aspx
• Truth About Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs
  The Truth About Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs (Statins), Cholesterol and Health
  http://www.mercola.com/article/statins.htm
• Cholesterol is NOT the Cause of Heart Disease
  Cholesterol is not the major culprit in heart disease or any disease. If it becomes oxidized it can irritate/inflame tissues in which it is lodged in, such as the endothelium (lining of the arteries)
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/05/28/cholesterol-heart.aspx
• Low Cholesterol Linked to Depression
  a link between low cholesterol levels and an increased risk of depression in men….to men with cholesterol levels in the normal range… Cholesterol may affect the metabolism of serotonin, a substance known to be involved in the …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/03/26/cholesterol-depression.aspx
• Cholesterol Has Benefits, Too
  … found that lower cholesterol levels reduced muscle gain that occurred with exercise, while those wi … makes some cholesterol, and uses it for producing cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D, and the bile … worry that their cholesterol is too high, few give a thought to the damage that can result if your …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/02/02/cholesterol-has-benefits-too.aspx
• Want to Live to 100? Get Your Good Cholesterol Level Up
  … heart-healthy cholesterol level throughout their lives — and they pass the gift on to their … (“good”) cholesterol are believed to protect the heart from disease. … of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/01/28/hdl-cholesterol.aspx
• Cholesterol is Needed to Help Your Brain Cells Communicate
  Cholesterol in your brain is key to the cell connections needed for memory and … Cholesterol levels in the blood do not determine the brain’s supply, as blood … Instead, glial cells appear to churn out their own cholesterol supply.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/11/24/cholesterol-part-three.aspx
• Coffee Can Raise Cholesterol
  … to have a cholesterol-raising effect, but studies investigating the associations have … increase in total cholesterol, LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglycerides, but not HDL (“good … respect to the cholesterol levels, because the results point to coffee oils as the main chol …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/02/28/coffee-cholesterol.aspx
• New Cholesterol Guidelines — Even More Money For Drug Companies
  … regarding “bad” cholesterol levels for those at risk of a heart attack or stroke have change … to keep their cholesterol levels under 70 milligrams per deciliter. … reaching this cholesterol goal might be impossible for some people, especially considering t …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/07/28/cholesterol-guidelines-part-two.aspx
• New Cholesterol Guidelines Issued
  … for managing cholesterol issued in the US will increase the number of Americans who are treat … total cholesterol, LDL and HDL cholesterol once every 5 years. … Previously, a screening test that looked only at total and LDL cholesterol was advised.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/05/26/cholesterol-guidelines-part-one.aspx
• New Cholesterol Guidelines for Converting Healthy People into Patients
  The Cholesterol Myths … The National Cholesterol Education Program is based on the assumption that it is possible to … people with high cholesterol the effect is even smaller.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/06/23/cholesterol-part-two.aspx
• Cholesterol Drugs Actually Cause Heart Disease
  … with “normal” cholesterol levels. … symptoms of high cholesterol with a drug you are in no way, shape or form treating the cause. … do to normalize cholesterol levels?
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/07/26/cholesterol-drugs-part-five.aspx
• Cholesterol Lowering Drugs May Increase Cancer Risk
  Cholesterol Lowering Drugs May Increase Cancer Risk … cholesterol, the drugs may also promote the growth of new … the cholesterol-lowering drug simvastatin (Zocor) seems to …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/09/10/statins-cancer.aspx
• Eating More Frequently May Lower Your Cholesterol
  A person’s cholesterol levels may depend not only on what he or she eats, but … and had their cholesterol levels, blood pressure and weight recorded. … of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in men and …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/12/15/cholesterol-part-four.aspx
• Low Cholesterol and Suicide Risk
  … low serum total cholesterol and deaths from suicide. … quarter of total cholesterol concentration had more than six times the risk … cholesterol level is associated with an increased risk of …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/08/08/suicide.aspx
• Low Cholesterol Causes Aggressive Behavior and Depression
  … about having cholesterol levels that are too high, yet another study has found that low chol … of cholesterol levels to abnormally low levels, it is not widely known that there is … with the cholesterol-serotonin hypothesis and with the substantive literature linking both a …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/01/14/low-cholesterol-aggression.aspx
• Finally, Science Starts to Challenge Lower Cholesterol Craziness
  … doubts about the cholesterol-lowering recommendations made two years ago by the … government’s National Cholesterol Education Program panel. … reduce their LDL cholesterol to specific, very low, levels.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2006/11/04/finally-science-starts-to-challenge-lower-cholesterol-craziness.aspx
• Cholesterol Drugs: How Expensive Is Too Expensive?
  … has high cholesterol with cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. … the idea that cholesterol-lowering drugs should be used mostly in those people who have a … resolves that vast majority of high cholesterol problems, probably over 80%
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/05/21/cholesterol-drugs-expensive.aspx
• Can Low Cholesterol Increase Your Parkinson’s Risk?
  A low cholesterol level may increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease, at least for men. … Lower Cholesterol Levels Means Higher Risk of Parkinson’s … between low cholesterol and impaired mental function.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/10/18/can-low-cholesterol-increase-your-parkinsons-risk.aspx
• Sudden Memory Loss Linked to Cholesterol Drugs
  … are used to lower cholesterol. … used to lower cholesterol are the most widely used drugs in the country, with … the truth about cholesterol-lowering drugs
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/07/30/cholesterol-drugs-part-six.aspx
• Common Cholesterol Drug Lowers Cholesterol but Not Death Rate
  Common Cholesterol Drug Lowers Cholesterol but Not Death Rate … by physicians on cholesterol levels of over 10,000 people, found that the drug did not reduc … did indeed lower cholesterol, with a decrease of 17 percent in total cholesterol levels amon …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/01/04/pravachol.aspx
• Fish Oil Works Better Than Statins at Improving HDL Cholesterol
  … of HDL (“good”) cholesterol in obese and insulin-resistant men. … HDL cholesterol protects against atherosclerosis by removing excess cholesterol from arterial cells, … and raised HDL cholesterol levels.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2006/07/29/fish-oil-works-better-than-statins-at-improving-hdl-cholesterol.aspx
• Stress Management May Help Heart Disease Patients
  Stress likely causes more heart attack deaths than high cholesterol and smoking combined. … to lower their cholesterol and virtually ignores stress management tools.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/02/02/stress-management-part-one.aspx
• Cholesterol Lowering Drugs Suppress Immune System
  Cholesterol Lowering Drugs Suppress Immune System … People with high cholesterol certainly don’t need their immune systems suppressed. … If someone has elevated cholesterol, by far the best results are obtained by following the proper
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/12/24/statins-part-two.aspx
• Cholesterol Guidelines Fraught With Massive Conflict of Interest
  … received new cholesterol guidelines from an influential medical group of doctors. … of the cholesterol-lowering drugs they have been pushing upon millions of Americans. … High cholesterol can be found in more than half of Americans.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/11/06/cholesterol-guidelines-part-three.aspx
• Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs are Less Effective in Reality than in Trials
  Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs work to lower “bad” LDL cholesterol … levels of LDL cholesterol were lowered one-third less than expected from clin … risk of both LDL cholesterol and the risk of heart attack, for several reas …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/01/25/cholesterol-drugs-part-four.aspx
• Will Cholesterol Drugs go Over the Counter Soon?
  … making cholesterol lowering statin drugs available over the counter. … will cholesterol drugs soon be available without a prescription? … Americans taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, mostly statins, and experts’ recommendations th …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/11/29/cholesterol-drugs-part-seven.aspx
• U.S. Cholesterol Levels Remain Unchanged
  … cholesterol, total U.S. cholesterol levels have shown little … A total cholesterol of 240 mg/dL and above is considered high. … those with total cholesterol of at least 200 mg/dL have had their cholesterol …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/05/14/cholesterol-levels-part-one.aspx
• Virgin Olive Oil May Reduce Cholesterol Damage
  … (“bad”) cholesterol and higher levels of antioxidant compounds, particularly phenols, … These fats may help to lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. … to help control cholesterol but there is little information about the effect of antioxida …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/04/24/olive-oil-part-one.aspx
• Blueberry Compound May Lower Cholesterol
  … at reducing cholesterol as well as prescription drugs, without the potential of side … to another cholesterol-reducing antioxidant, resveratrol, which is found in both grapes and … from commercial cholesterol reducing drugs such as ciprofibrate, pterostilbene is less likel …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/09/08/blueberry-cholesterol.aspx
• No Matter What Cholesterol Levels Are, Exercise Helps Men Live Longer
  … assess changes to cholesterol guidelines from the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Trea … “at or below LDL cholesterol goal” under the new guidelines; 18 percent fell in the category of nee … Medications like statin drugs, on the other hand, do a great job of lowering your cholesterol
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/09/15/no-matter-what-cholesterol-levels-are-exercise-helps-men-live-longer.aspx
• Low-Fat Diet Raises Bad Cholesterol
  … of oxidized LDL cholesterol, the “bad” cholesterol. … in HDL, the “good” cholesterol. … of oxidized LDL cholesterol, the “bad” cholesterol.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/04/07/low-fat-diet.aspx
• High Cholesterol Drug Mevacor Approved for Kids–But Don’t Be Fooled
  … of high blood cholesterol for some, it’s also raising concern about inappropriate use of … There’s also no consensus on how best to treat high cholesterol in youngsters, he said. … recent National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines say drug therapy should be consi …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/05/25/mevacor.aspx
• Popular Cholesterol Drug Found to Have No Medical Benefits
  Zetia, a cholesterol-lowering drug prescribed to about 1 million people each week, has no medical be … pill does lower cholesterol by 15 percent to 20 percent, trials have not shown that Zetia reduces h … unless all other cholesterol drugs have failed.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/1/31/popular-cholesterol-drug-found-to-have-no-medical-benefits.aspx
• Chromium Lowers Cholesterol
  … have significant cholesterol-lowering abilities, according to new research. … Total blood cholesterol levels fell more than 20 points on average, going from … blood cholesterol.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/11/05/chromium-cholesterol.aspx
• Popular Cholesterol Drug Found to Have No Medical Benefits
  Zetia, a cholesterol-lowering drug prescribed to about 1 million people each week, has no medical be … pill does lower cholesterol by 15 percent to 20 percent, trials have not shown that Zetia reduces h … unless all other cholesterol drugs have failed.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/01/31/popular-cholesterol-drug-found-to-have-no-medical-benefits.aspx
• 1.5 Million More People to Be Prescribed Useless Cholesterol Drugs
  … adults prescribed cholesterol-lowering statin drugs by an estimated 1.5 million. … in for a dose of cholesterol drugs, no questions asked? … National Cholesterol Education Program panel advised those at risk for heart disease to attempt to …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/06/17/1-5-million-more-people-to-be-prescribed-useless-cholesterol-drugs.aspx
• Test May Miss Cholesterol Drug-Linked Muscle Damage
  … when taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs may be having a reaction to the … to lower their cholesterol. … cholesterol.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/10/05/cholesterol-drug.aspx
• Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Will Wreck Your Muscles
  Cholesterol-lowering “statin” drugs often come with side effects. … used to lower your cholesterol — are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the world. … that end up having cholesterol levels above 325-350.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/10/14/cholesterol-lowering-drugs-will-wreck-your-muscles.aspx
• ‘Experts’ Recommend Higher Doses of Cholesterol Drugs
  … to reduce cholesterol decreases the risk of heart attack, bypass surgery and chest pa … drugs to reduce cholesterol levels in people with heart disease. … should be taking cholesterol medication are actually taking them.
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/03/27/cholesterol-drugs-part-eight.aspx
• Cholesterol Lowering Drugs Need to be Used With Caution
  National cholesterol guidelines that are expected to help more Americans lower their risk … by the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), a division of the National Institut … with LDL (“bad”) cholesterol of 130 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) of blood in addition …
  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/01/30/cholesterol-drugs-part-two.aspx