But coconut is more than just a sign of summer or the hallmark of a winter vacation somewhere warm: it is one of the healthiest foods you are probably not eating (or drinking!). Coconut is rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber and it sustains about one-third of the world as a functional food:  one that yields numerous health benefits even beyond its nutritional benefits.

Today I want to look at some ways you can incorporate this powerhouse of nutrition and wellness into your diet beyond cracking one open and eating its nutritious meat beyond shimmying up a tree (or over to the grocery store) to crack one open and eat its nutritious meat.

Coconut Oil

Saturated fat has been labeled as a villain, but the truth is that the body needs high-quality saturated fats to perform necessary functions. In previous newsletters, we have talked about how the quality of meat and dairy has declined; they are now full of pesticides, hormones and antibiotics and are depleted of many nutrients. But coconut oil is a healthy saturated fat that has been proven to benefit heart health and even helps kill viruses, bacteria and fungi in the body.

The difference between coconut oil and many other fats and oils is its size. Most all (an estimated 98-100%) of the fats and oils we typically consume are long-chain fatty acids or LCFA. But coconut oil is a medium-chain fatty acid, or MCFA. Our bodies metabolize each fatty acid chain size differently, so the effects of coconut oil in our bodies are very different than the traditional meat, milk, eggs and plants we consume that are made up of LCFA.

Coconut oil is a saturated fat that has tremendous health benefits to us and offers a form of fatty acids we don’t typically find in our diets. Coconut oil actually regulates blood cholesterol levels as well as triglycerides; therefore, it actually helps with heart disease prevention and treatment. Coconut oil also helps to prevent the oxidation of cholesterol. And it has been shown to be effective at lowering lipoprotein(a).

Coconut oil also has an antimicrobial effect in the body and can be used to treat bacterial infections including even severe antibiotic resistant strains. By eliminating and healing bacterial or viral lesions on artery walls, we can prevent inflammation and the barrage of white blood cells that can accompany it.

A study in clinical biochemistry confirmed the benefits of coconut oil on heart health. The study proved that virgin coconut oil lowered very low density lipoproteins (the troublemakers), raised HDL, lowered triglycerides and phospholipids, and reduced total and LDL cholesterol levels and was shown to inhibit LDL oxidation.

The study concluded that we know that oxidized cholesterol can initiate the process of atherosclerosis and the fatty acids in coconut oil prevent this oxidation. The effects of coconut oil on heart health were deemed uniformly beneficial.

So why haven’t you heard much about it? Coconut oil became the victim of government and food organizations about thirty years ago in an attempt to minimize importation of the oil and get consumers to buy American corn and vegetable oils instead. Because coconut oil is a saturated fat, it was easy to latch onto the anti-saturated fat bandwagon and drag coconut oil along with it.

But an abundance of research shows that we need saturated fat (in moderation) to perform healthy body functions and that extra virgin coconut oil is one of the best and healthiest options for that. It has been called the healthiest oil on earth by some and has been a foundation of the nutrition of numerous cultures for thousands of years.

Even though my family does not care for the taste of coconut, we find coconut oil non-offensive. It actually adds a nice flavor to a vegetable sauté and we cook with it often. My daughter, who wouldn’t eat a Mars or Almond Joy candy bar for all the money in the world because she doesn’t care for that kind of coconut, will even eat it out of the jar with a spoon when she’s hungry. Her growing body sometimes craves saturated fat and she listens!

Coconut oil is heart healthy and can help you regulate lipoprotein imbalances. Adding some to your diet, especially in lieu of dairy or hormone-ridden meat, is a great option.

Coconut Milk

Another option beyond cracking open a coconut and eating the meat is to add some coconut milk to your diet. Coconut milk is also proven to improve cardiovascular health, balances electrolytes naturally, and also has antimicrobial properties.  Coconut milk is commonly used in many cultures including Vietnamese, Cambodian, Indian, Indonesian, Thai, Brazilian, Caribbean, Polynesian and Pacific island cuisines and serves as the foundation for many curries.

Coconut milk can be made to be thick or thin, depending on your preference and what you are using it for. Coconut milk is made by squeezing grated coconut meat through cheesecloth. The meat is then soaked in warm water. The thick version makes desserts and rich sauces. To use it in soups and for general cooking, a thinner version is made by repeating the squeezing and soaking process 2-3 times. If you are not making it yourself, you can buy it canned, which is usually a combination of thick and thin versions using water as a filter. Once opened, the canned version lasts only a few days before souring.

Fresh coconut milk tastes very similar to cow’s milk and when made well should have little to no coconut smell. You can drink it “raw” on its own instead of traditional dairy or use it as a milk substitute in coffee or tea; it can also be used in baking and can even be used to make a yogurt substitute. It’s a great and healthy dairy alternative for vegans as well those with animal milk allergies or those just looking to reduce dairy or try new sources of liquid nutrition.

Coconut Water

Finally, another way to add some coconut goodness to your life is through coconut water. Coconut water is simply the water that comes from inside the coconut. It is full of vitamins, minerals and electrolytes. It has a faint coconut taste, but is not overpowering. Because of its nutritive content, it is an excellent alternative to sports drinks made with sugar (or sugar substitutes), chemicals and dyes, none of which we – and especially our kids – should be consuming.

Coconut water will naturally re-balance electrolytes and replenish losses after strenuous or sweaty workouts. My kids love it and take it to soccer games and sports activities. I keep some in my fridge at all times and find it a refreshing drink alternative when water alone isn’t calling to me. And I love that the brand I buy, Zico, which has nothing added and is just pure coconut water, comes in paper containers so I am not adding to the excess of plastic bottles we generate each year from bottled water and other drinks.

Coconut water is a win-win option for healthy water alternatives and if you haven’t tried it yet, you should definitely give it a try. You can find it in most supermarkets and convenience store drink cases, as it is becoming increasingly popular as a nutritional drink option.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal at www.IngerPols.com

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art

We have been told that high cholesterol is bad, that it causes heart disease (the leading cause of death in the U.S.), that we should all be tested for it, and that high levels must be treated, usually with statin drugs. With those assumptions and statistics, the problem would seem epidemic.

But in this article, I’m going to shatter five myths about cholesterol and hopefully change the way you think about it forever.

Myth #1: Cholesterol is Bad for You

Cholesterol plays several key roles in a healthy functional body. It keeps cell membranes from falling apart and plays an integral part in cellular repair. Cholesterol is also a vital pre-cursor to many major hormones including testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and is required for synthesis of vitamin D.

The body manufactures about 75% of the cholesterol it needs. The rest we must take in from foods. Without adequate dietary cholesterol, the body may divert cholesterol to where it is needed most: cellular repair and healthy function in key areas, especially the brain. When this happens, there may not be enough left for use in hormone synthesis, which can cause hormonal imbalance.

This is why some people (especially women going through perimenopause) who do not eat enough cholesterol may experience more severe hormonal reactions and symptoms.

In fact, the body has a built-in mechanism to increase its cholesterol production to override a severe shortage. In extreme cases, when cholesterol is not being consumed in appropriate levels, the liver will step in and actually overproduce cholesterol. If you were to be tested at that time, your cholesterol levels could be considered high, even though you would actually be cholesterol deficient.

But that’s not the case for most of us. So for those of us eating healthy diets with moderate amounts of fat, how concerned should we be about cholesterol in food?

Myth #2: High Cholesterol Comes from Eating Foods High in Cholesterol

Despite popular belief that it’s the cholesterol in your food that influences cholesterol in the bloodstream, according to the Harvard School of Public Health, it’s actually the mix of fats in your diet that’s important.

Saturated and trans fats (often called “bad” fats) increase the risk for certain diseases while monounsaturated and polyunsaturated (often called “good” fats), do the opposite—they are good for the body and heart, and cells need them to help manage what goes in and out of cell membranes.

Cells need fat and cholesterol to function, but fat and cholesterol can’t readily travel through the blood. So the body combines them with protein-covered particles called lipoproteins. Lipoproteins can carry a good amount of fat and travel easily through the blood. There are three types of these particles that are important: low-density lipoproteins (LDL), high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and triglycerides.

Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL)

LDL is responsible for taking the cholesterol from the liver to the body’s cells. Once the lipoprotein reaches the cell, the cell attaches to it and extracts the fat and cholesterol it needs.

High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL)

HDL then takes over and plays clean up, collecting cholesterol from the bloodstream, LDL and artery walls, and transporting it back to the liver to be recycled, an equally important role in healthy cholesterol function.

Triglycerides

Triglycerides are the body’s main method of transporting fat to cells. They make up most of the fats you eat and that your cells use. They are an important part of healthy body function, but in excess they can cause problems. If your triglycerides are high, you have a lot of fat in your bloodstream, which means you are either making too much or are unable to burn it.

Myth #3: There is Good Cholesterol and Bad Cholesterol

Despite needing LDL, it has been argued that when there is an excess of it, particles can be deposited in the walls of the arteries of the heart and elsewhere, limiting blood flow. The deposits, known as plaque, can break apart and cause a heart attack or stroke. Because of this, LDL has been called the “bad” cholesterol.

The truth is, there is no good and bad cholesterol. There is only one cholesterol: LDL and HDL are lipoprotein cholesterol carriers and they are both equally necessary for survival and wellness.

While LDL has been labeled bad because it can cause plaque development, we now know that there are many types of LDL. In fact, if we want to create labels for good and bad, we could argue there is good LDL and bad LDL. Research has shown that LDL particles come in different sizes and that the large LDL particles cause no problem. The small, dense LDL particles can be troublesome, as they are tiny enough to squeeze through the lining of the arteries.

If they oxidize, or turn rancid, they can cause inflammation, which can lead to many if not all of our chronic conditions. C-reactive protein tests measure general levels of inflammation and can be an early warning sign to take action. Inflammation can be reduced through dietary changes such as increased consumption of vitamin E and fish oil.

Myth #4: Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease

We have known for a while that there is a correlation between cholesterol and heart attacks, but is it causal?

Research now shows that damage to the lining of arteries (such as what can occur when small dense LDL squeeze through and oxidize) causes the coronary heart disease associated with heart attacks.  The damage causes inflammation and it’s the inflammation that leads to the heart attacks.

How does this happen? Let’s look briefly at the inflammatory process.

When you cut yourself, the damaged tissue releases chemicals to start inflammation. Blood vessels constrict to slow down bleeding. Blood thickens so it can clot and cells multiply to repair damage and facilitate healing while the immune system calls on cells and chemicals to protect against viruses and bacteria from attacking the cut.

This is very similar to what occurs within the arteries. As damage occurs, chemicals are released to begin the inflammatory process. Arteries constrict, blood begins to clot, the immune system sends help, and nearby cells are told to multiply. As this process occurs over and over again in the artery lining, scars called plaque form. Over time, blood thickening and artery constriction combine to make a heart attack or high blood pressure more likely.

So remember the first step after trauma: Chemicals are released to begin inflammation and start the healing process. Enter cholesterol, whose primary function is cell repair. Cholesterol is sent to help repair the damaged tissue in the artery linings and elsewhere: it is actually helping your body heal to keep you alive.

Now if this process is occurring repeatedly, cholesterol is continually being manufactured or recycled in order to facilitate the healing process. When tested, your cholesterol levels will seem high.

Because your body needs cholesterol to heal, what effect will lower levels have on the body?

Instead of trying to deal with the symptom, the high cholesterol, we need to look at the cause: The inflammation that is being caused by excessive and/or repetitive damage, particularly from small dense LDL particle oxidation.

Pomegranate has also been shown to be highly effective as an LDL anti-oxidation agent. Subjects taking pomegranate supplements in a clinical study were able to reduce artery thickness by 35%, increase blood flow by 45% and improve markers related to LDL oxidation by up to 130%.

As you can see, the connection between cholesterol and heart attacks is correlated but not causal. High cholesterol may not be anything to worry about; it may in fact be an important component of your body’s healing mechanism. The real focus should be on reducing high LDL levels and preventing its oxidation.

If you decide that you must take action to lower your cholesterol, there are two ways to do so: Change your diet and/or take statins.

Myth #5: Statins are a Safe and Effective way to Lower Cholesterol

A January 2008 cover story in Business Week concluded that there isn’t much evidence to support taking statins.

Upon review of statin data, a leading physician and professor at the University of British Columbia found there is no benefit in people over age 65 no matter how much their cholesterol declines and that there was no benefit to women at any age. Middle-aged men who took statins saw a small reduction in heart attacks, but no overall reduction in deaths or illnesses requiring hospitalization even though their “bad” LDL cholesterol went down.

The only time the drugs were seen as effective was with patients who had already had one heart attack, as it reduced the likelihood of having another. He concluded, “Most people are taking something with no chance of benefit and a risk of harm.”

But what about the marketing hype the pharmaceutical companies put out? Let’s read the small print on Lipitor’s claim that it reduces the risk of heart attack by 36% … in patients with multiple risk factors for heart disease. It says, “That means in a large clinical study, 3% of patients taking a sugar pill or placebo had a heart attack compared to 2% of patients taking Lipitor.”

In other words, out of every 100 people, three on placebos and two on Lipitor had heart attacks. That means that to spare one person a heart attack, 100 people had to take Lipitor for more than three years while the other 99 got no benefit. A useful statistic known as the NNT, or number needed to treat, means the number needed to treat in this case for one person to have any benefit is 100. Several recent studies have shown that the NNT for statins may be even higher: 250 or more for lower risk patients.

Dr. Jerome R. Hoffman, professor of clinical medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, put it this way: “What if you put 250 people in a room and told them they would each pay $1,000 a year for a drug they would have to take every day, that many would get diarrhea and muscle pain, and that 249 would have no benefit? And that they could do just as well by exercising? How many would take that?”

It’s true that statins can lower cholesterol levels by (guess what?) reducing inflammation! Statins might be acceptable solutions if they were shown to be completely safe, but they are not. Statins have common side effects including muscle pain, cognitive impairments and sexual dysfunction and have been shown to increase cancer risk in rodents.

The Business Week article posed this question: What would work better?

Prescription: Change Your Diet

The answer, not surprisingly, according to Dr. Jerome R. Hoffman, professor of clinical medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, is not a pill but rather diet and lifestyle changes. Several studies have shown that lifestyle changes, such as switching to the Mediterranean diet and eating more fish, brought greater declines in heart attacks than statins.

If you still want to lower your cholesterol levels, in addition to fish and omega-3s, walnuts and soluble fiber like oatmeal have been shown to be effective cholesterol reducers and most of us need more fiber in our diets anyway. Niacin (or vitamin B3) also lowers cholesterol and triglycerides and it recently outperformed Merck’s drug Zetia in arterial plaque prevention (resulting in Merck canceling the study.)

Physical fitness also plays a role with exercise and lifestyle changes such as stress reduction, diet changes and weight reduction.

Keep in mind that your doctor had little, if any, nutrition training in medical school and may not be comfortable guiding you in this regard. In addition, some physician friends tell me they are reluctant to suggest dietary changes because they find that people don’t always stick to them. So you may have to take the initiative with your physician to get the right plan in place for you.

Studies prove that the anti-inflammatory aspects of the Mediterranean diet and fish or fish oil, combined with a healthy lifestyle and reduced stress, are the most effective prescription for wellness, in the arteries as well as in the rest of the body. Read more articles on cholesterol and heart health at www.nehealthadvisory.com

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal. Learn more about Inger and receive her free bestselling ebook What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You by clicking the active link or go to www.ingerpols.com/freegifts

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art

Omega 3 and omega 6 are both essential fatty acids, which means our body cannot produce them, we have to eat them. In a perfect food world, we would eat omega 3 and omega 6 in equal amounts and ingest a 1:1 ratio. In today’s food reality, however, that is rarely the case. Today many of eat 20-50 times more omega 6 than omega 3. That’s because omega 6 oils are commonly used for cooking and are prevalent in processed and restaurant foods, while omega 3 is taken in through eating fish like salmon, meat, eggs and vegetables. We just can’t eat enough of those to offset the omega 6 that we take in today.

Research shows that 99% of us are omega 3 deficient, and a recent study at Harvard directly linked omega 3 deficiency to death in an estimated 72,000-96,000 people a year. To put that in context, there are approximately 40,000 deaths a year due to breast cancer; this makes omega 3 deficiency something we need to pay attention to.

Omega 3s help reduce internal inflammation, which is linked to most every chronic condition that plagues us including – and especially – heart disease. They play a very important role in heart health as they inhibit the thickening of the arteries, lower the amount of lipids that circulate in our bloodstream, and help the arteries to relax. They also help reduce obesity by stimulating the hormone leptin which regulates food intake, body weight and metabolism, and they help prevent cancer cell growth.

In addition to directly impacting coronary heart disease and stroke, omega 3s can help reduce depression, improve mental clarity and focus, reduce dry or itchy skin, hair and nails, and help prevent autoimmune disorders and type 2 diabetes. Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid; it is essential because our bodies can’t make it. Fatty acids fall into three groupings: saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Let’s take a brief look at the science behind it so you can understand why it matters.

Each type of the three fats is made up of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms to fill in the spaces around them. Saturated fatty acids are acids where all of the spaces around the carbon atoms are completely filled, i.e., saturated. As a result, they are very stable regardless of temperature. They are found mainly in dairy, red meat and chicken, but also in tropical oils like red palm oil and coconut oil. We can also make some saturated fat from eating carbohydrates.

While we are on the subject of saturated fats, let me dispel the myth that saturated fats cause heart disease. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported on a study done by Dr. Ronald Krauss which analyzed 21 existing studies that included nearly 350,000 people and found “no significant evidence that eating more saturated fat increases a person’ risk of heart disease or stroke.”

A British report looked at data from ten large studies which included more than 400,000 men and women over several years. They found that the number of heart attacks and strokes were smaller among those who consumed the most (whole fat) dairy products and a recent Swedish study confirmed the same result.

One reason saturated fat may have been labeled a bad guy is that the meat and milk we ingest today is very different than that which we consumed one or two generations ago.

Meat today is bombarded with growth hormones, antibiotics, environmental toxins like pesticides. These toxins remain in the fat cells of the animals we eat. When we eat them or drink their milk, we take in all of this and the result is health problems including low grade inflammation.

Just as we discussed before, occasional ingestion is fine, but when we eat large quantities every day, the inflammation is ongoing and this leads to an increased likelihood of oxidation and heart disease. Small amounts of grass fed meat and milk products will not lead to heart disease and can definitely be part of a balanced diet. So don’t take this as license to go eat a 16 oz porterhouse every night! But by all means, don’t stress about occasional meat or dairy and lose the guilt over a pat of butter on your vegetables. It won’t hut your health or your waistline to ingest good fats in moderate amounts.

Another finding was that if people cut back on saturated fats and replace them with polyunsaturated fats, they may improve their heart health. For every 5 % in total calorie intake from polyunsaturated fats the study participants’ risk of heart attack or heart-related death fell 10%. And the longer their diet remained polyunsaturated rich, the greater the benefits for heart health.

But if they replace the calories with refined carbohydrates, sugar and trans fats, they will increase their risk and they’d be better off enjoying a steak and some butter on their baked potato instead. Dr Krauss concluded, “I agree strongly with the notion that rather than focusing on further reductions in saturated fat per se… we should be thinking much more seriously about finding ways of increasing our intake of polyunsaturated fat.”

Ok, more on this in a minute. Let’s get back to our discussion about fats.

Monounsaturated fats are fatty acids have a double bond between two carbon atoms and they are missing two hydrogen atoms. They are called mono because of its single carbon double bond and unsaturated because not all of the spaces are filled: two hydrogen atoms are missing. Because the chain can bend at the double bond point, when you mix a large number of these chains together, it won’t be dense or compact; there will be room in between.

As a result, these acids are usually liquid at room temperature and are relatively stable, though not as stable as saturated fats because they are not packed as tightly. The most common monounsaturated fat is oleic acid and examples are olive oil, avocados, peanuts, cashews, pecans and almonds. Your body can also make monounsaturated fat from saturated fat as needed, another reason not to be afraid of saturated fat.

Polyunsaturated fats are missing several hydrogen atoms and they have two – or more – double bonds. As a result, since there are more than one double bond, they are called poly, meaning many. At each double bond, there is a kink in the chain, so they tend to be very loosely packed and remain liquid, even in colder temperatures. The good polyunsaturated fats are found in whole food sources such as nuts, seeds, fish, algae, leafy greens and krill. These are the foods that Dr. Krauss was encouraging we eat more of that have health benefits for us.

However, it’s really important to distinguish that not all polyunsaturated fats are healthy. While the good forms can yield great health benefits, other forms of polyunsaturated fats are not so good for us and can do great health harm. These are the polyunsaturated fats found in vegetable oils such as soybean (a staple in packaged goods), corn, sunflower or safflower oil. They are highly unstable fats and they can go bad, or turn rancid, easily when exposed to heat and light.

When they turn rancid, free radicals are created which travel around in your blood causing damage to just about everything they interact with. Free radical damage has been tied to cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons’s, cataracts, tumors, and aging.

The most common polyunsaturated fatty acids are omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. They are called essential fatty acids because our bodies cannot make them; we must get them from the food we eat. But while polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are good for us, some are better than others. The ones higher in omega 3 and the ones less likely to turn rancid, the ones found in whole foods rather than processed oils, are all good for us. But high heat processing of omega heavy oils is not desirable and not a good healthy fat source as we’ll see in just a minute.

So we started off by saying omega 3s can do a host of good. But let me just detour for a moment and share with you that rancid omega 3s can do a lot of damage. We need them, but we need to ensure that they do not turn rancid in our bodies. Antioxidants will mitigate this impact in the body, so regular antioxidant intake along with your omega 3s is a great preventive measure. Since fish oil is low in antioxidants, that is one reason why people like krill oil as an omega 3 supplement. Krill oil in addition to being a very pure omega 3 source contains antioxidants to help mitigate any free radical damage that may occur if oils turn rancid in your body.

Let’s go back to omegas 3 and 6. We need both of these essential fatty acids.

The problem is that in today’s food supply, omega 6 acids are used heavily in processed foods. Vegetable oils such as corn oil, sunflower, soybean, cottonseed and safflower oil contain at least 50% omega 6 and very little omega 3. Corn oil, for example, has a ratio of 60:1 omega 6 to 3, while safflower oil has a ratio of 77:1. In addition, factory farming reduces the amount of omega 3s in meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables, and increases omega 6 because it is the base of most animal feed, also contributing to the imbalance.

A chicken that is free to eat its normal diet of grass and bugs will lay an egg that is a perfect balance of omega 6 to omega 3. However, the traditional vegetarian grain fed chicken will yield an egg that is more like 20:1 omega 6 to 3. Nature undisturbed knows to work in perfect balance, but our changes in farming have disrupted that balance and left us with an overabundance of omega 6 in our diets.

Ideally, we need a 1:1 ratio of omega 6 to 3, but up to a 4:1 ratio our bodies can still cope fairly well. Unfortunately, the typical American diet is more like a 20:1 up to a 50:1 ratio of 6:3 and that is why it is so important to eat more and supplement with omega 3s. Not only do we need them in isolation, but we need them to be in balance together with our omega 6 intake and our current diet is highly imbalanced in favor of omega 6s.

An imbalance will prevent all the wonderful health benefits we mentioned earlier from omega 3s from occurring.  In addition, too much omega 6 versus omega 3 has been shown to lead to inflammation, heart disease, weight gain, sterility, high blood pressure, digestive concerns, blood clots, inhibited immune function, and even cancer.

We covered a lot in this article series so let’s sum this all up. If you eat trans fats, fructose, or a processed food diet heavy in omega 6, cholesterol levels will be higher as a result because cholesterol is stepping in to try to help our bodies deal with the inflammation and the imbalance that ingesting these substances create. Forcing cholesterol levels higher to deal with these choices is not in our body’s best interest; so we should avoid eating these.

Artificially forcing cholesterol down without removing the cause simply inhibits the body’s ability to heal. It’s the old don’t shoot the messenger! Cholesterol is necessary for the body to deal with our choices: cholesterol isn’t the bad guy. In each case, it is helping our body to deal with the true bad guy: it’s a reflection of what is going on as our body tries to stay healthy, not an enemy.

We need to address the cause and remove these harmful substances from our diets so they don’t force our bodies to dispatch cholesterol continually to deal with their impact. That means limiting fructose consumption (no high fructose corn syrup!), avoiding trans fats (no products containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil; even if the label says trans fat free, check for hydrogenation!) and balancing omega 3 and omega 6 intake.

Balance can be achieved by avoiding vegetable oils and processed and restaurant foods which are heavy in omega 6. Taking in good quality omega 3 such as eggs from chickens allowed to eat a natural diet (not vegetarian feed), wild sockeye salmon, grass fed meat and supplementing with a high quality omega 3 or krill oil will help restore balance and reduce internal inflammation.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal. Learn more about Inger and receive her free bestselling ebook What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You.

Article Photo: courtesy of winnond | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Studies have shown that it matters what form the sugar takes, what the sugar’s source is, and that not all sugars react the same way inside our bodies.

Glucose and Fructose
To help you understand the difference between glucose and fructose and more importantly, why it matters, I have to cover a little science. Bear with me and I’ll try to keep it simple and brief.

Glucose and fructose are two of the most common forms of sugar. They are both simple sugars and they have the same molecular form. But they have a different structure and as a result, they are metabolized very differently in the body.

One recent study followed participants for only 10 weeks. During the study, 25% of the participants’ energy requirements came from consuming either glucose or fructose sweetened beverages. The weight gain of both groups was comparable. But the group that consumed the fructose drinks gained measurably more intra abdominal fat, or the fat that forms around the organs in the abdomen. This fat has been shown to be a risk factor for many chronic illnesses including heart disease.

The fructose group also developed insulin resistance. In other words, they became less sensitive to insulin, the hormone whose job it is to control blood sugar levels through the release of glucose into the blood. Insulin resistance can lead to metabolic syndrome, which has been shown to increase the risk of heart attack among other things. And metabolic syndrome is the precursor to type II diabetes.

A number of studies have now revealed significant health differences between the consumption of glucose and fructose so let’s look at the differences.

Glucose
Glucose is the basis for all cellular energy. Since every cell in your body uses glucose, when you consume any glucose, your body utilizes it almost immediately. If you consume 120 calories of glucose, less than one calorie will be stored as fat because the rest essentially gets ‘burned up.’ Because it’s typically broken down in the cells, only a small amount of glucose will need to be broken down by the liver, the organ that performs carbohydrate metabolism and detoxification (among other roles.)

Fructose
As mentioned above, despite having the same molecular formula, fructose has a very different structure. As a result, they are metabolized very differently. Unlike glucose, which is metabolized in the body’s cells, fructose is metabolized completely by the liver just like ethanol — a known toxin — according to Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor at the University of California at San Francisco Medical School.

Metabolism in the liver also creates by products that pose health challenges, especially if the liver is working hard all day. Some of the by products include toxic waste and uric acid (which raises blood pressure and can lead to gout.)

Because our liver has so many important jobs, it can get overloaded and burn out; since  we cannot live without it, the less burden we place on our livers, the better. Given the choice between glucose and fructose, it’s definitely better for our bodies to consume glucose, which can be processed predominantly in the cells of the body, over fructose since fructose taxes our livers.

In addition, there are several connections between fructose and fat. Remember that when we consume 120 calories of glucose only one is stored as fat. But when we consume 120 calories of fructose, 40 of those calories will be stored as fat! When it is metabolized, fructose is turned into free fatty acids, VLDL (the bad cholesterol), and triglycerides, which are stored in the body as fat.

The fatty acids also form fat droplets, which can accumulate in your liver and skeletal muscle tissues. These fat deposits can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and result in insulin resistance. Fructose is a carbohydrate that is metabolized in the body like a fat so no wonder it impacts our weight and our health so dramatically.

Fructose is not inherently bad. It is commonly found in the fruits and vegetables we’ve eaten for thousands of years. If we consume small amounts from fruits and vegetables throughout the day as our ancestors did, we might derive about 15 grams of fructose from our daily diets. (I did read an interesting report recently that stated the way we grow fruit today has increased the amount of fructose it contains, which would add to the burden.)  But this fructose would also be consumed along with the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber contained in the fruits and vegetables, which would also help to balance out the sugar intake.

If we increase our fructose consumption exponentially, as we have in recent years, with current estimates that a typical teenager takes in 73 grams a day just in sweetened drinks alone, (and for you non-soda drinkers you’re not off the hook: sugar comes plentifully in sports drinks, processed fruit juices and flavored milks), it’s not hard to see how this could pose metabolic challenges to our bodies and impact cholesterol and heart health.

Too much sugar or processed foods will start us on a road toward diabetes or insulin resistance. While that can occur with all sugars, as we just saw, fructose has an even more damaging effect due to its impact on very small LDL and Triglycerides. While there are many reasons to avoid diabetes as it poses numerous health risks, one of its greatest impacts is on heart health.

According to Dr. Frederic Vagnini, “It is apparent to me in my practice, and it is becoming more and more documented in the scientific literature that individuals with any type of heart ailment, be it a heart attack, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, angioplasty or bypass surgery experience, hypertension, or hyperlipidemia, will be found upon examination to have elevated glucose levels—that is, diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Dr. Vagnini makes it clear that it’s not just the diagnosis of diabetes, but the simple effect of elevated glucose levels. When we have elevated glucose over time we experience what is known as pre-diabetes, and the damage begins to occur, Often it can take years to go from pre-diabetes to full diabetes diagnosis, but during that time, significant damage to our heart health is steadily occuring.

For people with diagnosed diabetes, heart attack and stroke are the leading cause of death; heart attacks in people with diabetes are more serious and more likely to result in death. But even without a diagnosis of diabetes, as Dr. Vagnini has observed, elevated glucose is present in people experiencing any type of heart ailment, which makes it important to take action long before your blood sugar reaches the 125 level that constitutes a diabetes diagnosis. (Many doctors say healthy blood sugar should be below 80. If you want to learn more, you can read my article “The Diabetes Myth” here.)

Dr. Vagnini concludes, “Years ago, cholesterol became a household word because of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on health education through the National Cholesterol Education Program of the Institutes of Medicine. Today glucose levels are just as important as cholesterol (hyperlipidemia) as a risk factor for heart disease; yet they are not given sufficient attention by medical practitioners.”

Maybe it’s time we start paying attention to the connection.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal. Learn more about Inger and receive her free bestselling ebook What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You.

Article Photo: courtesy of Stuart Miles | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Trans fats

Trans fats are made when a hydrogen atom is added to unsaturated fat. During this process, hydrogen gas bubbles through the oil while in the presence of a nickel catalyst. Originally just an interesting science experiment, the result became attractive to food manufacturers looking to increase profits. Trans fats don’t spoil as readily as other oils, they don’t break down when heated repeatedly, and they can turn a liquid oil into a solid, which makes transport easier and offers a cheaper substitute to solid animal fat.

The fast food industry saw appeal, with most every major chain finding a use: Dunkin donuts began to use them for frying donuts, McDonalds used them for frying its french fries. (They and most others have recently eliminated trans fats due to public pressure).  Margarine, is a trans fat the remains a supermarket staple which along with baked and snack goods benefited from an increasing concern over the use of butter and lard several decades ago and the desire to shift to a vegetable based product. But as trans fat consumption increased radically, researchers began to be concerned about its impact on health.

Awareness of the harm of trans fats began in the 1990s, though a study done in the UK as far back as 1981 raised some questions.  In 1993, Harvard concluded that the intake of partially hydrogenated oils increased the likelihood of a heart attack. That study suggested that replacing just 2% of energy from trans fats with healthy unsaturated fats could reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by a third.

In 1999, a joint study by Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital reported that  “at least 30,000 and as many as 100,000 cardiac deaths a year in the United States could be prevented if people replaced trans fats with healthier non hydrogenated” oils.  The New England Journal of Medicine reported that same year that trans fats are directly linked to the development of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

Today we know that trans fats increase LDL, the low-density lipoproteins, especially the smaller denser particles that we now know are more damaging to the arteries. (More on this soon.) At the same time, they reduce HDL, the high-density lipoproteins that are responsible for taking bad cholesterol and waste that needs to be returned to the liver for processing and disposal.  They also create inflammation, which has been shown to lead to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and many other chronic conditions. Trans fats have also been linked to obesity and insulin resistance as well as Alzheimer’s disease.

At one point, the FDA estimated 95% of prepared cookies, 100% of crackers and 80% of frozen breakfast products contained trans fats.  They have also said that the average American consumes 5.8 grams of trans fats a day. While some companies are shifting their manufacturing processes, the majority of foods still contain some amount of trans fat.  (It breaks my heart every year when the Girl Scouts come calling because I’d love to support their cause, but their cookies all include trans fats, so typically, I make a donation and tell them to keep the cookies.)

When you eat at bakeries, restaurants, schools and cafeterias there is no way to monitor trans fat presence, so there’s a good likelihood you are consuming them unless you are in a trans fat free zone. Trans fats do occur naturally in some meat and dairy products, so it’s hard to avoid them completely.

The American Heart Association recommends that no more than 1% of your calorie energy come from trans fats. If you eat a 2000 calorie a day diet, that is 20 calories, or less than 2 grams of trans fats a day. Given what you likely ingest through your daily meat and dairy consumption, you are most likely reaching or exceeding that amount through natural sources, leaving no room for ANY additional trans fat consumption.

Prior to 2006, when trans fats were finally required to be listed on labels, it was hard to tell which foods contained them. Now it’s a little easier, but you still cannot depend on full on truth in labeling with regard to trans fats. In fact, many products claim to be trans fat free while still containing trans fats. Portion sizes under .5g per serving do not require listing on labels. (In Canada, it’s .2g). So some manufacturers simply reduce portion sizes in order to meet the minimum requirements, but continue to process foods the same way.

Despite the common belief that they have been banned, the hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils still abound in the foods we eat. The only way to know for sure if to read the label and to look for partially hydrogenated oils on the ingredient list. Land O’ Lakes Margarine spread per tablespoon has 2.5 grams of trans fat (more than an entire day’s limit) It may surprise you where you find them; I found them in a jar of artichoke hearts!

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal. Learn more about Inger and receive her free bestselling ebook What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You.

Article Photo: courtesy of Grant Cochrane | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It soon became apparent that he was reading the product claims on the front labels and occasionally, the nutrition facts label, but not the list of ingredients. I challenged him to read the ingredient list on the foods in his cabinets.  We pulled out the first item handy, Progresso Bread Crumbs, and I showed him the high fructose corn syrup and trans fats in the ingredient list.

We discovered 95% of the food in his house contained at least one, sometimes two or even all three, of the most harmful food additives: high fructose corn syrup, trans fats and MSG. It was a challenge to find anything in a box, bag, plastic bottle or jar that did not have one of these unhealthy additives, even product labeled as “natural.”

Eating whole unprocessed foods is best, so I always recommend you stick to the outside aisles of the supermarket and avoid packaged and processed food.  But for many of us, it is simply not possible to avoid all processed foods completely. When you must buy prepared foods, how can you make the best choices?

While it’s easy to believe food manufacturers’ marketing claims, the only way to know if you’re making good food choices and know exactly what you are really eating is to read the ingredient list. Avoiding harmful additives could add years to your life.

Trans Fats or Partially Hydrogenated Oil

New York City made headlines when it banned all trans fats from foods. California then became the first state to do so.  Many European countries have done the same, or passed legislation for future elimination. What is it about trans fats that is so concerning? What led the National Academy of Science to say there is no safe level of trans fat consumption and to call for a full ban of its use at the city, state and country level?

Trans fats are made when a hydrogen atom is added to unsaturated fat. During this process, hydrogen gas bubbles through the oil in the presence of a nickel catalyst. Originally just an interesting science experiment, the result became attractive to food manufacturers looking to increase profits. Trans fats don’t spoil as readily as other oils, they don’t break down when heated repeatedly, and they can turn a liquid oil into a solid, which makes transport easier, and offers a cheaper substitute to solid animal fat.

The fast food industry saw the appeal, and almost every major chain found a use: Dunkin Donuts used them to fry donuts and McDonald’s used them to fry its french fries. (They and most others have recently eliminated trans fats due to public pressure).  Margarine, baked and snack goods sales benefited from increasing concern over the use of butter and lard several decades ago before healthy fats were fully understood and there was a desire to shift to a vegetable-based oil product. But as trans fat consumption increased radically, researchers grew concerned about its effect on health.

Awareness of the harm of trans fats began in the 1990s, though a study done in the U.K. as far back as 1981 raised some questions.  In 1993, Harvard concluded that the intake of partially hydrogenated oils increased the likelihood of a heart attack. That study suggested that replacing just 2% of energy from trans fats with healthy unsaturated fats could reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by a third.

In 1999, a joint study by Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital reported that  “at least 30,000 and as many as 100,000 cardiac deaths a year in the United States could be prevented if people replaced trans fats with healthier non-hydrogenated” oils.  The New England Journal of Medicine reported that same year that trans fats are directly linked to the development of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Today we know that trans fats increase LDL, the low-density lipoproteins, especially the smaller denser particles that we now know are more damaging to the arteries. At the same time, they reduce HDL, the high-density lipoproteins that are responsible for taking bad cholesterol and waste that needs to be returned to the liver for processing and disposal. (For more detail, see the chapter on cholesterol.) They also create inflammation, which has been shown to lead to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and many other chronic conditions. Trans fats have also been linked to obesity and insulin resistance as well as Alzheimer’s disease.

At one point, the FDA estimated 95% of prepared cookies, 100% of crackers and 80% of frozen breakfast products contained trans fats.  They have also said that the average American consumes 5.8 grams of trans fats a day. While some companies are shifting their manufacturing processes, the majority of foods still contain some amount of trans fat.  (It breaks my heart every year when the Girl Scouts come calling because I’d love to support their cause, but their cookies all include trans fats, so typically, I make a donation and tell them to keep the cookies.)

When you eat at bakeries, restaurants, schools and cafeterias there is no way to monitor trans fat presence, so it’s likely that you’re consuming them. Trans fats do occur naturally in some meat and dairy products, so it’s hard to avoid them completely.

The American Heart Association recommends that no more than 1% of your calorie energy come from trans fats. If you eat a 2,000 calorie a day diet, that is 20 calories, or less than two grams of trans fats a day. Given what you likely ingest through your daily meat and dairy consumption, you are most likely reaching or exceeding that amount through natural sources.

Prior to 2006, when it was required to list trans fats on labels, it was hard to tell which foods contained them. Now it’s a little easier, but you still cannot depend on truth in labeling with regard to trans fats. In fact, many products claim to be trans fat free while still containing trans fats. Portion sizes under .5g per serving do not require listing on labels. (In Canada, it’s .2g.) So some manufacturers simply reduce portion sizes in order to meet the minimum requirements, but continue to process foods the same way.

The only way to know for sure is to read the label and to look for partially hydrogenated oils on the ingredient list.  Despite the fact that the FDA has banned them saying they are unsafe, they remain in many foods today. It may surprise you where you find them: in addition to the obvious breads, cookies and crackers, I found them in a jar of marinated artichoke hearts!

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

Almost everyone knows they should avoid MSG, so food manufacturers have gotten smart about hiding it. But it astounds me how many times I see it listed openly as monosodium glutamate in the ingredient list of a common kitchen staple.  It’s in so many foods because it’s a flavor enhancer that leads you to want to eat more, and which is exactly what food manufacturers want.

MSG is a neurotoxin that excites the brain. In addition to being toxic, it’s addictive. It can cause brain damage, lead to behavior disorders, learning disabilities, endocrine and reproductive disorders and neurodegenerative disease. It has been shown to lead to obesity regardless of caloric intake; it acts on the pancreas to secrete insulin and stimulate hunger, and if you are taking calcium blockers for high blood pressure, MSG acts as a calcium channel opener, counteracting that medication.

It’s in soups, salad dressings and dips, Hamburger Helper, frozen foods, prepared noodles and potato chips, it’s the secret ingredient at many big name fast food and chain restaurants, and it’s sold as the flavor-enhancing product, Accent. It’s not just a Chinese restaurant concern, though it gained attention after many people sensitive to its effects came down with headaches, dizziness and chest pains after eating it in Chinese food.

Glutamic acids are amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) commonly found in foods such as tomatoes, milk and mushrooms. They are also found in our cells and function as a neurotransmitter involved in a variety of brain functions. When we eat these foods, we break down the natural or sometimes called “bound” glutamic acid and it is delivered to receptors in our brain and body. It’s not harmful and in fact performs a valuable function.

But when glutamic acid is made in a factory, the “bound” glutamic acid in corn, molasses, beets or wheat is broken down by one of several processes: It is hydrolyzed, autolyzed, modified or fermented using powerful chemicals or specially engineered bacterias. (Most of the world’s production is made using bacterial fermentation, often with genetically engineered bacterias, but autolyzed and hydrolyzed processes are rampant in food products as well.)

It then becomes refined into a sugar-like white crystal form that is 78.2% glutamate, 12.2% sodium and 9.6% water. Anything 78%-79% processed free glutamic acid (MSG) will be listed as monosodium glutamate on the label. Other MSG-containing ingredients are listed in their technical form such as hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts and protein isolate. Labels reveal that these forms are pervasive in the vast majority of foods we buy and eat.

So what’s the difference between the naturally occurring monosodium glutamate and the processed form?

Unprocessed glutamic acid is L-glutamic acid. When the processed version is created in factories, it is both L-glutamic acid and D-glutamic acid, along with pyroglutamic acid and a number of impurities. Several of the impurities such as mono and dichloro propanols and heterocyclic amines are carcinogenic. But even more importantly, our bodies are made to process and utilize naturally occurring L-glutamic acid, not the created D-glutamic acid that results from factory processing.

The FDA considers MSG to be naturally occurring since the basic ingredient is found in nature. But naturally occurring doesn’t mean safe. Arsenic is naturally occurring but you wouldn’t want to eat it. The factory version of MSG causes sensitivities and toxicity in people, as our bodies have never had to process this form before. Look out for all forms of monosodium glutamate including autolyzed or hydrolyzed yeast, yeast or soy extract and protein isolate on your ingredient lists and avoid them all.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

Because we already talked about HFCS in The Truth About Sugar article, I’ll keep this summary brief.

Research has shown that fructose inhibits our leptin signaling and directly leads to obesity, type-2 diabetes and a myriad of other conditions including heart disease. It alters our sweetness set points and interferes with satiety signals, leading us to eat more. We need to minimize fructose in our diets because fructose cannot be metabolized by the cells and must be metabolized by the liver; excess fructose consumption taxes our liver.

But high fructose corn syrup is not only a harmful form of fructose; it often contains mercury, it’s made from corn syrup that is derived from genetically modified corn, and it adds to the overload of corn already rampant in our diets as corn has shifted from a vegetable into a grain.

High fructose corn syrup is commonly found in bread and bread products, ketchup, tomato and spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, jelly, salad dressing, crackers and cookies and myriad other items including seafood cocktail sauce, barbecue sauce, sweet pickles or relish … just about everything!

When I had dinner with my friend, he wanted to make a special turkey burger recipe for me. Searching for bread without high fructose corn syrup can be quite a challenge in many traditional grocery stores. On a recent trip, I found only one offering out of 28 breads that was made without it. But finding high fructose corn syrup -free bread products such as hamburger buns and hotdog rolls is almost impossible at a traditional grocery store.

It takes a trip to the organic section of my local grocery store (I am fortunate to have access to Hannaford, which has a great selection); Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s to find products made without high fructose corn syrup. If your regular grocery store doesn’t carry non-high fructose corn syrup options, ask that they do. Or go without the bun.

Most of us consume large amounts of these three unhealthy food additives without knowing it. While we can’t control what’s in the food we eat in a restaurant or cafeteria, we can control what we cook at home. Once you start reading food labels, you’ll be surprised what’s actually in the products you’re buying. The good news is that there are healthy versions of every product out there that still taste great, if you take the time to look for them.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal at www.IngerPols.com

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art

Going vegetarian has only become possible as a healthy lifestyle choice very recently.  In fact, there has never been a successful vegetarian society on record: every culture, tribe, or race has eaten some form of animal protein, whether it is game, fish, or insects. That’s because there are certain nutritional components such as vitamin B12 and essential fatty acids that our bodies require in order to function and until recently, these could not be acquired in supplement form.

Now it is possible to access these nutrients through pills, though research suggests that they may not be absorbed or applied as effectively as if we took them in directly from nature. Some choose the vegetarian lifestyle because they believe it’s healthier: they say it makes them feel better or have more energy — and it is certainly preferable in that regard to consuming processed food and empty calories. (We’ll talk more about the health benefits and risks shortly.)

Others make the choice as a means of affecting change or voicing discontent with today’s food practices, though many food insiders suggest that trying to change the system by removing your money from it is not the most effective strategy. Instead, they argue that more powerful change can be made by supporting sustainable and humane food practices like raising grass-fed beef, producing raw milk and giving your money to local family farms.

Almost every health guru is telling us to eat mostly plants these days and eating 50% of our calories from vegetables or having 9-13 servings of vegetables a day is becoming increasingly common as an eating goal, whether you are vegetarian or not. But there are key health differences and implications between eating ‘mostly’ plants and eating ‘only’ plants. Regardless of the reason you or your loved one chooses a vegetarian diet, there are some important health factors you need to take into consideration to ensure you thrive — and survive — on your plant-based plan.

Vegetarians and Cholesterol
Many vegetarians I know are confounded by the fact that they have high cholesterol, convincing themselves that it must be genetic. While the first thing I would say is that many studies show that people with high cholesterol live longer than people with low cholesterol and 75% of those who suffer heart attacks have “normal” cholesterol so don’t stress yet, they can’t figure out why and they are afraid that they are at heart health risk.

(Cholesterol tests are not an accurate reflection of your heart health risk; if you want to know what actually does predict your heart health risk, you’ll want to read my article on the one test your doctor isn’t doing.)

What they don’t realize is that we need cholesterol; it plays several absolutely essential roles in a healthy functional body. While a popular advertisement suggests that we run on coffee drinks, in truth, our bodies run on cholesterol. Cholesterol keeps cell membranes from falling apart and plays an integral part in cellular repair. It builds brain and nerve tissue, supports the immune system, and maintains neurotransmitter and brain function.

Cholesterol is also a vital pre-cursor to many major hormones including testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Cholesterol helps regulate mood, is required for synthesis of vitamin D and helps us digest fat-soluble vitamins such as A,D,E and K. We could not live without cholesterol!

The body manufactures about 75% of the cholesterol it needs; the rest we must take in from foods. Without adequate dietary cholesterol, the body may divert cholesterol to where it is needed most: cellular repair and healthy function in key areas, especially the brain. When this happens, there may not be enough left for use in hormone synthesis, which can cause hormonal imbalance or other concerns.

This is why some people (especially but not limited to women going through perimenopause) who do not eat enough cholesterol may experience more severe hormonal reactions and symptoms.

In fact, the body has a built-in mechanism to increase its cholesterol production to override a severe shortage. When cholesterol is not being consumed in appropriate levels, the liver will step in and actually overproduce cholesterol. If you were to be tested at that time, your cholesterol levels could be considered high, even though you would actually be cholesterol deficient.

If you don’t eat much cholesterol, or you’re on a low-fat diet, that could be the case for you. (But hopefully you know by now that low fat is NOT the answer – not for health or for weight loss.)

We have to eat cholesterol or our bodies will produce it for us. Eating foods high in cholesterol won’t raise your cholesterol. That’s because if you eat cholesterol, your body will just produce less: it’s one of life’s perfect balancing mechanisms. While we can make up to 75% and we need to eat the rest to survive,  if we eat more than 25%, the body just produces less and brings us back into alignment naturally.

We can get the cholesterol we need by eating a typical diet including meat and/or fish. If you are vegetarian you can get cholesterol from egg yolks (one of nature’s super foods), butter, cream or cheese. The problem arises for vegans as plants only contain trace amounts and not nearly the level needed to support healthy brain and cell function.

While plant products such as flax seeds and peanuts contain phytosterols, which are cholesterol-like compounds, research suggests that these compounds actually compete with cholesterol for absorption in the intestines. This poses a health challenge for vegans as there is no adequate non-animal source of cholesterol; flax is the next best alternative. Vegans will have to use all their available cholesterol for cell and brain function and there may not be enough left over for hormonal balance and other functions.

Before we leave cholesterol, there are three foods that actually WILL raise your cholesterol. If you think you eat healthy and yet your cholesterol levels are high, you likely have inflammation and sending in cholesterol is the body’s way of dealing with that. (If you want to learn more about the three foods that will raise your cholesterol and cause health problems, you can read my article on three foods that raise your cholesterol here.)

Vegetarians and Homocysteine
One marker that unlike cholesterol has been directly linked heart health is high homocysteine levels. High homocysteine is a reliable risk factor for heart attack, stroke, diabetes, cancer, neurological conditions such as Alzheimer and Parkinson’s, thyroid concerns, infertility, depression, digestive disorders and chronic pain.

High levels of homocysteine impact your body in a number of harmful ways including accelerating aging and depressing your immune system but it’s rarely tested for because it’s expensive and there isn’t a prescription available to treat it.

Studies have shown that many vegans and vegetarians have high homocysteine levels. One study showed vegans to have 50% higher homocysteine levels and vegetarians to have 30% higher homocysteine levels than their omnivore counterparts. This is because their bodies lack the B12 required for conversion processes that must occur since B12 is typically found in animal protein.

Vegetarians were found to have 37% less (and vegans 59% less) B12 than the omnivore group, enough to constitute clinical deficiency in 78% of the vegans and 26% of the vegetarians. The study also showed that people eating vegan and vegetarian diets lacked the essential amino acid methionine because the levels in plants are lower than those found in meat. Vegetarians and especially vegans need to look to add B12 to their diets through injections, sublingual (under tongue) or spray B12 supplements.

(To learn more about what homocysteine is, how it works, the conversion process mentioned briefly above and why homocysteine is so important, see my article on homocysteine.)

Vegetarians and Depression
A recent study showed that vegetarians were more likely to face anxiety, depression or mental disorders than the general population. When they adjusted for age,  gender and education, within comparable groups they saw a 2 to 3 fold increase in incidence rates.

We already learned that cholesterol runs the brain and regulates your mood, so a shortage will have an impact on brain function. In addition we learned of the important of cholesterol in hormonal balance. If your hormones are out of whack, mood swings and depression can occur.

We also know that omega 3 essential fatty acids are critical to brain function and balance. Many studies have shown improvements in mood through omega 3 supplementation. Because these fatty acids are essential, our bodies cannot make them; we must eat them. Fish oil capsules are a great way to get the required dose, but for vegetarians and vegans, it is much harder.

There are 3 essential fatty acids: ALA, EPA, and DHA. The challenge to vegetarians is that you cannot get EPA or DHA from plants. (An algae-based DHA product is now  available but there are questions as to whether or not it is absorbed or utilized fully effectively, though something is always better than nothing!) ALA can be ingested from plant sources such as flaxseed, chia and hemp. While these seeds offer the greatest concentrations, they each pose another challenge. Hemp is not always easy to acquire or work with.

Flaxseed competes with cholesterol receptor sites and needs to be ground in order to be digested. While best fresh, flax seeds can be ground in advance and stored in the freezer, but there is some evidence that after age 45, we don’t absorb the oil by-product as well. Purchasing flaxseed oil is an option but it cannot be heated or it will damage the ALA and drinking it straight can be a challenge.

Lastly chia seeds have an omega 6-3 ratio of 3-1. We need to be eating omega 3 and omega 6 oils in a ratio of 1:1. In todays world, that ratio can sometimes be off by 1-20 or even 1-50 with all the omega 6 oils and oil products we consume. So while chia can help, it also adds to the omega 6-3 imbalance burden (though again, for some vegetarians, this may well be necessary and worthwhile.)

You can also get ALA from walnuts and pumpkin seeds, though in much smaller doses. Soy and canola also contain small amounts of ALA, but given the negative health impacts, they are best avoided.

Even if you eat enough ALA, the then body has to convert it to EPA and DHA. If you eat enough and you are very healthy, that may work fine. But some people will struggle converting ALA efficiently and if you have other issues going on that impact your ability to convert effectively, your body — and your brain — will be affected because it will not be able to convert enough to keep you healthy and mentally strong.

To learn more, you can read about my article on omega 3s.

Vegetarians and Soy
I am working on a full article on soy, coming soon. But for now I just want to mention soy briefly here because many vegetarians use soy as a protein alternative. Fermented soy foods such as miso, tempeh, natto, and traditionally fermented soy sauce have long been a nutritional staple in many cultures and they offer tremendous health benefits.

However, unfermented soy is no longer grown or processed in a way that affords us health benefits. Soy is an endocrine disruptor, which we discussed in the prostate and breast health article. It takes up the estrogen receptor sites, blocking estrogen from getting into cells and leaving it circulating throughout the blood stream. This excess estrogen can lead to hormonal imbalance, development of breasts in boys and men, and prostate and breast cancer concerns as well as thyroid problems, to name but a few of its many health concerns.

Soy milk, soy cheese, tofu, soybean oil, and many commercial artificially created soy sauce varieties are not health foods but rather pose health risks; they should be minimized.  If you’re looking to use soy, stick with fermented soy products.

Vegetarians and Diabetes
Contrary to what we might think of living a healthy plant lifestyle, vegetarians actually struggle with diabetes. The largely vegetarian country of India now faces the highest incidence level in the world and it is continually rising. That’s because in India, as the middle and upper classes have emerged, sedentary jobs are on the rise and Western food habits have invaded. Long known to be lovers of sweets, Indians love the sugar that is now plentiful, as well as the fried and processed foods we eat in the West, which may be vegetable-based but are no less healthy.

While some people lose weight on a vegetarian diet, others gain weight as they seek to satiate themselves with bread and pasta and empty carbohydrates that covert quickly into sugar. They also tend to gain weight in the more dangerous place, the abdomen.  They may lack enough healthy fat in their diets and so their bodies seek to store more.

It’s important to combine healthy fat and protein with vegetables so vegetarians need to look for good fat sources such as olive and flaxseed oils, avocados, and coconut oil and be sure they are getting adequate protein from other sources such as quinoa. (For more information on diabetes and why food combining is so important, see my article on The Diabetes Myth.)

Some people thrive on a vegetarian diet: they look good and they feel good. Others grow very thin, frail and weak: when you see them they look pale and move slowly. I read a study awhile back that stated that only about one-third of the population could be successful on a vegetarian diet.  That study assumed that you aggressively supplemented for missing nutrients and ate all the varied nuts, seeds, legumes and other foods needed to round out a balanced nutritional profile.

Taking all of that into account, they found that still only about a third of us could be healthy on a vegetarian diet. So if you have chosen a vegetarian lifestyle for any reason, you need to pay close attention to your body and listen to what those close to you see and share with you. I cannot tell you how many former vegetarians have told me their lives changed the day they went back to eating small amounts of animal protein. That may not be you but I have personally observed strong healthy adults turn into overweight or abnormally thin versions of their former selves on vegetarian diets.

I’ve tried to go vegetarian and for me, I did not thrive. But it works for many people I know. Just not all.  If you look and feel great and you are able to procure all the micronutrients that you need, then you may be among the third of the population who will do fine on a vegetarian diet. But be wary of persuading your family, friends or co-workers to join you because what works for you may well not work for them (especially children).

If you begin to see your body shift over time that you don’t like, or if you’re not willing to devote the time and energy it takes to plan your diet thoroughly, then you may want to consider making some changes that will enable you to support your morality along with your health.

Whether you go vegetarian or not, we can all benefit from more a more plant-centric diet and from avoiding processed foods. That’s common ground we can all agree on!

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal. Learn more about Inger and receive her free bestselling ebook What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You.

Article Photo: courtesy of Apolonia | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When you eat more cholesterol in your diet, the body simply adjusts its cholesterol production downward to compensate. Research confirms that eating cholesterol-rich foods does not increase your cholesterol levels; the body is an adaptive, reactive mechanism which responds to changing conditions and balances appropriately.

(There are foods that will raise your cholesterol in an unhealthy way and we’ll talk about that later.)

We need cholesterol because it keeps cell membranes from falling apart and plays an integral part in cellular repair. It builds brain and nerve tissue, supports the immune system, and maintains neurotransmitter and brain function.

Cholesterol is also a vital pre-cursor to many major hormones including testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Cholesterol helps regulate mood, is required for synthesis of vitamin D and helps us digest fat-soluble vitamins such as A,D,E and K. We could not live without cholesterol!

If you don’t eat cholesterol, your body will go into crisis mode and start making the extra cholesterol it needs to survive and thrive. When you are tested, your cholesterol will be high, even though you are actually cholesterol deficient.

Let’s take a quick look briefly at the body’s inflammatory process to better understand what cholesterol does. Bear with me while we talk a little science.

When you cut yourself, the damaged tissue releases chemicals to start the inflammation process. Blood vessels constrict to slow down bleeding, blood thickens so it can clot and cells multiply to repair damage and facilitate healing while the immune system calls on cells and chemicals to protect against viruses and bacteria from attacking the cut.

This is very similar to what occurs within the arteries. As damage occurs from oxidizing fats and nutrient imbalances, chemicals are released to begin the inflammatory process. Arteries constrict, blood begins to clot, the immune system sends help, and nearby cells are told to multiply. As this process occurs over and over again in the artery lining, scars called plaque form. Over time, blood thickening and artery constriction combine to make a heart attack or high blood pressure more likely.

So remember the first step after trauma: chemicals are released to begin inflammation and start the healing process. Enter cholesterol, whose primary function is cell repair. Cholesterol is sent to help repair the damaged tissue in the artery linings and elsewhere: it is actually helping your body heal and keep you alive!

Now if the inflammatory process is occurring repeatedly, cholesterol is continually being manufactured or recycled in order to facilitate the healing process. When tested, your cholesterol levels will seem high.

But your body needs that cholesterol to heal, and your body is manufacturing the exact level of cholesterol it needs for brain and cell function along with that healing.

What effect do you think forcing cholesterol levels down artificially with a drug like a statin would have on the body? And if eating cholesterol-rich foods doesn’t increase your cholesterol levels, what does?

We just learned that cholesterol steps in to help cells heal, it is released upon infection or inflammation. It is also a precursor for stress hormones.

Whenever you the body is fighting an infection, whether it is an environmental allergy like pollen, a food allergy like gluten, or a bacterial or viral infection, you will find high cholesterol levels. If the body is under stress, cholesterol, which is needed to make stress hormones like cortisol, will be high. If the stress is short-lived, cholesterol will later drop: if you live a life of constant stress, you will see chronic low-grade inflammation, and consistently higher cholesterol levels as well.

Take the cholesterol away and leave the other concerns like infections and bad food choices and your body’s ability to heal is compromised. Take the cholesterol away but leave the stress triggers and you interfere with the body’s ability produce stress hormones, which can lead to serious health concerns.

Cholesterol is actually protective in these cases and higher levels are actually beneficial to the body’s health and well-being. We’ll cover this further in a future article, but I want to help you begin to see (because I realize this is a whole new way of thinking about cholesterol and understanding its role in your body for most people so it may take some time to really register) that cholesterol and yes sometimes high levels cholesterol levels are not only necessary, they can actually be beneficial.

Several studies have shown that people with high cholesterol actually live longer than people with low cholesterol. And 75% of people hospitalized for a heart attack had “normal” cholesterol. Perhaps you can begin to see why high cholesterol may not be a bad thing, especially since it hasn’t been directly linked to heart attacks or strokes.

As we saw when we looked at the inflammatory process in the body, cholesterol is  present whenever there is inflammation in the body. The inflammation that occurs from a stressful moment, and infection or an allergy is part of the body’s natural healing process occurring as nature intends it and that’s a good thing.

Sometimes, however, there is inflammation that occurs that is not necessary or desirable; it is self-induced from food choices that are not natural for our bodies. In today’s world, we bombard our body with artificial chemicals and nutrient imbalances that the body never had to deal with before. And we do it over and over and over, each and every day.

Eating cholesterol rich foods doesn’t raise cholesterol. But there are some foods that do. And that is a topic for another article you can read for free at www.nehealthadvisory.com

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal. Learn more about Inger and receive her free bestselling ebook What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You.

Article Photo: courtesy of Stuart Miles | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When she told me the article was about homocysteine, I knew she had read that high levels of homocysteine in the blood are reliable risk factors for heart attack, stroke, diabetes, cancer, neurological conditions such as Alzheiner’s and Parkinson’s, thyroid concerns, infertility, depression, digestive disorders and chronic pain.

High levels of homocysteine impact your body in a number of harmful ways including accelerating aging and depressing your immune system so I could see why it caught her attention, even though many of us know little if anything about it. And I also understood why she had not been tested, as most doctors do not test for homocysteine levels for several reasons.

Bear with me for a moment while we go into some science and let’s look at what homocysteine is and why it matters.

Homocysteine is an intermediary amino acid. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and those proteins control virtually all cellular process as well as catalyze most reactions in living cells. There are 20 essential amino acids that the body requires to function: 10 of which the body can make, and 10 of which must come from our diets.

Homocysteine is not one of those essential 20, but rather it is made from another amino acid called methionine, which is one of the essential amino acids we must get from food.

We get methionine from protein-rich foods such as fish and eggs and sunflower seeds.

During what’s called the methionine cycle, methionine is converted to a substance known as S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe). SAMe performs an important function in its ability to donate methyl groups as needed during chemical processes throughout the body. When SAMe donates its methyl group, homocysteine is synthesized. Scientists would say the SAMe has been methylated which means it has lost a methyl group. This is important because the methylation process regulates gene expression, protein function and RNA metabolism.

All homocysteine in the body is created during this methionine cycle and most of it ends up bound to plasma and stored. But it can be released into the bloodstream when there are changes in the body’s biochemistry that are not ideal, so high levels of homocysteine are linked to a variety of specific health problems.

Once homocysteine is released in the blood, one of two things can happen to metabolize it. First, it can be remethylated back into methionine. This process requires folic acid (folate), vitamin B12, vitamin B2, zinc, magnesium and TMG (or trimethylglycine) from choline. Most of the body’s homocysteine goes this route, known as the remethylation pathway, which creates more SAMe to support further healthy methylation..

The other possible option for the homocysteine is that it can be utilized to create cysteine which is then converted into glutathione, a powerful antioxidant. When the body is under oxidative stress, this conversion process, known as the transsulfuration pathway because it produces sulfate byproducts, can be accelerated. The sulfate products are normally flushed from the body through urination. This pathway requires B6, B2, and zinc for proper function.

Both SAMe and glutathione benefit the body in important ways (glutathione is an anti-aging, antioxidant, detoxifying agent and SAMe has been shown to effectively treat depression, osteoarthritis, and liver disease and it affects our cells’ ability to grow and function properly) so we want our bodies to be able to convert homocysteine efficiently. When the conversion process goes awry, homocysteine levels will increase.

High homocysteine levels have been shown to increase free radical oxidation in the body, and the damage that goes along with them. This can accelerate aging. High homocysteine levels can also damage artery walls in one of several ways: it can contribute to atherosclerosis, or thickening of the artery walls; it can increase the likelihood of your blood clotting, potentially leading to a stroke; and it can lower the nitric oxide in your blood. Nitric oxide plays a critical role in healthy and flexible artery wall maintenance.

High homocysteine levels also impact your immune system, since weakened conversion processes to glutathione means less glutathione will be present and less antioxidant protection will be available to the body.  And high homocysteine levels promote higher levels of two chemicals the body uses to promote inflammation, arachidoic acid and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). As we learned in the cholesterol article, inflammation is a necessary and healthy part of our normal body function. But chronic inflammation can cause permanent damage to systems and tissues such as nerves, joints, and arteries and can also result in chronic pain.

Because of the inflammatory concern and the impact on antioxidation, some argue homocysteine is a marker for a higher risk of most every chronic condition, including cancer. At a minimum, when homocysteine levels are high, we know that something is wrong inside the body and some important process is not functioning as it should. If homocysteine is such an important indicator, why aren’t we hearing more about it?

There are a number of reasons. First, the test is relatively expensive and is rarely covered by insurance. As a result, it’s not readily available. Another reason is that there are currently no patented drugs for lowering homocysteine levels, so pharmaceutical companies have no interested in contributing to the marketing, which is how most medical conditions gain attention in today’s world. Another reason not to test would be that some doctors might not know what to tell their patients if the test came back high; without a drug to prescribe the only answer would be to change your diet, something not every physician is comfortable tackling in a brief office visit.

If your doctor decides to test you, which typically only occurs with cardiologists working with high risk heart patients, you’ll want to see a score of below 8.9 units. (obviously, the lower, the better). In between 9 and 19.9 units, your risk will increase from significant to extremely high, in correlation with the increase, of dying a premature death from a chronic condition or degenerative disease. Over 20 units, you’re at risk of heart attack or stroke, right now.

Whether you are tested or not, if you would like to improve your homocysteine levels, the prescription is clear: change your diet and your lifestyle. Eat mainly healthy fats and oils like omega 3s and avoid bad fats like trans fats. Increase your consumption of vegetables: shoot for half of your calories from vegetables, especially dark leafy green ones! Make sure your protein sources are high quality ones like organic eggs, wild fish, legumes, and small amounts of nuts and seeds.

Look to ensure your diet is rich with folate, vitamins B12, B6, B2, zinc and magnesium. (If you eat as above, it should be. If not supplement with a whole food supplement.) A greens superfood powder or pill may also be helpful if you find your diet lacking. And reduce stress, a known pro-inflammatory.

A special note to vegetarians and vegans: while generally it is stated that high homocysteine levels result from a diet too heavy in meat and too light in vegetables, studies have actually shown that many vegans and vegetarians have high homocysteine levels. One study showed vegans to have 50% higher homocysteine levels and vegetarians to have 30% higher homocysteine levels than their omnivore counterparts. This is because their bodies lack the B12 required for the conversion processes. (B12 is typically found in animal protein.)

Vegetarians were found to have 37% less (and vegans 59% less) B12 than the omnivore group, enough to constitute clinical deficiency in 78% of the vegans and 26% of the vegetarians. The study also showed that people eating vegan and vegetarian diets lacked the essential amino acid methionine because the levels in plants are lower than those found in meat. Vegetarians  and especially vegans need to look to add B12 to their diets through injections, sublingual (under tongue) or spray B12 supplements.

Homocysteine may not yet be fully understood, but its importance is definitely being recognized. If you are a high risk for heart concerns, you may want to push for a homocysteine test. But because the prescription will be to change your diet, you may want to consider making some of those changes, whether you are tested or not.
To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal. Learn more about Inger and receive her free bestselling ebook What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You.

Article Photo: courtesy of KROMKRATHOG | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In this article, I’d like to share with you why why LDL cholesterol is not ‘bad’ and why having your good LDL numbers doesn’t mean you are safe from a heart attack or stroke. Cholesterol levels are not a good predictor of your heart health and in this article, you will begin to see why 75% of hospitalized heart attack victims have ‘normal’ cholesterol and learn about a test that can save your life.

Let’s look at what cholesterol is and how it works and find out why Total Cholesterol and LDL cholesterol numbers will NOT reflect your true heart health risk.

Our cells need fat and cholesterol to function, but fat and cholesterol can’t readily travel through the blood. So the body combines them with protein-covered particles called lipoproteins. Lipoproteins can carry a good amount of fat and travel easily through the blood. There are three types of these particles that are particularly important: low-density lipoproteins (LDL), high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and triglycerides.

Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL)

LDL is responsible for taking the cholesterol from the liver to the body’s cells. Once the lipoprotein reaches the cell, the cell attaches to it and extracts the fat and cholesterol it needs.

High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL)

HDL then takes over and plays clean up, collecting cholesterol from the bloodstream, LDL and artery walls, and transporting it back to the liver to be recycled, an equally important role in healthy cholesterol function.

Triglycerides

Triglycerides are a type of lipid that is stored in your fat cells. Whenever you eat any extra calories that aren’t needed, they are converted into triglycerides, It’s easy to see how eating excess calories, especially from nutritionally devoid foods, will be reflected in your higher triglyceride levels. If you need energy between meals, hormones will release them to be burned as fuel as needed. (If that hunger period never arrives because you’re eating constantly that process won’t occur and they will remain awaiting their need.)

Triglycerides are an important part of healthy body function; you can’t live without them. But like most things, it’s about balance; in excess, triglycerides can cause problems. If your triglycerides are high, you typically have a lot of fat in your bloodstream, which means you are either making too much or are not burning it through exercise.

We need all three of these transporters in our bodies in order to function. Scientists have argued that HDL was good, and LDL and Triglycerides were bad: that excessive amounts are problematic and cause heart attacks. We’re going to dig into all of that more deeply in just a moment.

But first, I want to get something out of the way and talk briefly about total cholesterol numbers.  I can’t tell you how many people swear by their total cholesterol number. But total cholesterol is no more than a simple formula: HDL + LDL + Triglycerides. Even if you ascribe to the conventional wisdom that HDL is good and LDL is bad, which we are going to clarify  shortly, looking at total numbers still makes no sense.

If LDL and Triglycerides, the supposed bad guys, stay the same and HDL, the good guy, goes up, then total cholesterol will increase by default. If raising HDL is good for you, which we’ll confirm soon, then closer analysis reveals that the individual is actually better off than before, but yet their total cholesterol number has just gone higher and possibly even moved into a ‘borderline high’ or‘high’ range. This makes no sense whatsoever! You’ve now seen this from a formula standpoint, but next you will see why this is even more important when you understand more about how the cholesterol lipoproteins really work.

We discussed previously that all three components are essential for health. Unfortunately, LDL cholesterol has gotten a bad rap. It has been argued that when there is too much LDL, particles can be deposited in the walls of the arteries of the heart, and elsewhere, limiting blood flow. These deposits, known as plaque, can break apart and cause a heart attack or stroke. Because of this theory, LDL has been called the “bad” cholesterol.

The truth is, there is no good and bad cholesterol. There is only one cholesterol: LDL and HDL are lipoprotein cholesterol carriers and they are both equally necessary for survival and wellness.

While LDL has been labeled bad because it can lead to plaque development, we now know that there are multiple types of LDL. In fact, if you wanted to create labels, you can argue that there is good LDL and bad LDL. Research has shown that LDL particles come in different sizes and that large LDL particles cause no problem.

The small, dense LDL particles, the smallest of which are called very low density lipoproteins, or VLDLs, are troublesome for several reasons. They are tiny enough to squeeze through the lining of the arteries where they can oxidize, or turn rancid, which will cause inflammation. This will begin the process that can ultimately lead to the development of plaque.

If you are concerned about heart health, you absolutely must have your LDL particle number and size tested. Having that information is essential to assessing your heart health. You can have very high LDL cholesterol and be at no risk for a heart incident whatsoever or you can have absolutely ‘normal’ LDL cholesterol and be one of the 75% hospitalized for a heart attack who had ‘normal’ cholesterol at the time of their heart attack.

Simply knowing your LDL number is not helpful and will not reveal your true heart health risk. As Dr. Mark Hyman, President of the Institute for Functional Medicine put it,

“Newer tests look at not only the total amount of cholesterol, but the actual size of the cholesterol particles as well as the total number of cholesterol particles. In my view, this is the only test for cholesterol that should be performed. Using older versions of cholesterol testing leads to practicing medicine with blinders on. It is outdated misleading, and often leads to harmful prescriptions for medications when not indicated, It can also provide a false sense of security when your cholesterol numbers are normal but the type of cholesterol you have is the small dangerous kind.

Studies have found that people with cholesterol level of 300 g/dl but have very large cholesterol particles have very little risk of cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, people with “normal” cholesterol level such as 150 mg/dl but very small and numerous LDL and HDL cholesterol particles have an extremely high risk of heart disease.”

I cover this in great detail in a forthcoming article series on cholesterol and heart health. If you are interested in heart health, you’ll want to ensure you receive the whole series by joining the New England Health Advisory community. It’s free to subscribe at at www.nehealthadvisory.com. The information we cover can transform you and your heart health so you can avoid heart attacks, stroke, or unnecessary surgery and live a longer better life.

But for now, talk to your physician or health care provider about getting your LDL particle number and size tested. This test is now being covered by many insurance companies and getting much more attention. Once you know your risk, you can improve your numbers through simple lifestyle changes.

To your wellness and health: your true wealth!

Inger

Author: Inger Pols is the Editor of the New England Health Advisory and Author/Creator, Finally Make It Happen, the proven process to get what you want. Get a free special report on The Truth About Sugar: It’s Not All Equal at www.IngerPols.com

Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art