Replied by Lilly (Miami) on 07/13/2024

I assume this is total cholesterol which is a useless number on its own. What your ratios are? If your ratios are fine, you don't really need to do anything. In fact 265 is better at 66 than below 200.

Your diet and life style are fine. Blood markers change, so repeat the test in a different lab. The 2 things I'd suggest are: IP6Gold and Cholacol with every large meal containing fats. Fats are a must for people of all ages. Animal sourced fats. After a month of taking these supplements, repeat the lipids and A1C tests

Read my post (not published yet) about cholesterol.

By the way, once I basically lived of green cocktails, took serrapeptase, nattokinase, full spectrum enzymes, lumbrokinase - it had NO EFFECT on my cholesterol numbers.

Replied by Rob (Kentucky) on 07/14/2024

Here are a few surprising facts about cholesterol:

• Those with high cholesterol run the same risk of heart disease as people with low cholesterol.

• The human body needs cholesterol to be healthy.

• LDL and HDL are not types of cholesterol, but lipoproteins that transport cholesterol through the bloodstream.

Here are some facts about statin drugs, the medications often prescribed for lowering cholesterol.

• Statins are prescribed with the promise of offsetting the risk of heart disease. In reality, they’re HUGE moneymakers for the health industry. The top three most common are Lipitor, Crestor, and Zocor. Lipitor alone pulls in $8 billion a year.

• One out of five people who take these drugs experiences their side effects.

• The FDA has reported that statins raise blood pressure and cause memory loss. Yet they leave them on the market.

• After a simple blood test reveals high cholesterol, millions of healthy people are put on statins to prevent heart attack or stroke—a practice called primary prevention—meaning there are millions taking a drug they don’t need.

• Statins block the creation of enzyme COQ10, which is an antioxidant found and needed in every cell of the body.

What’s more, in a study, French women between 60 and 75 with cholesterol levels of 160 were 5 times more susceptible to heart disease versus women the same age with a cholesterol level of 260.

My GF pointed this fact out to me… Back in the 1970s, the normal range was 200-300 was considered safe. Today that number has dropped to below 200, I wonder why?

Here are some side effects of statin drugs:

Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/in-depth/statin-side-effects/art-20046013

• muscle pain

• fatigue

• exercise intolerance (muscles too painful and weak to exercise)

• memory loss

• tingling, numbness or burning pain in limbs

• irritability

• sleep problems

• sexual dysfunction

• cancer

• stroke

• diabetes

• autoimmune diseases

• digestive problems

• kidney disease

• liver issues

• lung problems

• weight gain

and many more….

Statin Intolerance: Not a Myth (Good Read)

Source: https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2015/08/11/09/16/statin-intolerance-not-a-myth

Alternative Herbal Remedies to Statin Drugs?

Ginger Root - Another effective remedy for cleaning the arteries is ginger. It is known to have anti-atherosclerotic actions which helps in reducing the amount of plaque in the arteries or preventing accumulation of arterial plaque. It has a tonic effect on the heart. Ginger extract lowered total and LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and reduced atherosclerosis in mice according to an Israeli study from 2000.

In a 45-day study of 85 individuals with high cholesterol, 3 grams of ginger powder caused significant reductions in most cholesterol markers. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18813412

This is supported by a study in hypothyroid rats, where ginger extract lowered LDL cholesterol to a similar extent as the cholesterol-lowering drug atorvastatin.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23901210

Both studies also showed reductions in total cholesterol and blood triglycerides.

A group of Cornell Medical school researchers published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1980 confirmed that ginger completely inhibited the potentially life-threatening process of platelet aggregation. Because of ginger’s many constituents, it offers synergistic cardiovascular features producing antioxidant effects which include strengthening the muscle and lowering serum cholesterol. Ginger, in fact, actually decreases or interferes with cholesterol biosynthesis.

Garlic - Studies show that garlic not only reduce LDL but raise HDL and decrease the amount of fat in your blood. Add some fresh garlic regularly to your cooking to keep your heart healthy.

Garlic is one of the best remedies to reduce triglycerides. A 2006 study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that including garlic in your diet helps lower triglycerides, blood glucose and cholesterol levels.

Garlic helps reduce atherosclerotic buildup (plaque) within the arterial system. One recent study shows this effect to be greater in women than men.

Research, conducted at LA BioMed, found a reduction in the amount of low-attenuation plaque, or "soft plaque, " in the arteries of patients with metabolic syndrome who took Aged Garlic Extract. Metabolic syndrome is characterized by obesity, hypertension and other cardiac risk factors.

The study involved 55 patients, aged 40 to 75 years, who had been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. All the participants underwent screening at the beginning of the study to measure the total coronary plaque volume as well as dense calcium, non-calcified plaque and low-attenuation plaque. The screening was conducted using Cardiac Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA), a noninvasive imaging technology that accurately measures calcium deposits and plaque buildup in the arteries.

For one year, patients received either 2400mg of aged garlic extract each day or were given either a placebo. A follow-up screening conducted a year after the initial screening found those who had taken Aged Garlic Extract had slowed total plaque accumulation by 80%, reduced soft plaque and demonstrated regression (less plaque on follow-up) for low-attenuation plaque. You should take this remedy 1-2x/daily for extended pediod of time (atleast one year). https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160121122158.htm

Garlic has the ability to combat plaque formation in the arteries. It's ability to lower serum cholesterol in the blood can in turn reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Garlic lowers total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol (the Bad cholesterol) and triglycerides. Garlic can not only prevent, but also reverse the signs of arteriosclerosis according to a study presented at the 6th Annual Conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology in Washington, D.C.. "Garlic is able not only to reduce the buildup of plaque but also to reverse existing plaque." said Joerg Gruenwald, Ph.D., president of Berlin's Phytopharm Consulting, and author of the Physician's Desk Reference for Herbal Medicine. Because of the strength of the results and garlic's history of safety, he said, several principals from the herbal supplements industry would seek a health claim from the Food and Drug Administration. "The FDA should look at our data and give garlic a real health claim in the reduction of risk for coronary heart disease, " he said. Dr. Gunter Siegel, director of the department of physiology at Charité university of Medicine in Berlin, found that a low dose of garlic inhibits the formation of nanoplaque, the substance that develops in the earliest stages of arteriosclerotic disease and eventually clogs arterial walls by 15 percent, even when all the factors normally responsible for such blocking are present

"With a higher concentration it goes to 30 percent, " Siegel said. In addition, when plaques do develop "they are even smaller" 5 percent smaller at low doses of garlic, with further reduction at higher doses. "So the plaques which are formed are not only less in number but also less in size, " he said.