Big Shift: Forget Focus on Bad Cholesterol Levels

[WordsintoHarmony]

Two heart groups offer sweeping changes on use of statins
By John Johnson, Newser Staff
Posted Nov 12, 2013 4:30 PM CST

(Newser) – Two leading heart groups have announced changes being described as "tectonic" and "profound" in the way doctors prescribe cholesterol-lowering statins. The shift from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology means that doctors will no longer focus on a patent's level of "bad cholesterol"—or LDL— and automatically prescribe statins when it reaches a certain level. Instead, they will focus on a range of overall health factors. "This is an enormous shift in policy as it relates to who should be treated for high levels of cholesterol," the chief of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic tells CNN. "For many years, the goal was to get the 'bad' cholesterol levels—or LDL levels—below 100," says Dr. Steven Nissen. "Those targets have been completely eliminated in the new guidelines, and the threshold for treatment has been eliminated."

So who will be taking statins? People who have a history of heart trouble or diabetes, and—in the one exception to the notion of ignoring LDL levels—those who have dangerously high levels of 190 or more, reports the New York Times. Beyond that, the guidelines say anyone who has a 7.5% risk of developing heart disease, based on a new formula (the site is slow, apparently bogged down) also should take them, reports USA Today. In yet another major shift, the guidelines now apply to people at risk of stroke as well as a heart attack, reports AP. That change alone could double the number of people on the drugs, which are currently prescribed to 25% of Americans older than 40.
http://www.newser.com/story/177462/...e=part&utm_medium=united&utm_campaign=rss_top

 

[WordsintoHarmony]

My doctor told me I was kind of on the borderline. But mine was not high enough to be prescribed medication. So if one does not take medicine is it possible to lower LDL levels? Can one do this by eating alone? Will the numbers really go down? I thought it had to do with build up in the arteries. . I mean how does one without medicine make that go away or be reduced? I’ve been trying to eat better. But I have no idea not being to the doctors if my numbers have changed.

 

[Christ_empowered]

Improved diet can help. Some supplements, particularly high dose antioxidants, can help a bit, too. If you want to try that first, try looking up "Orthomolecular medicine."

 

[tim-from-pa]

Can't help but to put in my two cents, but this "big shift" is one of those "See I told ya so!" in all my cholesterol bashing in these health forums. It's an invented "numbers" disease. That said, don't let this shift fool you. I get the impression that more and more people like me are seeing that cholesterol numbers do not directly correlate to heart attacks and strokes (The Vytorin flop proves that point) and they are getting wind that we are wising up. However, they put in the confusion factor and complicate things more to make it sound like they have a better handle on things. The reason I say is don't let them fool you is because this new way of assessing the situation will get twice as many people on cholesterol meds as those presently on it. Clever marketing ploy. It's already the number one medication being peddled on the people, so I guess they figure they have to go from being filthy rich to insanely rich, and most likely off the common man's meager wage, or (in the future) that child of a single mother who they force on the medication with the threat of child services removing him from the family if she does not comply.

Oh! the prostitution of it all! As the bible says, "Come out of her, my people." Can't stay there and be God's people, that's for sure.

 

[tim-from-pa]

....... The issue is a very individual issue and needs to be addressed as such. There can never be a blanket cure for high cholesterol due to this variety of cause.

Then again, the point I've been making is oftentimes it is not an "issue" at all. It may be an issue if cholesterol is bandaging up diseased arteries and sometimes the numbers reflect that. However, high cholesterol is not necessarily a problem. The only way we will know is if the day comes we can peek into the arteries easily and see if they are becoming clogged. And if they are, trust me, lowering the fats, the cholesterol, the salts and whatnot are not the answers. They are not the cause, as high cholesterol does not block arteries. Rather, the cause is diseased arteries the cholesterol is patching up. And this goes into the realm where I think the bottom line is that people are lacking in something nutritionally speaking. If you aren't taking a lot of vitamins and minerals, and otherwise feeding yourself right, then you ARE deficient and you WILL (not might) start to get poor artery health. Sounds like a majority of the population today. But this nutritional factor is NEVER addressed, nor does anyone talk about proper nutrition and diet. Hardly ever. The answer is always in a simple pill they bamboozle the populace into taking.

 

[Claudya]

Then again, the point I've been making is oftentimes it is not an "issue" at all. It may be an issue if cholesterol is bandaging up diseased arteries and sometimes the numbers reflect that. However, high cholesterol is not necessarily a problem. The only way we will know is if the day comes we can peek into the arteries easily and see if they are becoming clogged. And if they are, trust me, lowering the fats, the cholesterol, the salts and whatnot are not the answers. They are not the cause, as high cholesterol does not block arteries. Rather, the cause is diseased arteries the cholesterol is patching up. And this goes into the realm where I think the bottom line is that people are lacking in something nutritionally speaking. If you aren't taking a lot of vitamins and minerals, and otherwise feeding yourself right, then you ARE deficient and you WILL (not might) start to get poor artery health. Sounds like a majority of the population today.

Well there's a syndrom of first world unhealthiness that consists of symptoms like obesity, high blood pressue, diabetes type II, and high LDL cholesterol. There's a high corellation of hhigh cholesterol and heart diseases ad early death. Whether the cholesterol is the causal issue or just a symptom of a generally bad state of health and a poor nutritional situation is not relevant if you consider cholesterol as a mere predictor. From that angle measuring cholesterol as an indicator of a person's state of health is usefull. Whether high cholesterol alone is reason for a medication is a different question.

But this nutritional factor is NEVER addressed, nor does anyone talk about proper nutrition and diet. Hardly ever. The answer is always in a simple pill they bamboozle the populace into taking.

Actually if one cares to get oneself informed about healthy nutrition the internet provides tons on information. Even about special needs (like e.g. how to get all minerals and vitamins in a vegetarian diet, or how to feed yourself in order to build muscles fast, how to lower cholesterole, or other special questions). If you filter out obvious advertisments and compare various websites you will get a balanced view on what is usually considered a healthy nutrition and which parts of our knowledge are inconclusive. If someone cares to eat healthy they can nowadays get all the knowledge they need online. If people are uneducated about healthy nutrition although having internet access it's not the doctors' or anyone else's fault.
I know that's not exactly the core issue you were adressing, but saying the nutritional issue about artery diseases or cholesterol is unsufficiently adressed just isn't true.
Sadly it's not always the doctors giving pills to patient instead of following a more wholesome path, but it's also patients prefering pills as a quick fix rather than considering a more mindfull diet and lifestyle changes, because those take effort or require giving up tasty junk food.

 

[jasoncran]

Well there's a syndrom of first world unhealthiness that consists of symptoms like obesity, high blood pressue, diabetes type II, and high LDL cholesterol. There's a high corellation of hhigh cholesterol and heart diseases ad early death. Whether the cholesterol is the causal issue or just a symptom of a generally bad state of health and a poor nutritional situation is not relevant if you consider cholesterol as a mere predictor. From that angle measuring cholesterol as an indicator of a person's state of health is usefull. Whether high cholesterol alone is reason for a medication is a different question.



Actually if one cares to get oneself informed about healthy nutrition the internet provides tons on information. Even about special needs (like e.g. how to get all minerals and vitamins in a vegetarian diet, or how to feed yourself in order to build muscles fast, how to lower cholesterole, or other special questions). If you filter out obvious advertisments and compare various websites you will get a balanced view on what is usually considered a healthy nutrition and which parts of our knowledge are inconclusive. If someone cares to eat healthy they can nowadays get all the knowledge they need online. If people are uneducated about healthy nutrition although having internet access it's not the doctors' or anyone else's fault.
I know that's not exactly the core issue you were adressing, but saying the nutritional issue about artery diseases or cholesterol is unsufficiently adressed just isn't true.
Sadly it's not always the doctors giving pills to patient instead of following a more wholesome path, but it's also patients prefering pills as a quick fix rather than considering a more mindfull diet and lifestyle changes, because those take effort or require giving up tasty junk food.

true but some of its just darn genes. my family on my moms get high bp no matter what and my sil does the same as she has had three by passes and she eats healthy and is underweight she has high cholesterol as well.

 

[tim-from-pa]

Well there's a syndrom of first world unhealthiness that consists of symptoms like obesity, high blood pressue, diabetes type II, and high LDL cholesterol. There's a high corellation of hhigh cholesterol and heart diseases ad early death. Whether the cholesterol is the causal issue or just a symptom of a generally bad state of health and a poor nutritional situation is not relevant if you consider cholesterol as a mere predictor. From that angle measuring cholesterol as an indicator of a person's state of health is usefull. Whether high cholesterol alone is reason for a medication is a different question.

Right. It can mean there's something wrong but what I am pointing out is that the "cure" is illogical. Red flashing lights at a Railroad crossing usually indicates a train is coming, and everyone who crosses when they flash (e.g. cholesterol readings) gets hit (like a heart attack). So then we decide to shoot out all the signal lights with a gun so that they no longer flash, because we have solid statistics that nobody who ever crossed train tracks were hit when the lights were not flashing! Same concept.

All the symptoms you addressed up there were wrapped up in one new buzz word "metabolic syndrome" and I believe it comes from poor diet, lack of nutrients and generally taking the easy way in life. My statement about them not saying anything about diet is not directed at naturopaths (who are deemed quacks anyway). I'm directing it at the medical, pharmaceutical and government agencies who are quick to "put everyone on a pill" instead of finding the nutritional causes of disease.

And lastly, I'm trying to get people to see that cholesterol is nothing to be avoided. As a matter of fact, as a precursor to vitamin D, I actually call it a "vitamin" of sorts, and like any vitamin, I tend to go way beyond the RDA and supplement on all of them. LDL cholesterol is valuable for building up muscles which is why a weight lifter may have elevated LDL cholesterol since it's nourishing his/her body for muscle mass. And pills that take away LDL cholesterol is why you end up with far more people with muscle wasting and liver trouble than what it supposedly "helps". No wonder, they are depleting the body of that nutritional "vitamin".

 

[Asyncritus]

Curiously enough, Dr William Castelli, ret'd Director of the Framingham study, one of the largest ever in the US, said that

those women who ate the largest amount of low fat foods (using low-fat mayonnaise and salad creams as the marker), had the highest cholesterol levels, and the greatest risks of ovarian and breast cancer.

That cholesterol statement is very easy to understand.

When you eat fatty food, the gall bladder produces bile in order to emulsify the fats. The bile contains 2 salts, sodium tauroCHOLate and sodium glycoCHOLate - both of which are derived from blood CHOLEesterol, thus lowering the level of blood cholesterol.

It also reduces the risk of gallstones, which are formed when the bile produced is not used up, remains in the gall bladder, and impacts as stones which are extremely painful.

Further, the fat-soluble vitamins A,D, E and K require fats as their vehicles, and without the fats, deficiency of those vitamins becomes likely, and that too is damaging.

So the message is, eat more fat, but cut down drastically on your consumption of refined carbohydrates: sugar and flour, mainly.