Health Alert 287
Do you worry about high cholesterol? Patients often come to me after other doctor put them on a dangerous statin drug to lower their cholesterol. When I look at their cholesterol details, I usually tell them they don’t need lower cholesterol in the first place. For those few who do need lower cholesterol the drugs are not necessary and the risks are far too high.
Today I want to show you a better way and a clinical study to prove it. You’ll save yourself the risk of side effects, save your hard-earned dollars and improve your overall health in the process.
Statin drugs to lower cholesterol have become both the most profitable and the most prescribed drugs in history. They are also some of the most burdensome for your long term health. Beside a long list of potentially fatal side effects, they make you feel tired, sore and old. Happily, you don’t have to take them. Three studies prove nutrients work just as well as the statin drug Lovastatin.
Our first study is from the Journal of the American Medical Association, (JAMA). It compared the cholesterol lowering effects of a low-fat diet, the statin drug Lovastatin and foods high in plant sterols and fiber.
The low-fat participants lowered their cholesterol by only 8%. The statin drug users lowered their cholesterol by 30%. It’s no surprise that the drug beats a low-fat diet but before you agree to take a statin, listen to this…
The participants who ate the diet high in plant sterols and fiber lowered their cholesterol by 29%!(1) This is statistically hard to distinguish from the statin drug. This makes your choice a no-brainer. Why risk muscle and joint pain, fatigue, memory loss or even death, when you can choose a healthy diet to lower your cholesterol?
Another study from the University of Toronto found statins lowered cholesterol by 33%. Healthier food choices got very close – lowering cholesterol by nearly 30%.(2) Again, the choice is clear. A third study found that diet lowered cholesterol by 30%. This study also found that diet not only lowered cholesterol, but it also was able to prove it lowered the risk of heart disease as well.(3)
You don’t need dangerous statin drugs to lower your cholesterol. So how to you get the diet high in plant sterols? All you need are the foods you were born to eat. It really is that simple.
Here are foods that both the studies and I have found could help you lower your cholesterol. These foods will also help you raise your HDL (good) cholesterol while lowering your LDL (bad) cholesterol.
- Avocados
- Olives
- Olive Oil
- Almonds
- Walnuts
- Flaxseed
- Eggplant
- Okra
Forget dangerous statin drugs. You don’t need them! Lower your cholesterol and improve your heart health with these natural foods you were born to love. What could be better?
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
1 Jenkins D, et al., "Effects of a dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods vs. Lovastatin on serum lipids and c-reactive protein," JAMA, 2003;290:502-10
2 Jenkins D, Kendall C, et al., "Direct comparison of a dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods with a statin in hypercholesterolemic participants," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Feb 2005;81(2):380-87
3 Kendall C, Jenkins D, "A dietary portfolio: maximal reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol with diet," Curr Atherosclerosis Rep, Nov 2004;6(6):492-8