Why Cholesterol Shouldn't Be Feared & Debunking Other Myths

Cholesterol is something we should all take very seriously, but there is still a lot of misinformation out there about it that we need to understand. Today Dr. Bob will be debunking some of the most common myths about cholesterol with the help of Dr. Joseph Mercola.

Hey everybody! It's Dr. Bob Salamon here with Lowcountry Chiropractic. I hope everyone out there is doing well and staying healthy. Today, we are going to be talking about cholesterol. I first want to say that this information that I am sharing with you comes from Dr. Joseph Mercola, and he is awesome. He has some great information about all kinds of health issues. I encourage you to visit his website, www.mercola.com. He is an osteopathic doctor and has a very natural and holistic medical approach to his work. This information comes from an article he wrote in April of 2016, and I want to give total credit and props to him for this information and inspiration of this blog. I have taken some notes and wanted to share them with you. The topic of the article is cholesterol myths that you shouldn't believe.
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Myth #1 Cholesterol Is Bad! 
We always hear about how high cholesterol will cause  heart disease. That is not exactly the case. Get this fact! The liver makes three-quarters of the cholesterol that exists in your body. Now if your liver is making cholesterol, would your liver make something that is bad for you? I wouldn't think so! That's really the case. The body actually needs cholesterol, and it is very important for several reasons. 

• It's a key component of the cell membranes in your body. The membranes that surround your organs, your blood vessels, and your glands are made up of cholesterol. To keep your organs healthy and operating as they should you need to have cholesterol, as it is a major component of their membranes. 
• Cholesterol interacts with proteins within the cell and helps with intercellular communications between the cells, and helps cells communicate with one another. This is so important because cells are interdependent and help with your overall functions and health. ​​
  
• Without cholesterol, your whole digestive process can get messed up. 
• About 25% of the cholesterol in our body lives in our brain. Cholesterol is important to the health of the synapsis in the brain. The synapses are the spaces between the cells called the neurons, and neurons are your brain cells. To help with cellular communications in your brain, they need cholesterol. This process helps you think, learn, and remember things. 

Myth #2 High cholesterol is caused by a bad diet. 
The reality of it is that only about 20% of your cholesterol is related to the food that you eat, making 80% of the cholesterol found in your body genetic. It has to do more with the liver's inability to get rid of excess cholesterol in people who are genetically inclined to produce more cholesterol. So, it's not really what we eat; a lot of it is genetic! We need to look at someone's genetics, study them, and pay attention to their family's medical history before placing blame on anything else. 

What is a healthy cholesterol level? The bottom line is that a healthy level varies by person. Your medical doctor will usually say that you have to have cholesterol under 200 and your LDL levels (the bad cholesterol) need to be under 100. In all honestly, these levels vary by person. There are some ratios and measurements that are much more accurate than total cholesterol. Total cholesterol is really not a good indicator of heart health. What is a good measure is the ratio of HDL (the good cholesterol) in your body divided by the total cholesterol. That number should be greater than 24% and is a great measure of whether you're in the right range of heart health. 

The second measurement is to look at your triglyceride levels, or the levels of fat circulating in your bloodstream. The triglycerides divided by the total cholesterol should be under 2 for a healthy heart. Another good way to measure heart health is to look at the fasting insulin levels in your body. If you're eating a lot of refined sugars,  your body produces more insulin, which is there to take the sugar out of your bloodstream. Elevated insulin levels are bad because they promote fat accumulation in your body. An indicator of heart disease is the accumulation of fat in your body, especially belly fat. 

More Things To Consider For Measuring Heart Health 

• The NMR Profile. This looks at the LDL (the “bad cholesterol”) levels in your body. These LDL molecules are not all bad. The larger or fluffier ones are very good for your body. It is the smaller LDL molecules that can infiltrate the bloodstream and cause inflammation and damage. The NMR profile will tell you how many fat fluffy LDL molecules you have versus how many small and dangerous ones you have. 
• Fasting blood sugar is also a very important ratio to understand. Research has shown that if your blood sugar is between 100 and 125 milligrams per deciliter, that means you are at a 300% higher risk for heart disease. 
• Iron levels are very important. Increased iron levels in your body are known to damage your blood vessels. 

These are all key components for the types of testing you can do and things you need to consider when searching out if your heart health is ok! 

Myth #3 Margarine is better for you than butter. 
This is a myth because it has been proven that vegetable-based oils are bad for you;  they increase the bad levels of LDLs in your body, and can cause heart problems. What you want to be doing instead is to eat more animal-based fats (eggs and butter) rather than plant-based fats.  Omega 3 fats are also a great example of fats to eat and are found in fish. 

Considering Medications
The last thing we are going to talk about is statin drugs. These are the drugs that are used to control cholesterol levels in your body. In general, they're not very effective. In fact, studies have shown that they only benefit about 1% of the population that takes them. They also deplete your coenzyme Q10 levels in your body. This material is responsible for energy production throughout your body, helping it work and function properly. If you don't have enough coenzyme Q10,  you won't have enough energy production for your body to work as it needs to. Your heart needs an extreme amount of energy to function, so lower levels of coenzyme q10 can lead to heart disease. 

What are the healthy non-prescription ways to treat your cholesterol and heart disease? 

• Decrease the number of grains and sugars you eat in your diet. 
• Eat a lot of raw vegetables and fruits. 
• Eat a lot of animal omega 3's that are found in fish and krill oil. 
• Decrease your intake of vegetable oils and trans fats in your diet. 
• Increase consumption of avocados, coconut oil, and butter. 
• Eat fermented foods.  Fermented foods are great for you and increase the good bacteria in your digestive tract and in your mouth. It has been proven that poor oral health can lead to poor cardiac health. 
• Increase your levels of vitamin D. It decreases the amount of plaque growing in your arteries. 
• Exercise a lot, especially high interval training. 
• Decrease smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. 
• Increase your sleep. 
• Go see a chiropractor! Chiropractic care helps the brain and the body communicate better, and it helps all functions of your body stay healthier. This includes your immune system, your digestive system, the production of hormones, and all the things that go into maintaining a healthy body and a healthy heart. 

I hope all of this information helps! Again, special thanks to Dr. Mercola for this incredible information. I hope you've learned something new today that you didn't know beforehand, and I hope you can apply it to your everyday health. If you're having trouble with any aspect of your health, please contact us! We would love to give you some advice and possibly get you started with chiropractic care! Until next time, I am Dr. Bob and I've got your back covered. 

To read the full article I based this whole blog off of, please follow the link below! 
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/04/20/cholesterol-myths.aspx

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