Lower inflammation & CRP to protect your heart....
Today's Post: Monday, 9-1-2008
One of the actions that statin drugs do have that seems to be protective and MUCH more so than the lowering of LDL cholesterol that they do is that they lower inflammation, particularly as measured by C Reactive protein, CRP.
And, since high CRP levels are predictive of increasing heart disease and heart attacks that is a very desirable effect. (Inflammation apparently helps cause heart disease or your body's reactions to inflammation do so.)
However, just as taking niacin, taking sterol supplements, & stopping all intake of transfats and reducing excessive intake of saturated fats lowers LDL cholesterol as much as statins do, gives you BETTER heart protection and is far safer and side effect free compared with taking statins, there are other methods that lower inflammation and CRP levels as well or better than taking statin drugs. And, those methods also give you BETTER heart protection and also are far safer and side effect free compared to statin drugs.
Regular exercise, even a few minutes five times a week, reduces inflammation, Taking some antioxidants, such as curcumin and the natural vitamin E with mixed tocopherols also lowers inflammation. Similarly many spices reduce inflammation. Turmeric and the curries that contain it contains curcumin. And, ginger is a related compound.
Taking omega 3 supplements including a DHA supplement, eating wild caught fish, and eating walnuts increases your levels of omega 3 oils. A robust intake of omega 3 oils lowers inflammation.
And, reducing or eliminating omega 6 oils as well, which tend to increase inflammation also helps. They are found in refined grains, grain fed beef, corn oil, safflower oil, and soy oil. So substituting extra virgin olive oil and beans and limited amounts of whole grains and beef fed only grass also helps.
Similarly, eliminating high fructose corn syrup, and refined grain foods and minimizing sugar intake and getting regular exercise, particularly strength training and interval cardio, helps prevent or reverse insulin resisitance and excessively high blood levels of sugar. This set of things lowers inflammation a lot because of these effects.
(These last three steps also reliably lower triglycerides. And, regular exercise, particularly strength trainining and interval cardio, increases HDL cholesterol. This means that if you do all these last three steps you not only lower inflammation, you sharply reduce in your blood the small particle LDL that actually proeduces cardiovascular disease.)
And, if you brush your teeth thoroughly at the gum line, brush your gums above and below your teeth, and floss -- every day -- and get your teeth cleaned at the Dentistist's every 6 months, you avoid gum disease and its related gum infections. That also keeps your inflammation low.
Doing all these things will lower you level of inflammation as much or more than taking statin drugs.
Many of them protect your health or prevent heart attacks in other ways that statin drugs do not.
And, again. they do so without risking the dreadful side effects that statin drugs have in some people.
Even better, if you do all these things and still have slightly too high CRP readings, taking a statin at 1/16th or 1/8th the dosage commonly prescribed for lowering LDL levels will reduce your CRP levels to the desired level.
In fact, one doctor who has studied the cognitive & other side effects of statins in great detail and experienced some himself says this last use of statin drugs may be the only one that is both useful and protective enough and safe enough to be worth the risk of taking them.
In this use, they are used only when less risky methods have been tried first and even more reduction in inflammation is still needed, the result is clearly heart protective, & the doses are small enough, the risks from side effects are much less. (It will also reduce or prevent side effects from the statin drugs to take 100 mg twice a day of CoQ10. That intake of CoQ10 also has other health and heart benefits.)
Today's Post: Monday, 9-1-2008
One of the actions that statin drugs do have that seems to be protective and MUCH more so than the lowering of LDL cholesterol that they do is that they lower inflammation, particularly as measured by C Reactive protein, CRP.
And, since high CRP levels are predictive of increasing heart disease and heart attacks that is a very desirable effect. (Inflammation apparently helps cause heart disease or your body's reactions to inflammation do so.)
However, just as taking niacin, taking sterol supplements, & stopping all intake of transfats and reducing excessive intake of saturated fats lowers LDL cholesterol as much as statins do, gives you BETTER heart protection and is far safer and side effect free compared with taking statins, there are other methods that lower inflammation and CRP levels as well or better than taking statin drugs. And, those methods also give you BETTER heart protection and also are far safer and side effect free compared to statin drugs.
Regular exercise, even a few minutes five times a week, reduces inflammation, Taking some antioxidants, such as curcumin and the natural vitamin E with mixed tocopherols also lowers inflammation. Similarly many spices reduce inflammation. Turmeric and the curries that contain it contains curcumin. And, ginger is a related compound.
Taking omega 3 supplements including a DHA supplement, eating wild caught fish, and eating walnuts increases your levels of omega 3 oils. A robust intake of omega 3 oils lowers inflammation.
And, reducing or eliminating omega 6 oils as well, which tend to increase inflammation also helps. They are found in refined grains, grain fed beef, corn oil, safflower oil, and soy oil. So substituting extra virgin olive oil and beans and limited amounts of whole grains and beef fed only grass also helps.
Similarly, eliminating high fructose corn syrup, and refined grain foods and minimizing sugar intake and getting regular exercise, particularly strength training and interval cardio, helps prevent or reverse insulin resisitance and excessively high blood levels of sugar. This set of things lowers inflammation a lot because of these effects.
(These last three steps also reliably lower triglycerides. And, regular exercise, particularly strength trainining and interval cardio, increases HDL cholesterol. This means that if you do all these last three steps you not only lower inflammation, you sharply reduce in your blood the small particle LDL that actually proeduces cardiovascular disease.)
And, if you brush your teeth thoroughly at the gum line, brush your gums above and below your teeth, and floss -- every day -- and get your teeth cleaned at the Dentistist's every 6 months, you avoid gum disease and its related gum infections. That also keeps your inflammation low.
Doing all these things will lower you level of inflammation as much or more than taking statin drugs.
Many of them protect your health or prevent heart attacks in other ways that statin drugs do not.
And, again. they do so without risking the dreadful side effects that statin drugs have in some people.
Even better, if you do all these things and still have slightly too high CRP readings, taking a statin at 1/16th or 1/8th the dosage commonly prescribed for lowering LDL levels will reduce your CRP levels to the desired level.
In fact, one doctor who has studied the cognitive & other side effects of statins in great detail and experienced some himself says this last use of statin drugs may be the only one that is both useful and protective enough and safe enough to be worth the risk of taking them.
In this use, they are used only when less risky methods have been tried first and even more reduction in inflammation is still needed, the result is clearly heart protective, & the doses are small enough, the risks from side effects are much less. (It will also reduce or prevent side effects from the statin drugs to take 100 mg twice a day of CoQ10. That intake of CoQ10 also has other health and heart benefits.)
Labels: alternatives to statin drugs, prevent heart attacks, prevent heart disease, protect your heart, substitutes for statin drugs
posted by David at 10:50 AM
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