1) Cholesterol is a precursor to Vitamin D. Without cholesterol, "no Vitamin
D will be produced in the body!" (p. 38)
2) EVERY CELL in the human body requires cholesterol as a part of its integral
structure. "Cholesterol is the 'glue' that holds the entire lipid cell layers
together." (p. 39)
3) Cholesterol, being the main ingredient in bile, is "necessary for the proper
absorption and digestion of fats and minerals." (p. 38) And I might add,
therefore, for the proper absorption of our fat-soluble vitamins A, E, D,
and K.
4) Cholesterol is a key component of the myelin sheath that covers and
protects every one of our nerve cells. (Know anyone with MS, Parkinson's,
or Alzheimer's? Get them on a HIGH cholesterol diet right away!)
5) Low cholesterol levels have been associated with lowered immune
response and fewer circulating immune cells!
And a 6th very important role of cholesterol, that perhaps appears in a later section of Dr. Brownstein's book, which Pharmacist Ben of "The Bright Side" radio program on GCNlive.com often talks about:
6) cholesterol is a precursor of all of our sex hormones--estrogen, proges-
terone, and testosterone!
So, cholesterol is NOT to be feared! It is an essential part of every aspect of our biological make-up and required for proper functioning! Now granted, there is such a thing as 'high cholesterol', but cholesterol is NOT the problem. High cholesterol (above 240 or 250) is merely the warning light on your dashboard letting you know that something is wrong, and that 'something' is systemic inflammation somewhere within the body. Cholesterol is merely doing its job in patching things up and keeping you alive! The way to correct it is to address the inflammation which is at the ROOT of the elevated cholesterol, and you can do that easily by taking a good quality Niacin (Vitamin B3) supplement (like that found in Youngevity's Beyond Tangy Tangerine or their CardioFx capsules), as well as a high quality EFA (essential fatty acid) supplement, such as Youngevity's Ultimate EFAs, plus a good antioxidant supplement such as turmeric, quercetin, or resveratrol, all of which are found in Youngevity's Cell Shield RTQ. All of these can be purchased by signing up and then buying them wholesale here.
The following is a very good article on how LOW cholesterol can actually HARM your health, taken from a very good website www.greenmedinfo.com. If you wish to access the original source of this article, you may find it here. Enjoy, and go have a couple eggs once you're through reading!*...
Posted on:
Wednesday, September 5th 2012 at 5:00 am
Written by:
Sayer Ji, founder
In a world gone mad with anti-cholesterol anxiety, and where gobbling down pharmaceuticals designed to poison the body into no longer synthesizing it is somehow considered sane behavior, it is refreshing to look at some of the research on the health benefits of cholesterol, or conversely, the dangers of low cholesterol.
Benefits of Cholesterol
- Cholesterol Is Needed To Prevent Aggression: It has been known for almost 30 years that low serum cholesterol levels are associated with habitually violent tendencies of homicidal offenders under the influence of alcohol.[i] Since then, there are at least 8 other studies that have either confirmed or explored the cholesterol-violence link, including both violence towards self and other. One of the possible explanations for this association was discussed in an article published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 1993: "One of the functions of serotonin in the central nervous system is the suppression of harmful behaviour impulses...Low membrane cholesterol decreases the number of serotonin receptors. Since membrane cholesterol exchanges freely with cholesterol in the surrounding medium, a lowered serum cholesterol concentration may contribute to a decrease in brain serotonin, with poorer suppression of aggressive behaviour".[ii] Not surprisingly, several reports have now surfaced on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs contributing to irritability and/or aggression.
- Cholesterol Is Needed To Fight Cancer: The inverse relationship between cholesterol levels and the risk for a variety of cancers, and mortality associated with cancer, has been known about since the late 80's.[iii] Since then, the cholesterol-cancer connection has been confirmed over and over again. It is to be expected, therefore, that statin drug use would be linked with increased cancer incidence, which indeed it is.[iv] Even when you take so-called "bad" LDL-cholesterol and administer it to a culture of highly malignant, multi-drug resistant leukemia cells, the cells lose their resistance to chemotherapy. Not exactly what can be characterized as a "bad" substance, now is it? [v]
- Cholesterol Is Needed To Prevent Hemorrhagic Stroke: There are two types of stroke: 1) Ischemic, associated with lack of blood flow and oxygen to the brain 2) Hemorrhagic, associated with the rupture of a blood vessel in the brain, and bleeding. The risk for the former, in theory, could be raised in the presence of excessive oxidized cholesterol. However, it is the risk for the second, hemorrhagic stroke, which is increased when cholesterol levels are low. Noted as far back as 1994 in the British Medical Journal, in an article titled, "Assessing possible hazards of reducing serum cholesterol," researchers found "The only cause of death attributable to low serum cholesterol concentration was haemorrhagic stroke."[vi] Other studies can be viewed that confirm this association on our stroke-cholesterol link page.
- Cholesterol Is Needed for Memory: Low HDL cholesterol has been identified as a risk factor for deficit and decline in memory in midlife.[vii] Even in Parkinson's disease, higher total serum cholesterol concentrations are associated with slower clinical progression of the disease.[viii] Statin drugs, which inhibit the production of cholesterol, hence severely affecting the brain, are now required by the FDA to display the black box warning that they may adversely affect the memory.[ix] We have indexed over 50 studies from the National Library of Medicine's bibliographic database, Medline, on the neurotoxicity of statin drugs, with six of these specifically addressing statin-induced memory impairment.
- Cholesterol is Needed for Longevity: In a fascinating study published in PLoS in 2011, telomere length – the shoestring cap-like ends of the chromosomes which prevent DNA damage associated with cellular aging – was linked to higher LDL and total cholesterol levels. The longer the length of these protective caps, the higher the cholesterol.[x] Indeed, several studies indicate that lower cholesterol is associated with increased mortality.
- Cholesterol Helps Us Fight Infection: It has been observed that a cholesterol-rich diet improves patients with tuberculosis, leading researchers to suggest "cholesterol should be used as a complementary measure in antitubercular treatment."[xi] Cholesterol-lowering drugs, incidentally, exhibit immunosuppressive and potent immunotoxic properties, likely in part due to their cholesterol depleting effects.
Resources
- [iv] GreenMedInfo.com, Focused Articles: Cancer-Statin Drug Link.
- [ix] Weeks MD, Black box warning changes for statin drugs, March 4th, 2012
- [x] Paul G Shiels, Liane M McGlynn, Alan Macintyre, Paul C D Johnson, G David Batty, Harry Burns, Jonathan Cavanagh, Kevin A Deans, Ian Ford, Alex McConnachie, Agnes McGinty, Jennifer S McLean, Keith Millar, Naveed Sattar, Carol Tannahill, Yoga N Velupillai, Chris J Packard. Accelerated Telomere Attrition Is Associated with Relative Household Income, Diet and Inflammation in the pSoBid Cohort. PLoS One. 2011 ;6(7):e22521. Epub 2011 Jul 27. PMID: 21818333
So many side effects linked to statins that's why we should not recommended it other people. We must tell them the natural ways in lowering cholesterol and provide detailed information why statins are bad for their health.
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