The Cholesterol Times, Issue #009 -- Low Cholesterol, Violent Suicide, and the P

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Sun, 28 May 2006 03:33:07 UT

" Christopher Masterjohn "

<The_Cholesterol_Times

The Cholesterol Times, Issue #009 -- Low Cholesterol, Violent

Suicide, and the Policosanol Scam

 

 

 

 

 

A Publication of Cholesterol-And-Health.com

Issue #009, May 28, 2006

 

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The Cholesterol Times!

 

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In the meantime, I've written a massive refutation of the idea that

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In This Issue

 

Site Updates

 

* Cholesterol's Intimate Connection to Vitamin D

 

Best of the 'Net

 

* More Vegan Nonsense -- Anthony Colpo on the China Study

* AIDS Researcher Quits -- The Math Convinced Her the Theory Was Wrong

* The USDA's Animal ID Program -- Safe Meat or Orwellian Nightmare?

* Sauerkraut -- A Cure for the Bird Flu?

* LG Makes a Kimchi-Coated Bird Flu-Proof Air Conditioner

 

Research Watch

 

* Low Brain Cholesterol Linked to Violent Suicide

* Policosanol Doesn't Lower Cholesterol -- A Cuban Scam?

* Cholesterol Synthesis Declines in the Brain as We Age

* A New Role for Cholesterol i n the Cell Membrane: Facilitating

the Transport of Hydrogen Ions

 

How to Link to This Newsletter

Copyright and Disclaimer

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Site Updates

 

Cholesterol's Intimate Connection to Vitamin D

 

Cholesterol is the precursor to vitamin D, and dietary vitamin D is

provided primarily by cholesterol-rich foods. This article describes

this intimate connection between cholesterol and vitamin D, discusses

the inferiority of the form of the vitamin found in irradiated plant

and mushroom fats, discusses the almost entirely unstudied possibility

that inhibiting cholesterol synthesis may lower vitamin D levels, and

reports on the many new functions being discovered for this vitamin,

as well as the findings that the current recommended intakes are far

too low than needed for optimal health. For the chemically

inquisitive, molecular structures are shown for vitamin D and related

compounds.

 

Best of the 'Net

 

More Vegan Nonsense -- Anthony Colpo on the China Study

The China Study shows how Campbell presents his evidence selectively

and makes giant leaps of logic as he claims that animal foods are

unsafe for consumption and advocates a vegan diet. Anthony Colpo of

The Omnivore presents an excellent section on the many nutrients that

are primarily available from animal foods, and shows how Campbell

misrepresents the findings of the China Study itself. You can also

read my review of The China Study here.

AIDS Researcher Quits HIV -- Convinced by the Math That the Theory is

False

Mathematical biologist Rebecca V. Culshaw, Ph.D., tells the story in

this article of how h er own research into mathematical models of HIV

infection led her to disavow the theory that HIV is the cause of AIDS.

USDA's Animal ID Program: Safe Meat or Orwellian Nightmare?

The USDA has launched an animal identification program it hopes to be

fully implemented by 2009. All property on which livestock, poultry,

horses and other animals are held will be given an identification

number, and each animal, or in some cases, group of animals, will be

given a unique identification number and a means of tracking them

through GPS technology, retinal scans, or several other means. In

fact, depending on where you live, your " premises " may be registered

without your knowledge or consent -- as has been going on in

Massachusetts, where there is also discussion of a future ban on

free-range poultry. This is all being done in the name of prevention

of bird flu and other animal diseases, but not everyone buys it.

Sauerkraut: A Cure for Bird Flu?

" While President Bush scrambles to ward off an avian flu pandemic, "

reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, " the world's largest

sauerkraut producer, tucked amid the glacial lakebeds of rural

Wisconsin, is sitting atop a bumper crop of one possible preventative.

That's right: Sauerkraut. " Since South Korean scientists showed an

extract from the Korean version of sauerkraut, kimchi, was able to

induce the recovery of 11 out of 13 birds infected with bird flue, " an

international buzz is surrounding the unassuming, fermented

cruciferous vegetable that costs 89 cents per 14.5-ounce can. "

LG Manufactures a Kimchi-Coated Bird Flu-Proof Air Conditioner

According to the Korean Times, LG Electronics, the world's leading air

conditioner manufacturer, has developed an air conditioner with a

filter coated with an extract from the Korean version of sauerkraut,

kimchi, which it says it tested and found to effectively prevent the

passage of the virus that causes bird flu.

 

Research Watch

 

Low Brain Cholesterol Associated With Violent Suicide

 

Researchers have frequently observed a relationship between low blood

cholesterol and suicide, with an even stronger relationship observed

between low cholesterol and suicide committed by violent means or

suicide committed by people with a history of violent behavior. Yet

these studies have mostly been correlational, leaving the precise

nature of this relationship to continue to elude scientists.

 

Researchers have hypothesized that low blood cholesterol reflects low

brain cholesterol, but the relationship between blood cholesterol and

brain cholesterol is poorly understood, and the relationship between

brain cholesterol and suicide has until now not been studied.

 

A group of researchers published a study in the May, 2006 issue of the

International Journal of Nueropsychopharmacology comparing the brain

cholesterol levels of male suicide committers to those of age-matched

victims of sudden death from causes not believed to be directly

related to the brain.

 

Although there was no statistically significant difference in brain

cholesterol content between suicide committers and controls, there was

a large and highly significant difference in cholesterol content of

specific areas of the frontal cortex related to suicidal behavior

between the brains of those who committed suicide by violent means and

those who committed suicide by non-violent means (as classified by

Asberg et al., 1976). Lower cholesterol content of these areas was

associated with violent suicide.

 

This study still leaves most of the questions about the relationship

between low cholesterol, suicide and violent behavior unanswered, but

it shows for the first time that in some -- but not all -- cases the

consistent association found between low blood cholesterol and suicide

does indeed reflect a lower cholesterol content in certain areas of

the brain.

 

You can read my article on the importance of cholesterol to the brain

here.

 

Lalovic, et al., " Cholesterol content in brains of suicide

completers, " International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2006

May 17; 1-8.

 

Policosanol Has No Effect on Cholesterol -- Is it a Cuban Scam?

 

A study published this month in the Journal of the American Medical

Association found that the popular alternative health supplement,

policosanol, marketed as a cholesterol-lowering agent, had no effect

on cholesterol levels in humans.

 

Many studies have shown that policosanol, a substance usually isolated

from sugar cane wax that can also be obtained from wheat germ, rice

bran, and beeswax, is as effective at lowering cholesterol in humans

as are statin drugs. Yet nearly all of them have been conducted by

Dalmer Laboratories, a Cuban firm established by the Center of Natural

Products of the National Center for Scientific Research, La Habana

Cuba, for the purpose of promoting policosanol.

 

One Russian study and one Argentinian study corroborated the Cuban

research, while one study from the Netherlands found policosanol

derived from wheat germ to have no effect on lipid levels. In contrast

to many Cuban studies finding that policosanol lowers lipids in

animals, a Canadian study found it to have no effect in hamsters.

 

The method by which policosanol supposedly lowers cholesterol is not

known. Nevertheless, a recent meta-analysis found that a mean dose of

just 12 mg per day of policosanol was associated with a mean reduction

of 24%, including in trials that lasted less than 12 weeks. The

meta-analysis included 30 studies, 29 from Cuba, and one from Argentina.

 

The researchers who published the JAMA study used policosanol produced

in Cuba but tested it on American men and women aged 18 to 80, using

five doses and a placebo for a duration of 12 weeks. Contrary to the

many Cuban studies, the study found no satistically significant

reduction in LDL, HDL, VLDL, total cholesterol, triglycerides, or

lipoprotein (a).

 

In fact, only the mega-dose of 80 mg could achieve a statistically

insignificant reduction in cholesterol levels that equalled that of

the placebo, which was a pill that combined lactose and cellulose.

 

Why the difference? The study found that the diet of the subjects had

no effect on the ability of policosanol to lower their lipid levels,

and the duration of the study was similar to that of Cuban studies

finding a large reduction in cholesterol. It's possible that the

ethnic makeup of the populations were responsible for the differences,

or something peculiar about the Cuban diet, but that wouldn't seem to

explain why policosanol lowers the cholesterol of Cuban hamsters and

not Canadian hamsters.

 

The fact that almost all of the published research on policosanol

comes from a single Cuban firm that was established to market

policosanol is... let's just say, suspicious.

 

But all of the policosanol studies miss the point. As reported in an

earlier issue of the Cholesterol Times, a meta-analysis published last

year found no relationship between a " lipid-lowering " agent's ability

to reduce cholesterol and a lipid-lowering agent's ability to reduce

heart disease mortality. Many methods that reduce cholesterol have no

effect on mortality, and omega-3 fatty acids are more effective at

lowering mortality than statins, even though they have no effect on

cholesterol.

 

Additionally, high cholesterol levels, even LDL levels, have positive

roles in preserving quality of life, especially in the elderly. Last

year, for example, I reported on a study that found that high LDL

levels protected against mobility limitation in the elderly.

 

When will researchers learn that cholesterol is not a disease, and

that studies that look at a substance's ability to lower cholesterol,

but do not look at that substance's ability to reduce mortality or

increase the quality of life are completely useless?

 

Berthold, et al., " Effect of policosanol on lipid levels among

patients with hypercholesterolemia or combined hyperlipidemia: a

randomized controlled trial, " JAMA Vol. 295 No. 19 (2006) 2262-9.

 

Brain Cholesterol Levels Decline With Aging

 

A study published this month in Neuroscience Letters found that

cholesterol synthesis in the hippocampus portion of the brain, but not

the total amount of cholesterol, declines with aging.

 

The lipid content of the brain is over 12 times richer in cholesterol

than that of the whole body. 70 percent of this cholesterol is

associated with myelin, which forms the electrical insulation of nerve

cells that allows proper transmission of electrical signals. Myelin

function declines with age, which negatively impacts cognitive

performance.

 

Lack of cholesterol supply in the hippocapus causes a failure of

neurotransmission and the ability to form and break and reform

connections between nerve cells as needed.

 

This study looked at the hippocampus portion of the brains of 20

autopsied humans, separated into two groups, one of ages 18 to 36, the

other of ages 40 to 86.

 

The two groups did not differ in the total amount of cholesterol, but

there was a significant difference in markers of cholesterol synthesis

and an age-related decline in these markers, indicating that

cholesterol is synthesized at a significantly higher rate in younger

people than in older people.

 

The reason that the cholesterol level stayed the same appears to be

that the brain compensated by lowering its degradation of cholesterol.

Thus, the turnover of cholesterol is greatly reduced -- which could

have negative effects on cognitive function -- probably fueled by the

decrease in cholesterol synthesis.

 

Other studies have found a moderate decline in total brain cholesterol

with aging.

 

Cholesterol is vital to the brain -- it is the limiting factor in

synapse formation and quality (synapses are the connections between

nerve cells) and its increased synthesis during sleep seems to be one

of the reasons that sleep is good for our minds and brains. For more

information on the role of cholesterol in the brain, see my article

Learning, Your Memory, and Cholesterol.

 

Thelen, et al., " Cholesterol synthesis rate in human hippocampus

declines with aging, " Neurosci Lett. May 12 (2006) [Epub ahead of print].

 

Cholesterol Helps Facilitate Hydrogen Ion Flux Across the Cell Membrane

 

A recent study published in the Biochemical Journal by researchers

Rebekah Gensure, Mark Zeidel, and Warren Hill has shown yet another

role for cholesterol in the cell membrane: facilitating the flux of

protons, or hydrogen ions (note that these two terms can be used

interchangably), across the cell membrane.

 

This finding is particularly interesting because it seems to

contradict the major theories about how protons travel across the cell

membrane.

 

Cell membranes are somewhat permeable to water, but are virtually

impermeable to charged ions because of the non-polar nature of the

interior of the membrane. Yet for some reason, hydrogen ions, and

possibly hydroxide ions, are capable of permeating the cell membrane

somewhere between 100,000 and 1,000,000 times more easily than other

similarly charged and structured ions.

 

There are three major theories about how protons travel through the

cell membrane.

 

The first is that " water wires " are formed by single-file water

molecules extending across the membrane, and that protons jump from

one water molecule to the next, much like electrons jump from one atom

to the next in a copper electrical wire.

 

The second is that there are random clusters of hydrogen-bonded water

molecules that form, dissipate and reform within the cell membrane.

When a proton attaches to one, it momentarily stabilizes the cluster,

which lasts long enough to let the proton make its way through the

cluster and jump to another until it finds itself on the opposite side

of the membrane.

 

A third theory states that the conjugate bases of free fatty acids (a

fatty acid missing a proton)or other weak bases in the membrane

capture protons on one side of the membrane and easily slip through

the inside of the membrane and deliver the proton to the other side.

 

Each of these theories predict that as membrane lipids become more

compact, proton flux should decrease -- either because the compact

lipids allow less room for and thus fewer water wires, because they

allow less room for and thus fewer or smaller water clusters, or

because they allow less room for and thus more constricted movement

for free fatty acids and other weak bases that might transport protons.

 

Yet several observations seem to contradict this model. Cholesterol

and a long-chain more-saturated-than-average phospholipid called

sphingomyelin are found in large concentration in parts of the cell

membrane called " lipid rafts " and in protective epithelial surfaces,

where they function to grant the membrane greater compaction, either

for protection, or to allow important proteins to stabilize and

associate with one another. Yet a recent study showed that the high

degree of compaction of the membranes of epithelial surfaces make them

18 times less permeable to water -- as we would expect -- but four

times more permeable to hydrogen ions.

 

Gensure, Zeidel and Hill therefore set out to determine exactly what

effect cholesterol and sphingomyelin have on the permeability of cell

membranes to protons. They created artificial membranes that mimicked

the composition of the lipid rafts of animal cells, made of

phosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelin, and cholesterol, and varied the

amount of sphingomyelin and cholesterol to see their effects.

 

As expected, cholesterol and sphingomyelin reduced the membrane's

permeability to water by 70-90 percent. Yet, contrary to what we would

expect from the major theories of proton flux, the same concentrations

of cholesterol and sphingomyelin increased proton permeability about

4-fold to 5-fold.

 

Cholesterol had a more powerful effect than sphingomyelin.

 

The curious behavior of protons is quite different from water and

other electrolytes, and isn't completely explained. Cholesterol and

sphingomyelin caused the lipids to pack together in a dose-dependent

manner -- the more cholesterol or sphingomyelin, the more they packed

together. They also decreased water permeability in a dose-dependent

manner. Likewise, the water permeability was associated with the

lipid-packing in a dose-dependent manner.

 

Most other molecules to which the membrane is permeable are, like

water, less able to diffuse through the membrane the more

packed-together it becomes. But not protons.

 

Even more curious, the permeability of the membrane to all other

molecules to which it is permeable is dependent on the concentration

of the given molecule. The more there is on one side, the greater the

degree to which it will flow through the membrane to the other side.

With protons, not so.

 

No one knows quite why this is -- some have speculated that negative

charges on the surface of the membrane can absorb protons and act as a

sort of buffer against proton concentrations.

 

Likewise, no one yet knows why cholesterol fulfills its newfound

function -- to facilitate increased proton flow, despite also

facilitating the packing together of lipids in the membrane, which

we'd expect to inhibit the flow of protons.

 

One possibility? The authors suggest that maybe it's not the quantity

of water in the membrane, but the quality. Maybe the greater

compaction causes the water wires -- or clusters -- in the membrane to

become more ordered themselves, and thus facilitate proton transfer

more easily.

 

After all, we can imagine that a mass of spread out frayed copper wire

with no insulation would do us little good for running our electric

tools and toys. We instead use thin and highly ordered wires wrapped

tightly in a non-conductive wrapping so those electrons stay where

they belong -- traveling straightly through the wire.

 

The study is just one more piece of evidence that cholesterol is in

our bodies and in the bodies of every animal because it's supposed to

be there.

 

Gensure, et al., " Lipid raft components cholesterol and sphingomyelin,

increase H+/OH- permeability of phosphatidylcholine membranes, "

Biochem J., May 17 ( 2006) [Epub ahead of print].

 

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