CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE and the CHOLESTEROL SAGA

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CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE and

the CHOLESTEROL SAGA

http://www.health-science-spirit.com/cholesterol.html

by Walter Last

 

For many years we have been inundated with anti-cholesterol campaigns and

suddenly now we hear or read of one scientific study after another telling us

that cholesterol, after all, may be good for us.

 

The first major shock for the cholesterol-heart disease theory came in 1990

with a publication in the British Medical Journal. It was an analysis of six

major intervention trials involving tens of thousands of people over several

years. The result was unexpected. There was indeed a small reduction of about

ten

per cent in cholesterol levels and a reduction of 14 per cent in the rate of

death from heart disease in the groups treated medically with drugs and low

cholesterol diets.

 

However the total number of deaths was significantly higher in patients with

medically lowered cholesterol as compared to controls. This included not only

higher mortality from cancer, but surprisingly, on average, a 67% higher

mortality from violent death, such as accidents, homicides and suicides. This

high

rate of death from violent causes was found in every single one of these six

trials - unlikely to be mere coincidence.

 

In looking for an explanation, researchers discovered that monkeys became

more aggressive on a diet low in cholesterol and saturated fat, and human

studies

further found that criminals, on average, had lower cholesterol levels. This

applied quite generally to individuals with aggressive or violent behaviour or

limited self control and also those involved with homicide and suicide.

 

Another scientific publication voiced concern over evidence that about half

of the men who die of sudden heart attack do not have any of the risk factors

commonly associated with heart disease, such as elevated cholesterol or blood

pressure, diabetes, obesity or smoking. This would suggest that the main cause

of heart attacks is still unknown to medicine.

 

Another major study to come out was even more devastating. The headline in

The Australian read 'Cutting Cholesterol Can Kill You'. This Finnish study

followed 1,222 Helsinki businessmen considered at high risk of heart attack for

15

years. Half were put on an intensive program of dietary regulation and other

treatment while the other half served as control. After 15 years the

low-cholesterol group had 67 deaths overall with 34 from heart disease. The

control

group had only half the overall deathrate with 14 cardiac deaths.

 

In the light of this result the medical director of the British Heart

Foundation admitted that the existing advice to cut cholesterol was not based on

'definitive research'. What, than, was it based on?

 

While Professor Shaw, the director of the National Heart Foundation in

Australia, publicly defended the anti-cholesterol stand of our health

authorities,

Ray Johnstone, a former senior research fellow with the NHMRC, challenged

anyone to produce one trial, which has produced any change in mortality, other

than

an increase, as a result of medical intervention. To illustrate the scope of

this research, one such trial costs about 200 million dollars and there were

about 23 such trials. Surely it would be better to spend taxpayers' money on

something more constructive, such as looking for the real causes of heart

disease?

 

Why we need cholesterol

 

The cholesterol saga started several decades ago when researchers found that

those dying from heart disease also frequently had elevated blood cholesterol

levels as well as fatty plaque, called atheromas, which clog up the arteries

of the heart muscle. These atheromas consisted of wildly proliferating smooth

muscle cells filled surrounded by a fatty sludge containing a high level of

cholesterol.

 

Medical authorities believed that cutting down on our cholesterol intake

would lower our cholesterol blood levels and thus reduce the risk of heart

disease. Biochemists, however, were generally sceptical of this idea. After all,

the

liver itself produces most of our cholesterol requirements. Approximately one

gram daily is synthesised from the breakdown products of saturated fats and

sugars and less than half a gram is absorbed from our food. The more cholesterol

we absorb, the less is produced in the liver. With this, the overall

cholesterol level remains fairly stable. Any surplus cholesterol is normally

excreted

with the bile.

 

Actually, cholesterol is a very valuable and useful substance. It provides

the basic structure for the synthesis of steroid hormones and vitamin D and it

is a major component of cell membranes, especially high in the brain and

nervous system. In the liver it is converted into bile acids and bile salts

needed

for the digestion and absorption of all lipids and fat-related substances.

However, if we are deficient in the emulsifier lecithin or in sulphur amino

acids,

cholesterol may accumulate as gall-stones.

 

So you can see that it is very important for us to have enough cholesterol.

Furthermore, some wasting diseases, such as cancer, are associated with a

cholesterol deficiency, and hypoglycemics are commonly found to have low

cholesterol levels.

 

How we produce cholesterol

 

Why then do some people get raised blood cholesterol levels when the liver is

supposed to keep cholesterol stable? Obviously, in these cases something must

interfere with the regulating mechanism in the liver. This something is the

trio of sugar, starch and saturated fat.

 

When we ingest sugar our blood insulin level is raised. A key enzyme of

cholesterol synthesis is actually regulated by insulin. This means a higher

sugar

intake generates a higher insulin level and with this higher fat and

cholesterol production.

 

The word 'sugar', however, does not simply mean sucrose, our common household

sugar. There are different forms of sugar. Sucrose is a combination of

glucose and fructose. Fructose actually has a much greater influence on insulin

levels than glucose. Human liver biopsy samples converted fructose into fatty

acids and cholesterol at rates three to 24 times faster than glucose, with the

highest rates occurring in those with a disposition to atherosclerosis.

 

While fruits contain fructose in addition to glucose and commonly in

combination with fruit acids, this is usually beneficial to produce energy

rather than

cholesterol. However, if fruits are combined with starches, then the greatly

increased insulin levels due to the presence of fructose cause more of the

glucose from the starches to be converted to fats and cholesterol.

 

An even stronger insulin effect than by ingesting equal amounts of glucose

and fructose occurs when eating these simple sugars chemically combined as

sucrose. This is called the disaccharide effect. Even monkeys produced three

times

more deposited lipids on a diet high in sucrose than with glucose. As with

fruits, this effect is magnified if sucrose is combined with starches. It is

greatest in combination with easily digested starches, mainly refined grain

products, or flours and cereals.

 

After eating a meal of sweetened cereals the body is in danger of being

flooded with glucose. To prevent a dangerous rise in blood sugar levels, the

glucose needs to be converted into a more harmless product. To a limited degree

this

can be done by forming glycogen for short-term storage. Later, as needed,

this can be converted back to glucose. However, the glycogen store is quickly

filled up and any additional glucose will now be converted into saturated fats

and cholesterol for long-term storage.

 

If, in this situation our diet is also high in saturated fats, then these

just increase the existing oversupply. If the body has a good fat storage

system,

then it just puts on weight. If the transport into storage is more limited,

then fats and cholesterol accumulate in the blood and start clogging up the

blood vessels.

 

Oxidised cholesterol

 

We can now see that a diet high in sugar, refined starches and fat is the

main cause of a raised cholesterol level. In contrast the cholesterol content of

our diet has been repeatedly shown to have little impact. Yet this still does

not prove that there is a causal relationship between elevated cholesterol

levels and heart disease.

 

However, such a direct connection has been shown to exist with

oxy-cholesterol. If cholesterol in food is heated, especially with access of

air, then it is

oxidised to oxy-cholesterol. Animal experiments with high intakes of either

cholesterol or oxy-cholesterol have shown atherogenic degeneration only with

the latter, not with cholesterol itself.

 

This would imply that a main contributing factor to our high rate of heart

disease is our habit of overly heating and in particular frying meat, eggs and

milk products. However, once the arteries are damaged, then high cholesterol

levels may or may not contribute to the deposits of fatty sludge.

 

Further clues can he found in the history of heart disease. Heart attacks

were extremely rare in earlier centuries, and even at the beginning of this

century. A medical textbook published in 1912 describes angina pectoris, a mild

form of heart attack, as being very rare, and a famous American heart specialist

did not see his first heart attack patient until 1920. Yet from about 1920 the

explosive rise in the incidence of heart disease began in Western countries.

 

The recently published statistics of an extended family with genetically high

levels of cholesterol confirms this picture. During the 1800's members of

this family actually lived longer than the average for that time but from 1915

onwards their rate of premature deaths began to rise and reached a peak around

1950.

 

As China and other developing countries remain free of heart disease, we may

ask what was it that fundamentally changed the lifestyle of Western

populations at that time? Two important changes took place: the chlorination of

public

water supplies began at the turn of the century, and the pasteurisation of milk

products became compulsory.

 

Pasteurised milk, fats and oils

 

Before pasteurisation nature-cure doctors recommended milk as a cure for many

illnesses. Raw milk cures were famous at the beginning of the last century.

Formerly people consumed plenty of cream and butter, and rich meals prepared

with them, and in Bulgaria and the Caucasus they set records in good health and

longevity on full-fat milk products. An American doctor routinely cured

psoriasis by having his patients eat two pounds of butter a week! Despite all of

this fatty food heart attacks were virtually unknown.

 

Now, milk is no longer a cure for any disease - on the contrary - natural

therapists generally regard milk as disease forming, butter is known to

aggravate

psoriasis and heart disease is rampant. The difference? Heating over 50ºC

destroys the enzymes plentiful in raw milk.

 

Some diseases that were formerly improved with raw milk can now be

successfully treated with high-level enzyme supplements. Specifically, it is the

fat-digesting enzyme lipase, which works most of the healing miracles (see the

article Lipase and the Fat Metabolism

http://www.health-science-spirit.com/lipase.html ). With cardiovascular disease

there is a deficiency of lipase in the

bloodstream. Lipase released by the pancreas helps to digest fats, while lipase

in

the bloodstream and cells helps to break down unwanted fatty deposits.

 

There are, however fats and oils that are even worse than pasteurised butter.

These are the oils with a high content of unnatural trans-fatty acids, such

as margarines, shortenings and hydrogenated oils and fats, and to some degree

even our common salad and cooking oils. Trans-fatty acids are not only produced

by hydrogenation but also by heating of oils. Fats and cholesterol are

transported in the blood in the form of lipoproteins, and trans-fatty acids

produce

a more unfavourable lipoprotein profile than any other fats. They are not

readily metabolised either and tend to clog up the system.

 

Water chlorination

 

Experimental use of chlorine to kill bacteria in public water supplies began

around the turn of this century and was generally accepted in Western

countries in the l920's. Part of the chlorine reacts with organic impurities to

form

organochlorins (DDT is an Organo-chlorine) while the rest remains as residual

free chlorine in the water. It may then react either with food chemicals or

with parts of our digestive tract.

 

From 1920 onwards the explosive increase in the incidence of cardiovascular

disease and fatal heart attacks began, but only in countries that chlorinated

their water supplies. These diseases remained unknown, for instance, in Africa,

China, Japan, and other parts of ASIA. However, when Japanese citizens

immigrated to Hawaii where water was chlorinated, they suffered the same rate of

heart attacks as the Americans, and the black population in the US have the

average US rate of heart attacks but not their brothers in Africa. Inhabitants

of

the non-chlorinated Roseto in Pennsylvania remained free of heart attacks

unless they moved to a chlorinated area.

 

In 1967 a Dr J. Price in the US performed a decisive experiment. With one

group of 50 three-month-old chickens (cockerels) he added one third of a

teaspoon

of chlorine bleach to about one litre of water whilst another group of 50

chickens served as controls. Seven months later over 95 per cent of the

chlorinated group had advanced atherosclerosis, yet none of the control group

showed

any such evidence.

 

In the following years Dr Price repeated his experiment many times, always

with the same results, and recently even researchers funded by the US

Environmental Protection Agency have confirmed atherosclerotic type changes in

other

animals, including monkeys, when exposed to chlorinated water.

 

Deficiencies

 

Other contributing factors in cardiovascular disease are vitamin B6 and

magnesium deficiency, high ferritin or iron levels, a low intake of omega-3

fatty

acids, and chronic dental infestations with specific bacteria. Dr McCully

discovered in the 1960's that with vitamin B6 deficiency a toxic breakdown

product

of the amino acid methionine accumulates. This chemical, homocystine, causes

free-radical damage to the arteries. Even young children with vitamin B6

deficiency were found to die of rapidly developing atherosclerosis.

 

Dr Suzman in South Africa specialised in treating heart patients with 200 mg

of vitamin B6 daily, in addition to B-complex tablets. He had remarkable

success with extremely low re-infarction rates. In addition, folic acid lowers

homocystine levels, especially in combination with vitamin B12. High iron levels

have been strongly linked to free-radical damage in the arteries and subsequent

plaque formation.

 

WHAT CAN WE DO?

 

Public Health officials claim wrongly that water chlorination is essential to

prevent microbial contamination. Public water supplies can be made safe with

ozone or exposure to ultraviolet light at no greater expense than with

chlorine. Even sunlight is very effective with 99.9 per cent of coliforms

(pathogenic

bacteria) killed within 90 minutes in one experiment. For sterilising our

individual water supply we may simply add a teaspoon of 3 per cent hydrogen

peroxide (best food-grade) to several litres of drinking water or expose it

either

in a shallow container or even in a clear glass bottle for several hours to

sunlight.

 

Fats and Oils

 

In many countries it is illegal to sell raw milk products. Nevertheless, make

an effort to obtain non-pasteurized products whenever possible. Sometimes

they are available as pet milk or bath milk. Recently I heard an Australian

cheese producer saying on ABC radio that he submitted some of his self-produced

unpasteurized cheeses for testing. They were completely free of pathogenic

bacteria unlike pasteurised products, which commonly contain disease-causing

microbes up to a legal limit.

 

The reason for this superior safety of raw cheeses is their high content of

lactobacilli, which kill harmful microbes, while in pasteurised products any

survivors or contaminants can multiply unchallenged. Therefore, milk products

correctly fermented with lactic acid are not only healthy but also safe, unlike

their pasteurised counterparts.

 

Avoid highly heated fatty and oily foods, especially if heated with access to

air as in frying. Not only are heated animal fats harmful when they form

oxy-cholesterol, but also polyunsaturated oils that are oxidised and

peroxidised.

However, if you do eat fried meat, then remove the outer browned parts.

 

Use vegetable oils that have not been heated to more than 450C at the most.

Generally, I trust only high-quality linseed oil, cold processed cod liver oil

and extra virgin olive oil to fall in this category, in addition to some

speciality oils if the label states that they have been produced below 450C.

Oils

simply labelled as being cold-pressed may or may not fall into this category.

Fish oils and linseed oil are high in omega-3 fatty acids that are

anti-inflammatory and also protect our arteries from clogging up.

 

However, the most important ingredient of fatty foods is the fat-digesting

enzyme lipase. It is highest in unheated animal fats, raw coconut cream and

avocados. If you cannot obtain and use these in unheated form, then it is

advisable to use lipase supplements. Low doses with meals (about 5,000 to 20,000

LU)

aid in the absorption and utilisation of lipids, while fat deposits and plaques

may be mobilized and clogged arteries cleaned out with up to 200,000 LU in

divided doses before meals. For further details see Lipase and the Fat

Metabolism

http://www.health-science-spirit.com/lipase.html

 

Other Foods and Remedies

 

For overall health, as well as for heart health, cut down on sweet food, in

particular minimise the combination of starches with sugar or fruit that cause

most of the harmful effects of an exaggerated insulin response. Basically,

this means eating fruit on their own well before meals containing vegetables or

starches. The best action for affected individuals is to avoid all grain or

cereal products until the arteries are cleared, and then use only a moderate

amount of non-gluten grains, such as millet and brown rice.

 

In addition, various specific nutrients have a protective effect, such as

ginger, green tea, grape seed extract, vitamins C and B6, natural vitamin E and

magnesium, especially my favourite magnesium chloride. Commonly about 5 g of

vitamin C in divided doses should be sufficient, part of this as ascorbic acid.

However, this is not needed on a diet high in fresh fruit and vegetables.

 

All coloured foods are good and especially purple foods such as beetroot,

dark grape juice and including red wine. In addition to an anti-inflammatory

effect, these nutrients have an anti-coagulant effect and discourage the

formation

of damaging blood clots. With seriously ill patients the so-called Pauling

therapy is helpful: in addition to other recommended nutrients use 5 to 10 g of

vitamin C, 5 to 6 g of the amino acid lysine and 2 g of carnitine daily, all

in 4 divided doses.

 

Clogged arteries may also be cleaned with 4 to 6 drops of a saturated

solution of potassium iodide (SSKI) in addition to sufficient niacin to produce

flushing, usually 50 to 250 mg. For best results also use sufficient omega-3

fatty

acids, magnesium, lecithin and sulfur in your diet (e.g. onions, eggs, or MSM.

 

It has been shown with electro-acupuncture diagnosis that there is an

interference connection between the jawbone position of the wisdom teeth and the

heart. Such interference arises either from dead or bad wisdom teeth or from

chronic inflammation or osteitis in this jawbone position, which may remain

there

indefinitely, even after extraction of the tooth. The normal remedy is to

scrape out (curette) the affected area. Also microbes from dead or root canal

treated teeth and from inflamed gums have been linked to heart disease.

Routinely

gargling with diluted hydrogen peroxide can do much to reduce microbial

infestations in the mouth.

 

In reflexology there is a connection between the heart and the soft pad at

the base of the left thumb. If there is a heart problem, this part will be

rather sensitive when pressed. Heart diseases and especially acute conditions

can

be greatly improved by repeatedly and for long periods pressing strongly into

the base of the left thumb. Heart attacks reportedly have been stopped in their

tracks by doing this. In an emergency press as hard as you can, at other

times only as much as you reasonably can stand the pain. As the condition

improves, the tenderness at the base of the left thumb will gradually lessen.

 

Restoring a Healthy Cardiovascular System

 

Bypass surgery or stents do little to restore a healthy cardiovascular

system. If the diet is not improved, then arteries just continue clogging up,

and

there is little if any overall benefit for patients from these medical

procedures. However, there are very effective and fast-acting methods to clean

out

congested arteries.

 

1) Go for several days on a lemon juice fast: ten to twelve times during the

day in hourly intervals drink a large glass of purified water or herb tea with

the juice of a quarter of a lemon, no other food. This is also a good way to

restore sensitivity to insulin, or normalise the blood sugar regulation, or if

you want to lose weight. However, it will be more effective if you combine it

with a program of intestinal sanitation: first thing in the morning take a

tablespoon of Epsom salt and crushed garlic in a glass of water, an hour later

take some acidophilus culture with your first lot of lemon juice. If you cannot

use the Epsom salt and garlic, then take instead a teaspoon of psyllium hulls

in a large glass of water once or twice a day to ensure continued bowel

movements during the fast.

 

Citric acid reacts with fatty acids to produce energy. As long as you have

fatty deposits, you can easily live on lemon juice. This is not fanciful as

basically all of our food is internally converted into citric acid before it is

converted into energy. However, to convert citric acid completely into energy,

it needs to react with the breakdown products of fatty acids, see The Cellular

Energy Metabolism http://www.health-science-spirit.com/HF5-2.html#citric

for a diagram of this process. The late Dr Carey Reams reputedly cured

thousands of diabetics of both types with a 3-week lemon juice fast that cleared

the

body of unhealthy fat deposits. Every hour or ten times daily patients would

drink a glassful with one part of lemon juice and 9 parts of water, followed

after 3 weeks by an allergy-tested natural diet.

 

2) A milder procedure allows you to continue eating your normal healthy diet

but each day you take a mixture of garlic and lemon. In a blender vitamise the

following: about 30 peeled cloves of garlic, 5 lemons with skin (cut into

smaller pieces), and some additional water. After blending rinse the blender

with

some more water and bring the mixture to boiling in a non-metal pot. Let it

cool, strain and bottle the lot, keep refrigerated. Aim to have about 1 litre

of liquid, the more creamy it is the better. Take a liqueur glass or about 30

ml of the mixture once or twice a day with a meal for 3 weeks. You may either

continue doing this until you believe your blood vessels have sufficiently

improved, or interrupt for a few weeks and then have another round of the

mixture.

Continue this until you can assume that your arteries are clean.

 

3) Three times a day during a meal take one teaspoon of powdered cayenne in a

small amount of water so that you can swallow it in one gulp. Then

immediately drink some more of a suitable liquid, and eat something as well. A

large

amount of cayenne commonly is no more irritating or hot than a small amount.

Cayenne is excellent for restoring the health of the blood circulation system.

For more information about the benefits of cayenne see

http://www.herballegacy.com/cayenne.htm. Dr Christopher also claimed that this

method would normalise

the blood pressure, and that a spoonful of cayenne in water would quickly end a

heart attack.

 

4) This one is my preferred blood vessel cleanse for quick results. Use

mainly tart varieties, such as Granny Smith, and eat them spaced out during the

day instead of in meal portions. Try to obtain organic apples, otherwise scrub

them in warm soap water and rinse well. Preferably ingest the peels as well. If

apples are out of season and not available, you may use a small raw vegetable

salad instead, use only lemon juice and cayenne as salad dressing (no

mayonnaise).

 

In addition, also spaced out during the day, drink (purified) water or herb

tea with the addition of lemon juice. Use 1 part of lemon juice to 9 parts of

water. Preferably drink a glassful of this every hour or ten to twelve times a

day.

 

It is beneficial to stir about half a teaspoon of spirulina powder into the

lemon juice drink. You may also use chlorella powder instead, or barley grass

or wheat grass powder (or juice), or a mixture of all or several of these, in

addition to a teaspoon of bee pollen.

 

If the lemon drinks taste too acid, partly neutralize the lemon juice. The

healthiest way is by keeping the juice of a lemon in contact with a spoonful of

dolomite powder for about on hour or two. When needed for a drink, pour off

the required amount. Add more lemon juice to the dolomite as needed. The next

day use fresh dolomite powder. If occasionally you do not have sufficient lemon

juice at hand, you may use a tablespoonful of (organic) cider vinegar in a

glass of water.

 

Each morning for the duration of the cleanse take a large glassful of water

with about a tablespoon of Epsom salts, more or less as required to clean out

the bowels. Add to this a clove of garlic crushed in some lemon juice; lemon

juice reacts with garlic to reduce the smell. Immediately afterwards drink more

water or herb tea. Any water for drinking and cooking should be free of

chlorine and added fluoride, use a water filter if necessary or buy suitable

water.

(Normal water filters do not remove fluoride).

If you cannot use Epsom salts, then take instead a teaspoon of psyllium hulls

in a large glass of water once or twice a day to ensure continued easy bowel

movements during the fast.

 

If you cannot take garlic, try putting it into capsules. About one hour later

take with a glass of diluted lemon juice either several teaspoons of

milk-free acidophilus culture or several high-potency acidophilus capsules,

preferably

containing bifido bacteria, and possibly also other lactobacteria.

 

Preferably do this cleanse for about a week, and repeat several times a year.

If you can do it only on weekends, then do it for 4 0r 5 weekends.

Caution: During cleansing periods unpleasant symptoms may temporarily

develop. If these are too severe then interrupt the cleanse and repeat again at

a

later time. However, some nausea, weakness or headaches are common, especially

in the beginning. For more details about such reactions read the

Healing Crisis http://www.health-science-spirit.com/healingcrisis.html .