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). 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.
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 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.
