The Cholesterol Myth

In the last 3 years I have successfully treated many cases of high cholesterol.  When I first started asking the body about it, I was stunned the sufferers body's repeatedly asked for 14 eggs a week to be included in the diet.    Their bodies told me that in most cases, where the cause was not purely genetic (which only happens in 5% of my clients), the body manufactured cholesterol out of carbohydrates, NOT FAT!   In fact cholesterol is so vital to the optimum functioning of the body that there is an enzyme in our Liver, whose sole function is to switch itself on in times of dietary cholesterol famine and manufacture the shortfall.  It uses all excess dietary carbohydrates and sugars to make a rather poor form of LDL, the bad type of cholesterol, not fat!!   As our modern diets are so high in excess sugars in the form of bread, rice, potato, sugars, too much fruit, ALCOHOL ( a super sugar), there is in fact plenty of excess fuel to make this cholesterol from.  It is no wonder that high cholesterol is becoming an epidemic.   When the drug companies first introduced the cholesterol lowering drugs or Statin drugs in around 1975, it was in their interest that we were discouraged from eating good dietary cholesterol such as eggs.  The bad press about cholesterol laden foods, which have successfully been a part of mans diet for thousands of years, first appeared around the same time.  The less of natures good dietary cholesterol you consume, the more likely you are to create a cholesterol problem and require a life time supply of their drugs.  The Statin drugs are now the most widely used and profitable drugs of all time.  In real cost, they are three times more expensive than when they were first manufactured.  Call me cynical............

I have 26 cases of peoples high cholesterol levels dropping to normal on a high egg, low carbohydrate diet in the last year.  80% of them are no longer taking any medication.

Now this is even more interesting.....

I have seen 5 men who have survived heart attacks.  When I asked their bodies what had caused it, 4 of them told me it was 80% due to WHEAT!  I am talking about the modern day hybrid wheat selectively bred and modified from original SPELT wheat around 130 years ago.  It is this new wheat that we all eat and that 99% of us are intolerant to.  I  now believe after 4 years and over 1500 clients tested that this single food of our modern time, is the biggest health risk of the modern day.

2 years ago a client came to see me for high cholesterol, amongst other things.  He was a 71 year old highly respected Doctor and Pediatrician. Apart from needing 14 eggs a week, (his cholesterol has now normalized and he is not taking medication after 30 years of doing so) his heart function was very low.  On further questioning, his body told me that he had a blockage in one of the heart arteries of around 61%.  He had had a Stent inserted the previous year by the renowned Mayo Clinic in America who had confirmed a similar blockage percentage at the time, unknown to me.  His body insisted that the blockage was not due to the cholesterol but to wheat in his diet.  Because our bodies do not digest modern wheat easily, the residue is turned into a substance which appears to be very similar to the cholesterol type substance found in blocked arteries.  He eliminated all the wheat from his diet.  The body tracked the opening up of the arteries for me as time went by until at only 21% blockage by my reckoning, the doctor returned to the Mayo Clinic for further checks.  To their amazement, they confirmed that his arteries had indeed cleared to around 20% blockage only.

I wrote the following article on heart disease and cholesterol in 2001 when I began investigating the whole subject more deeply.  It will give you a more in-depth scientific view of the whole messy and I feel misunderstood issue of the true role of cholesterol in our lives.

Part I - Why you should eat cholesterol                    

If you read nothing else today, for your health’s sake, please read this article.  We are now so frightened by cholesterol and its assumed major role in causing heart disease and strokes, that by avoiding it not only are we are in grave danger of causing serious damage to our health, but we are missing the whole picture and not giving equal attention to other potential causes.

For the last 50 years, the tendency of modern medicine has been to pick out a single disease characteristic and look for a single agent to treat it.  However, this approach doesn’t fit in with the way our bodies work ­ we have multi-functioning systems that interact within a complex whole. In other words ­ cutting out cholesterol to stop heart disease is like looking at a word and thinking you understand the whole sentence.

The focus on elevated blood cholesterol as an inevitable cause of heart disease, is a good example of the inadequacy of the single cause/ single solution medical model.  Cholesterol lowering drugs are among the most prescribed medications of our time.  Low cholesterol/ low fat foods are a huge industry and are marketed to promote a healthy heart.  Most people, thanks to repeated and effective marketing by food manufacturers and public health messages, now mistakenly believe that as long as they keep their cholesterol level below 200, they won’t have to worry about heart disease. Meanwhile we keep hearing about someone whose blood cholesterol levels were normal and seemed to be the picture of health, when they suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack.  This couldn’t happen if cholesterol were the whole story of heart disease.

Fats and Cholesterol are good for you!

Cholesterol and all types of natural fat eaten in moderation, are vital to health.  The fact is that in the United States, prior to 1910, people ate a diet full of saturated fats (which are notoriously high in cholesterol) and yet its rate of heart disease was much lower than it is now.  Although it is high in fat, the Mediterranean diet, in which the fats are primarily mono-saturated fats from olive oil, is associated with lower heart disease risk.  Greenland Eskimos, whose diet is extraordinarily high in fat, also have a low incidence of heart disease. This is now thought to be because the fat they eat comes almost entirely from cold water fish and seals, also rich in the same Omega 3 fatty acids found in olive oil, which seem to protect the heart function, despite normal cholesterol intake.

So what is Cholesterol used for in the body?

Cholesterol is used as essential building material for hormones, membranes and other structures. Oestrogen, testosterone, adrenalin, all our other sex and stress coping hormones and vitamin D are made from the cholesterol in our bodies. It helps cells maintain their structure and function and it is also the substance from which the liver manufactures bile acids so we can digest and assimilate nutrients from food.  It is essential for brain function and the stabilisation of neurotransmitters.  Mood problems such as depression, agitation, and irritability can occur when your body does not get sufficient cholesterol.    Cholesterol also forms insulation around the nerves to keep electrical impulses moving.  Without this insulation there is an increase in the potential for nerve disorders.  Medical investigators at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Centre on Aging recently reported that cholesterol plays an important role in protecting against aging of the brain as well as the heart.  Interestingly, recent studies from the Netherlands indicate that in people older than 85 years, high blood cholesterol levels are associated with longevity and good health, owing to a lower mortality from both cancer and infectious diseases.  The complex nature of heart disease is beginning to emerge from clinics, laboratories and research institutions around the world.  This research has led to the realisation that factors other than cholesterol may play a role in heart disease.  Meanwhile, the almost hysterical public reaction to cholesterol needs to be addressed.

Cholesterol production and Sugar

The only way to ease people’s fears about cholesterol is to explain the manufacture and role of carbohydrates, insulin and cholesterol in the body.  When you eat carbohydrates, the sugars they contain trigger the release of insulin in the blood.  Insulin communicates with the liver as to how much sugar has entered the body. The body recognises all carbohydrates as sugar, whether they are in the form of grains, starches, fruit, milk or sweets.  The role of the liver is to regulate how much sugar is then released into the blood stream and to the brain.

When you eat excess carbohydrates at a meal, (for example, too much starch in the form of pasta, rice, bread and potatoes, or too much sugar in the form of desserts), the amount of sugar entering the liver is too high to pass directly to the brain.  The liver must therefore convert some of the sugar into other forms of energy to regulate tightly the amount of sugar passing into the bloodstream.  However, if the body does not need energy at the moment or the liver stores are already sufficiently full, the body will convert sugar into cholesterol, and/ or into triglycerides, which are fatty acids used for energy or fat storage.

This normal healthy process malfunctions when you deprive your body of cholesterol and over-eat carbohydrates, or if you engage in any other lifestyle habit that increases insulin secretion.  Other important factors which also cause high insulin levels and overproduction of cholesterol by the body include stress, dieting, caffeine, alcohol, aspartame (artificial sweeteners), tobacco, steroids, lack of exercise, stimulant and other recreational drugs, all over-the-counter and prescription drugs and eating a diet insufficient in proteins and fats, while eating excessive carbohydrates.  All the above are also linked with heart disease.

What really happens if I stop eating cholesterol?

Cholesterol is so important to your body that we all have an in-built protection should our incoming dietary needs fall below the bodies vital requirements.  When you do not eat cholesterol, your body sees this deprivation as a time of ‘famine’. During this famine, insulin activates an enzyme in your liver called HMG Co-A Reductase that begins to overproduce cholesterol from the carbohydrates that you eat.  The internal overproduction of cholesterol contributes to the formation of the damaging artery plaque that leads to diseases such as heart attacks and strokes.

The only way to switch off the enzyme HMG Co-A Reductase is by eating a sufficient amount of cholesterol daily, found naturally and in nature’s bounteous balance; in foods such as eggs, meat, avocado, shellfish and dairy products.  When HMG Co-A Reductase is blocked by eating sufficient cholesterol, excess cholesterol cannot be formed in the liver by sugar. The body manufactures around 70 % of our total cholesterol.  Our bodies know exactly how to dispose of un-needed cholesterol when this enzyme is not activated.  Only about 1 per cent of us are born with a genetic tendency to make too much cholesterol.

Drug companies are well aware of the function of the enzyme HMG Co-A Reductase.  This knowledge has led to the invention of drugs that switch off production of cholesterol in the body by blocking HMG Co-A Reductase - the so-called ‘Statin’ drugs.  Drug companies continue to market these drugs while researching new ones to switch off cholesterol production in the body, instead of simply advising people to eat cholesterol and decrease sugar and stimulant consumption.  Eating cholesterol is one of the most important things you can do for your body.  Long term deprivation of it not only causes abnormal cholesterol levels, blocked arteries and heart disease, but also greatly increases the vulnerability of cells to cancer, which need cholesterol for strong cell membranes and healthy immune function. 

You must eat eggs again!

If you have high cholesterol, the only way you will balance that level naturally is to start eating sufficient cholesterol to switch the enzyme off and at the same time, significantly reduce your sugar and starch intake.  This means you can eat as many as 10 - 14 eggs a week plus some butter and avocado daily, to force the enzyme to shut down! I know, shocking isn’t it?  After all these years of being told how bad eggs are for you this will seem a complete anathema.  But anybody who has stuck to his or her cholesterol free diet rigidly and still seen their cholesterol levels continue to rise, knows that that approach is flawed ­ and HMG Co-A Reductase is the reason why!

Initially, your cholesterol levels may rise slightly as both the foods and enzyme contribute cholesterol to your body. Your body can manage this as it will only be for a short space of time.  In the case of a 70 year old male client, who was himself a doctor and able to monitor his own cholesterol level weekly, his total cholesterol level actually dropped 50 points after 10 days of eating two eggs daily.  He had suffered from high cholesterol for 30 years and controlled it with the Statin drug.   The level then recovered by 30 points a week later to remain within the normal range. Over the following 3 months, his HDL rose as his bad LDL dropped.  It has now stabilised and he is slowly weaning off the statin drug without any corresponding rise in LDL.

After 3 months, the enzyme will switch off and your cholesterol levels will begin to drop and balance out.  I have seen this happen in every case when I have convinced people to try it.  If you are currently taking a Statin drug to control your cholesterol levels, it is important that you stay on the drug for the first 3 months, and then taper it off slowly.  During the correction period, have a cholesterol test every month, so you can track this pattern.  Once your cholesterol levels are normal, continue including moderate daily amounts of cholesterol in your diet.  When you look at our diets historically, our bodies have eaten cholesterol- laden foods for thousands of years.  But it is only in the last 100 years that our consumption of sugar and man-made high starch carbohydrate foods has increased so dramatically; a ratio reflected in the proportional increase in heart disease and strokes.

Health is about balance: in your diet, in your lifestyle, in your emotional well-being and in your spiritual life.  Nature has provided the foods we need to be healthy in perfect balance.  It is our modification and refinement of food and the amount of starch and sugar we consume in the western world, that has led to such imbalance and ill health. 

Part 11  The Right way to eat for your heart.

Where did the fear of cholesterol all start?

Ironically, a landmark study appearing in the December 12, 1981 issue of the Lancet launched the fear of cholesterol.  It was titled “Effect of Diet and Smoking Intervention on the Incidence of Coronary Artery Disease”.  Let me walk you through this study.

In Oslo, Norway, researchers tracked a group of 1,232 men considered to have a higher risk for coronary heart disease because they smoked and had high total cholesterol levels.  The men were then split into an intervention group and a control group.  Members of the control group were told to continue their current lifestyle and given no further attention. 

The intervention group was given much more attention. Those with high triglyceride levels were given specific instructions to stop smoking, eat less sugar, drink less alcohol and reduce cholesterol intake. Every six months they were encouraged to improve their lifestyle habits.  At the end of a five-year period, the intervention group had decreased their heart disease and death by 47% over the control group.  Their total cholesterol levels had dropped 13 percent lower than that of the control group.

Unfortunately, this study was misinterpreted, with tragic results.  The intervention group had cut back smoking by 45 % compared to the control group.  But it was not recognised at the time that smoking altered cholesterol numbers.  In fact, few people realise now that most brands of tobacco are soaked in sugar solution to make them sweeter and more addictive and can contain up to 100 different chemicals, all of which increase insulin levels.  The success of the study was solely attributed to eating less cholesterol, instead of taking into account the many other factors involved. The study had a huge impact on the medical community and the low fat movement was launched.  The real truth is that anything that lowers your insulin levels will cause a drop in cholesterol levels. 

You can initially see good results with a low fat diet.  When you exercise and eat a low fat, high carbohydrate diet, excess carbohydrates will be turned into cholesterol and fats; these are then used by the body as energy. Remember, the body recognises all carbohydrates as sugar, whether they are in the form of grains, starches, fruit, milk or sweets. During this stage, your cholesterol profile will significantly improve.  But you are burning muscle mass and destroying your body on a cellular level, especially if you are exercising.  As your protein intake on these diets is too low to meet your daily protein requirements, your metabolism eventually slows down as muscle mass is diminished.  Now any excess carbohydrates you eat will be converted into cholesterol and not used.  Over time your cholesterol levels will rise. Combine this with a low cholesterol diet, by avoiding eggs, meat, dairy and shellfish, and you are in trouble.  When you consume too little cholesterol, the liver switches on the enzyme HMG Co-A Reductase, whose sole job is to manufacture more cholesterol from incoming carbohydrate to fill this deficiency.  The body cannot then control the amount of cholesterol being produced as it will depend directly on how much sugar and carbohydrate you are eating.  So you can see, by continuing on your high carbohydrate, low protein, low fat diet, you are actually causing more and more cholesterol to be produced.

A better way of eating

Studies around the world continue to indicate that a low-fat, high fibre diet rich in unrefined, complex carbohydrates helps lower the risk of heart disease and improve heart health.  But it is often our interpretation of what constitutes a low fat or a high fibre food that can be confusing.

Statistics also clearly support continued monitoring of diet and lifestyle, aimed at reducing levels of bad LDL cholesterol.  Total cholesterol numbers are derived by adding together the three different cholesterol carrying proteins (lipo = fat):  high-density lipoproteins HDL’s, low-density lipoproteins LDL’s, and very low- density lipoproteins VLDL’s.  However, they all perform different functions in the body and adding them up to arrive at a total number does not tell you anything.  You can have a heart attack with what everyone calls ‘normal’ cholesterol numbers; conversely you can end up living a long life with what people call abnormal total cholesterol levels.  Ideally, one wants to have high HDL’s and low VLDL’s.

High fibre unrefined complex carbohydrates do not include white refined rice, all semi refined and white bread, pasta, anything made with processed flour and most breakfast cereals. They are brown rice, stone ground natural grains, oats, pulses, nuts, seeds and of course, vegetables.  These foods do not stimulate the same high levels of insulin into the blood and are digested much more slowly.  In the same way, when you eat naturally occurring dietary fats from animal and plant sources, they do not turn into fat on your body, because fats do not stimulate insulin release.  Fat cannot be stored without the presence of insulin because insulin is necessary to open the doors to store fat in fat cells. Fat does not make you fat.  Therefore butter and pasta is a disastrous combination, but butter and vegetables and/or with protein is good for the body.  Low fat diets just aggravate bad health, fatigue, weight gain, anxiety and depression. It is the foods we eat with the fat and the type of fat that make it good or bad.

All fats found in nature are good for you.  Saturated, monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats are all healthy, eaten in their natural state and in moderation.  Our bodies have eaten them and evolved with them over thousands of years.  Your diet should consist of 30% fats, coming from a variety of naturally occurring, unprocessed food such as olive oil, butter, eggs, red meat, avocado, poultry, fish, nuts and seeds.

The body needs the full range of fats found in natural foods for many vital functions in the body.  The brain comprises 60% fat.  Known to be particularly good in preventing heart disease are the Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids.  Foods containing vital Omega 3 fatty acids include fish, olive oil, nuts, seeds and avocado. Omega 6 is obtained from leafy greens, pulses and whole unrefined grains such as rye, oats, whole wheat and barley.  Both these fatty vitamins must be consumed regularly in our food, though they are only needed in small amounts.  Omega 3 will also boost your metabolic rate and act as a diuretic.

Red meat should also be eaten in moderation.  A small steak or some lamb eaten 3 to 4 times weekly is sufficient to be beneficial to your system if you are an O, B or AB blood type.  The A blood type however, does not produce enough hydrochloric acid to properly digest red meat and it is best avoided by them.  Most A’s do not like red meat, other sources of cholesterol are more digestible to their systems.

It is interesting to note that very few, if any, of the scientific studies carried out on humans in the last 50 years have factored in the blood-type ratio of their participants.  As a result, there has been no control for the varying ways that different blood types will react to similar diets.  It is possible that wheat is a greater cause of cancer and bowel disorders in the O and B blood group than a moderate amount of red meat, reflected in the number of people with these blood types who suffer bowel disorders when they eat wheat. The opposite may be true in A and AB blood types, many of whom suffer indigestion if they consume too much meat.  It is also certainly advisable for all blood types to moderate their intake of excess saturated fats. Choose semi-skimmed fat milk and dairy products and limit your consumption of hard and full fat cheeses. Fully skimmed milk does not contain enough fat to stimulate the release of bile from the gall bladder, which is vital for the body to absorb calcium from milk.

Bad fats include hydrogenated fats and transfatty acids found in margarines, crackers, biscuits, baking and cook-in mixes, fast food, processed and packaged foods and all foods containing vegetable oils.  Our rush towards vegetable oils was ill advised.  A prime example of damaged man-made fats are the much processed and surprisingly fragile vegetable oils, such as canola, corn, sunflower, safflower, peanut and soya.  The goodness in these oils is destroyed at the outset when they are extracted through heat.  They quickly become rancid and oxidised, and are bleached and treated with phosphoric acid to become palatable and maintain shelf life. They outnumber the omega-3 fats in the American and UK diet by up to 20:1 when they should be closer to 1:1 or 2:1.  Extra virgin olive oil is the only exception to this rancid oil story, as the oil is cold pressed and completely natural.  Processed vegetable oils are now contributing directly to unneeded weight gain, and to some of our most common and serious health conditions, including heart disease, inflammatory and autoimmune problems such as rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and Crohn’s disease, as well as osteoporosis, diabetes, colon, prostate and breast cancer.  In Britain, a corn oil diet tested in 1965 actually increased the risk of dying from heart disease.  All these oils contain indigestible and damaging transfatty acids that clog up our arteries. The margarine story is even more horrifying!  Leave them well alone and return to cold pressed virgin olive oil and good quality butter.  Eating saturated fats like butter actually increases the proportion of good cholesterol HDL’s in the bloodstream.  These are considered good because they take cholesterol back to the liver and are therefore thought to protect against heart disease by keeping your arteries clean.  A diet low in fat and high in carbohydrates also depletes your oestrogen levels.  Good oestrogen levels are needed to raise HDL cholesterol levels, the good cholesterol.

And finally, to the egg issue.  The egg is a wonderful source of complete protein and is full of vital nutrients including chromium, now recognised as an important factor in controlling blood sugar levels and high cholesterol. There is no better way to start your day than with two eggs balanced with some whole grain crackers such as ryvita and a bit of butter or olive oil spread.  You may be interested to know that there are no studies directly linking the consumption of eggs with heart disease, despite their bad reputation.  Their association is due to their high cholesterol content only.  A study of 100,000 people published in June 1999 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found no correlation between the consumption of eggs and high cholesterol. Eggs will help turn off the enzyme HMG Co-A Reductase which is produced in the liver when your dietary cholesterol intake is too low.

To sum up….

When it comes to eating right for your heart, return to nature, where good fats are found in healthy digestible forms.  Eat balanced natural foods that are as fresh and as unprocessed as possible.  Strictly limit your intake of starchy, high sugar carbohydrates i.e. pasta, white rice, large amounts of potato, corn and breads; and eat plenty of vegetables. Avoid specialised margarines, vegetable oils, processed foods and fat free foods.  Eat plenty of the good fats such as cold pressed virgin olive oil on your salads and do not worry about normal moderate servings of meat, butter, eggs, shellfish and dairy foods in your diets.  Be particularly careful with sodas and diet drinks.  They are full of either sugar or chemicals, both of which raise your insulin levels.

PART III - Other factors influencing heart disease

Part I and II of this article have looked at the recent scientific understanding of the role of cholesterol, fats and diet in the prevention of heart disease.  Although diet is very central to heart health, there are other important factors to consider including parasite infection, genetic inheritance and lifestyle.

In the last two years alone, new research and studies have caused scientists to question the established understanding of the causes of heart disease and strokes. The complex factors involved in the development of heart disease including genetic factors, are beginning to emerge from clinics, laboratories and research institutions around the world.

The role of bacteria, parasites and infections

From 1972 to 1992 in Scandinavia, 15 young male athletes and one female athlete died of sudden cardiac arrest while they were competing in a sport called orienteering.  This demanding sport, run over long distances through territory with no trails, uses only a map and compass for a guide.  It requires extraordinary fitness, agility and strength.  The athletes who died had very low levels of blood cholesterol and none of the usual risk factors associated with heart disease.

Post-mortem examination revealed evidence of inflammation of the heart that seemed to be caused by a chronic infection with the parasite Chlamydia Pneumonia.  Further studies have confirmed the correlation between this parasite and heart disease.  Other organisms such as Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria that cause stomach ulcers, Candida Albicans, the yeast organism, and Guardia Lambia, the snail parasite found in tropical rivers, have also been found to have a close association with an increased risk of heart disease.  These organisms lead to chronic inflammation and resulting blood marker proteins called Co A and Co C, that increase the risk of damage to the heart and subsequent heart disease.  The importance of this inflammatory reaction helps explain why routinely taking a low dose of the anti-inflammatory drug aspirin helps protect against heart attack.

Many types of infection, toxic exposure or trauma could result in increased production of these inflammatory alarm substances, which can in turn, interact with the genes of susceptible individuals to produce heart inflammation and subsequent disease.  It has only been 3 years since medical investigators discovered this relationship, but we now understand that these markers for inflammation may be better predictors of heart disease than elevated blood cholesterol.

Cholesterol Oxides

other possible contributors to heart disease are substances called cholesterol oxides.  These are forms of cholesterol that have been damaged by ‘oxidative stress’.  When white rabbits were fed a high fat, high cholesterol diet, they developed serious heart and artery disease.  However, when the study was repeated using purified cholesterol so it was 99.999999 percent pure, they were unable to produce the same level of heart disease.  When the scientists then fed the rabbits a very low level of the impurity, cholesterol oxides, that they had refined out of the normal cholesterol, the animals quickly developed very serious heart disease.

The more stress a person is under, the more damage there is to cholesterol, leading to the formation of cholesterol oxides. These include emotional and mental stress, inflammation in the gut and blood, caffeine, alcohol, aspartame (artificial sweeteners), tobacco, steroids, stimulant and other recreational drugs and over-the-counter and prescription drugs.  High serum iron levels, chronic infections and dietary antioxidant deficiencies can all increase cholesterol oxides.  For this reason a dietary supplement of 100 to 250 IU of the antioxidant, vitamin E, daily, plus zinc, vitamin C, selenium and copper, can decrease chances of heart disease by 30 to 40%.

The amino acid Homocysteine

A final indicator now universally accepted as a strong predictor of death from heart disease is elevated levels of the amino acid Homocysteine.  Extensive medical research now suggests that at least 10% of the population carries the genetic risk for production of elevated levels of this amino acid.  Many medical laboratories around the world now offer cardiovascular screening tests that assess levels of this amino acid.  A number of genes interact to give rise to Homocysteine levels, resulting in mild, moderate and severe forms and corresponding varying risks in heart disease. It would be very beneficial if in addition to regular cholesterol tests, Homocysteine levels were also carried out.  Eggs do contain Homocysteine and those who test positive to carrying this gene, should avoid too many eggs and get cholesterol from other sources.   More encouraging was the discovery that increasing the intake of specific nutrients could modify the genetic risk to Homocysteine.  These nutrients are folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin B6 and the B complex substance, and Betaine. 

How much heart disease is genetic?

Scientists now believe that more important than your genetic inheritance is your phenotype ­ the outcome of gene expression and function.  In terms of your health or disease states as an adult, your phenotype is determined by the way you have treated your genes throughout your life.  What you have eaten or drunk, inhaled, surrounded yourself with in your environment, endured as stresses, participated in as activities or suffered as injury, infection or inflammation, contribute in a major way to your state of health or disease.  They assess that genetic inheritance accounts for as little as 30 % of your health profile.  70% gives you plenty of say in how you live…. or die.

Lifestyle

The benefits of exercise for the heart are well documented and well understood.  It is recommended that a minimum of 30 minutes aerobic exercise 4 times a week is sufficient to keep the heart healthy.   Your heart rate should be raised to between 60 and 70% of your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age) for this period to obtain the maximum benefit.  Exercise does not need to be a slog at the gym.  Play tennis or golf; walk around the park, roller blade, cycle or swim.  Park your car as far as you can away from the entrance and walk.  Take the stairs instead of the lifts.  All of these will contribute to the health of your heart.

If you are going to keep smoking… well you should be worrying about your heart even though the chances are you will get lung cancer or other cancers first.  If you still refuse to acknowledge the dangers of smoking and like many actually enjoy it so much that you can ignore the fact it is killing you, get yourself into a lung or cancer ward and see for yourself how important your health is.  One remarkable recent medical discovery concerns genetic inheritance of your body’s ability to detoxify itself.  Nearly every organ of the body contains specific enzymes that participate in protecting the body against potentially injurious substances.  Genetic scientists have found that the detoxification ability of apparently healthy people may vary by a factor of between three and fivefold.  In other words, when two people are exposed to the same substance for a period of years, one may be five times as likely to develop the disease as the other.  Tests are being developed to test for this, but it appears that only a lucky few have a strong detoxification factor.  Our long living grandparents also did not have to contend with the accumulating amounts of pollution, chemicals and additives that are part of modern day life.

Cigarettes contain as many as 100 additional noxious chemicals and are soaked in sugar solution, which is far more addictive than nicotine.  When trying to give up, it is often the sugar cravings that pull you back, not the nicotine.   A natural amino acid called

L-Glutamine, available here in health shops, is excellent in preventing sugar cravings and subsequent weight gain while you are giving up.  It is quite safe to take up to 8 x 500mg daily.  Take it on an empty stomach with water.

And lastly, let’s not forget the importance of stress management and relaxation.  Stress oxidises cholesterol and contributes to those damaging plaques in your arteries.  We live in a stressful time; it isn’t easy to avoid.  However there are repeated studies showing that a brief period a day, as little as 30 ­ 40 minutes of mental relaxation in the form of positive reflection and/or meditation, is effective in reducing the impact of daily stress on the body.  

 In conclusion, in order to decrease your chances of heart disease here are some of the

most important risk factors that you need to modify:

I hope this article has at least caused you to question the popularly held belief that cholesterol is bad for you.  It is not in the drug companies’ interest to broadcast the information in this article, and as they are carrying out the research, they should be responsible for releasing many of these findings to the medical establishment and general public. However, more and more scientists, researchers, doctors, alternative practitioners and many lay people are now questioning the current dietary practices used to control high cholesterol levels, which have proven unsuccessful time and time again, without the intervention of drugs.   The approach put forward in this three-part article, returns to nature, to the foods our bodies have evolved with over thousands of years.  It draws on new information gleaned only in the last 3 years by new scientific breakthroughs. 

Don’t wait until it happens to you  - follow these guidelines and give your whole body, as well as your heart, a new beginning.

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WesslenL, Pahlson C, Lindquist O, et al. “An increase in Sudden Unexpected Cardiac Deaths among Young Swedish Orienteers During 1979-1992,” European Heart Journal.  Vol 17, pp902-10,1996

Woodward, DA and Limacher MC. “The Impact of Diet on Coronary Artery Disease.” Clinical Nutrition 77.4, pp.849-62, 1993

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