10 Ways To Lower Cholesterol Without Drugs

By Dr. W. Gifford Jones

August 1, 1998

Are you worried about your level of blood cholesterol? If not, you must be living on Mars. Day after day patients ask me to measure their blood cholesterol. Others who are aware of an elevated cholesterol level are wondering about taking drugs to lower it. The following are 10 ways to lower blood cholesterol without resorting to drugs.

#1 © First, a caution about the non©drug approach. Don't toss out dairy products or you will jump from the frying pan into the fire. Too many people are doing this, becoming deficient in calcium, and developing osteoporosis (brittle bones) with disastrous results. There are better ways to lower blood cholesterol. But you can switch from 2 percent milk to skim milk.

#2 © Fill up on fiber. Oat bran caught the nation's fancy several years ago. Initial studies showed that oat bran or oatmeal decreased blood cholesterol. Later research questioned these findings. But it's still believed that soluble fiber such as oat bran increases good cholesterol and lowers bad cholesterol. Other sources of soluble fiber are peas, beans and barley.

#3 © Lose weight. Obese people in general have higher blood cholesterol.

#4 © Be a smart shopper. Purchase the leanest cuts of meat. Fat contains twice as many calories as carbohydrates and proteins. Don't exclude meat from your diet as it contains many valuable nutrients. But at the moment it appears prudent to eat more poultry, without the skin, and fish.

#5 © Don't be tricked by labels. Low fat labels do not mean low calories. All too often "low fat" this or that is made palatable with massive amounts of sugar.

#6 © Eliminate as much sugar as is humanly possible. That's not an easy task. I've reported for years that people are consuming too much sugar. But it's not the sugar on the table that is the major problem. It's the hidden sugar in so many prepared foods that triggers obesity and ill health. Too many calories of anything will cause obesity. But it's harder to eat several apples than swallow 8 teaspoonfuls of sugar in a 10 ounce soft drink.

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Dr John Yudkin, Professor of Nutrition at London University, claimed many years ago that sugar was the main culprit in heart disease, not fats and cholesterol. Researchers at Stanford University also determined that a diet high in sugar could lead to increased blood levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and homocysteine all risk factors in heart disease. Recent studies show that the B vitamins folic acid, B©6 and B©12 help to decrease homocysteine levels.

#7 © Keep moving. Evidence shows that exercise increases good cholesterol and decreases bad cholesterol.

#8 © A recent report from the University of California claims that "Cholestin", a natural dietary supplement, made by Pharmanex Company, can lower blood cholesterol. The company says that Cholestin, under the name of Hong Qu or Hung©chu has been used for two thousand years to promote the health of the cardiovascular system. But there's an interesting twist to this story.

Cholestin is a variety of red yeast, Monascus purpureus. It's obtained from fermented rice. Moreover, there should be no surprise that it lowers total cholesterol and raises the good cholesterol. It contains the same ingredient that is present in a group of prescription drugs used to lower blood cholesterol such as Bristol Meyer's drug Pravachol.

But is Cholestin as safe or effective as Pravachol? Pharmanex company claims it's better than Pravachol because it hasn't been "purified". That sounds good, but is it? The problem is that you know what's in Pravachol, namely only one ingredient. Cholestin contains other chemicals and we have no idea of their action. It's like aiming a shotgun rather than a rifle to decrease blood cholesterol. I believe a purified rifle shot makes more sense. Besides, if Cholestin works like a prescription medication it seems logical to call it a drug. This is where the line between natural remedies and prescription drugs becomes very blurred.

#9 © If you can't drink alcohol moderately skip this one. But if you're going to the ball game reasonable alcohol consumption increases good cholesterol and decreases bad cholesterol. A couple of bottles of beer also makes blood platelets slippery and less likely to form a fatal blood clot.

#10 © Take vitamin E. This vitamin, like vitamin C, is an antioxidant. Cars, in order to move, burn gas and produce carbon monoxide. Like cars, our cells are continually burning fuel producing what's known as "free radicals". It's believed this metabolic garbage causes aging. Vitamin E helps to prevent the oxidation of fats and fights the onset of cholesterol laden atherosclerotic lesions in arteries. A recent Gallup Poll showed that more people are now taking vitamins. It's now 46 percent compared to 36 percent in 1995.

W. Gifford-Jones M.D is the pen name of Dr. Ken Walker graduate of Harvard. Dr. Walker's website is: Docgiff.com

My book, �90 + How I Got There� can be obtained by sending $19.95 to:

Giff Holdings, 525 Balliol St, Unit # 6,Toronto, Ontario, M4S 1E1

Pre-2008 articles by Gifford Jones

Canada Free Press, CFP Editor Judi McLeod