Tag Archive | LDL cholesterol

Cholesterol Cured Without Diet or Workout Change

May16

High cholesterol is normally assumed to be affected mostly by your diet and physical activity, and that is true (sometimes).

But a new study in the journal Lipids in Health and Disease now shows there is another factor that has a much stronger impact on your cholesterol.

And this factor maybe more fun to manage than your diet.

The study authors analyzed the data of 1,054 people collected by Midlife in the U.S.. They were between the ages 34 and 84, with 55% being female.

They compared their psychological wellbeing with their cholesterol levels over a period of 10 years.

The concept of psychological wellbeing they used was not depression or anxiety or the absence of these, but rather a more advanced concept that included:

– personal independence and freedom,
– personal growth,
– healthy relationships,
– the feeling of controlling the environment,
– the feeling of having a purpose in life,
– and self-acceptance.

Interestingly, they found that most adults either enjoyed persistent psychological wellbeing or languished persistently without it over time.

The psychologically comfortable people had higher levels of HDL cholesterol (the good type) and lower levels of triglycerides (fat) than those in poor psychological health.

They did, however, not find any relationship between psychology and LDL cholesterol (the bad type), with both groups scoring roughly the same on it.

This means that psychological wellbeing can help us predict HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

This shows why it is so important to feel like we are in control of our lives, to feel that our lives are meaningful and satisfying, and to like ourselves.

So, if we try to improve those factors, we can improve our cholesterol level at the same time. And who wouldn’t enjoy doing that.

But there is another easier, quicker way to get your cholesterol under control. All it takes is cutting out one ingredient, explained here, you didn’t even know you were consuming. Read more about..

 

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How Dogs Lower Blood Pressure and Cholesterol

Mar2

Swedish scientists have just published a study in Scientific Reports that shows that dog owners have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and overall risk of death than those who don’t have dogs. Surprisingly, one type of dog provided their owners with the best health benefits, which gives us a strong indication of why owning a dog helps prevent stroke, heart attack and other causes of death. In Sweden, it is compulsory to register yourself as a dog owner, and you also get a registration number when you visit a hospital.

With all this information easily available, researchers compared the hospital records of dog owners and non-owners over 12 years to see who was more likely to be hospitalized and die. Those who owned dogs originally bred for hunting, like retrievers and terriers, had the lowest risk of both heart disease and death. This indicates that owning a dog that needs a lot of exercise motivates you to go out for a long walk every day, which is one of the best things you can do for your heart.

However, this is not the only reason dogs are heart healthy.

Companionship has long been linked with good health. And what better companion than a loving dog?

Older studies, like one from the American Heart Association published in a 2013 edition of the Journal Circulation, reveals that dog owners get more exercise, have lower cholesterol, have lower blood pressure, respond to stress in a way that does not elevate their blood pressure, and have a better chance to survive after an acute heart event. Now having a dog is not for everyone and even if you do, it may not be enough to lower your blood pressure and cholesterol to a healthy level.

If your cholesterol is too high, learn how to get it under control – in 30 days or less – by cutting out one single ingredient you didn’t even know you were consuming. Read more!

Click here to learn how 3 easy exercises lower high blood pressure below 120/80 in one day!

 

Most Surprising Cause of High Cholesterol

Dec23

LDL_58341913_m-2015High cholesterol, is it caused by diet, lack of exercise, your genetics or what? New research, just published in Science Magazine, reveals at least one major reason some people have high cholesterol and other don’t – even if they share the same lifestyle. What’s more, it’s the same angle as causes arthritis, schizophrenia, eating disorders and visceral fat accumulation.

And it’s all somebody else’s fault!

A few years ago, scientists started to construct a complete genetic profile of a female Neanderthal from her bones found in the Vindija Cave in Croatia. Since Neanderthals and homo sapiens mated and had children, they wanted to understand which genetic factors came from the Neanderthals. After all, almost all of us probably have some traces of their genes in our blood. We probably inherited our genes for rheumatoid arthritis, schizophrenia, eating disorders, visceral fat accumulation, and cholesterol from our distant ancestors.

Sounds bad, right?

But one of the genetic variants for cholesterol we inherited from them is actually positive. It’s called rs10490626 and is associated with LDL (or bad) cholesterol, and most of the people who carry it have relatively low levels of this type of cholesterol. Does this really mean you should sit down helplessly and blame your cholesterol on your ancestors? It certainly does not. Whereas genes play some role in the game, the main reason for high cholesterol and most other health issues is caused by our lifestyle.

And most amazingly, the main reason for all plaque buildup in our arteries is caused by one ingredient, you didn’t even know you were consuming.

Since the 1970s, most medical institutions have stood by the view that LDL cholesterol is bad cholesterol because it hangs around in our blood streams and consequently forms plaques in our arteries that damage and block them. As a result, when you go for a cholesterol test, your doctor measures your LDL cholesterol to calculate whether you are at risk of heart disease. If your LDL cholesterol is high, you will be pushed to take dangerous statin drugs.

A new study now suggests that this is wrong, and that lowering LDL cholesterol may be completely useless to avoid heart diseases. To understand how this works, you should understand how cholesterol is carried in your blood stream. Cholesterol travels through your blood stream in protein parcels called lipoproteins. The lipo (fat and cholesterol) is inside, the protein cover is around it. LDL stands for low-density lipoprotein. In the new study, published in JAMA Cardiology, researchers treated groups of people with different substances to lower their LDL.

When their LDL alone was lowered, they showed only a small reduction in heart disease risk. However, when their LDL was lowered in combination with something called apolipoprotein-B (normally called apoB), their heart disease risk plummeted far further. This suggests it is apoB that needs to be lowered, not LDL cholesterol.

So, what is apoB and why is it so important?

ApoB is a protein without which these lipoprotein parcels that carry cholesterol cannot be formed. Wherever you find a well-formed LDL parcel, you will find ApoB around it. When a laboratory measures your LDL, it measures not only the number of LDL parcels that travel through your blood stream, but also information on the size of the LDL parcels to estimate exactly how much cholesterol they are carrying. This means that, when your LDL cholesterol drops, it may be either because the number of LDL parcels drops, or because the size of the parcels drops while their number remains the same.

When a laboratory measures your apoB, on the other hand, it measures only the number of LDL parcels, with the amount of cholesterol they carry being irrelevant. Therefore, this new study shows that to cut your heart disease risk you need to cut the number of LDL parcels in your blood stream, not the amount of cholesterol carried by these LDL parcels. The scientists did not speculate why this was the case, but the fact that each of our body’s cells has only one receptor to receive apoB might explain it. Your body’s cells want to absorb the LDL that is currently travelling through your blood stream so that they can use it. But if you have too many LDL parcels, these parcels have to wait in a traffic jam outside your cell’s limited apoB receptors before they can be absorbed.

This means that LDL parcels have to circulate through your blood stream for long periods before they can be used, increasing the chance that they will become oxidized (go rancid),  and it’s oxidized cholesterol that forms plaque in your arteries, causing stroke and heart attack.

Learn how to clear your arteries of oxidized cholesterol and prevent stroke and heart attack – in 30 days or less – Click Here!