“Getting Around Statins” – Part 3
In the World of Foods and Nutraceuticals
Our society is programmed and trusting, in many cases this is good but not complete, to believe that the ultimate approach and rescue to an unhealthy trend, such as high cholesterol or LDL, will be corrected or stabilized with a drug or dependency on a system of medicine that has us rely on the current medical expertise that is often subject to protocols dictated by the medical/legal hierarchy consensus.
Often this rigidity is defined as a “standard of practice” that needs greater understanding and open-mindedness to bring in new ideas and solutions and greater proactive self-responsibility of the individual.
If you note a bit of my cynicism, you are right; my background through traditional medical training, my exploring, lecturing, private practice, and even through our pandemic was and still is much more holistic.
The latest pandemic and its “echo chamber” intransigence of politicized science is the latest example–however, another whole subject at another time!
However, it is revealing and fascinating when delving into a pharmaceutical’s mechanisms of action; many are from natural sources, and many other foods and plants have parallel attributes in principle to the pharmaceutical versions.
In addition, there are some real surprises, for dealing with cholesterol excess is not merely a “one-organ” solution–other organs and tissues participate for storage and clearance, such as the gall bladder ( storage of cholesterol salts, the gut for binding salts and clearance) that contributes and impacts the whole picture, as well as certain foods we eat.
As to what we eat, I do not necessarily mean if this or that food is high in cholesterol; it is about other compositions in the food and how certain foods and beverages influence it in contributing to or even impeding the goal of a healthy balance in our blood lipids and serum cholesterol.
Let’s relax and jump right into this with our excellent cup of coffee, which we know offers incredible health benefits, but the following has our foot just a bit on the brakes!
From Medline August 2021: “While coffee does not contain cholesterol, it can affect cholesterol levels. The diterpenes in coffee suppress the body’s production of substances involved in cholesterol breakdown, causing cholesterol to increase. Specifically, coffee diterpenes may cause an increase in total cholesterol and LDL levels.”
Hey, not happy about this; any solution?
Yes! The solution is to “filter” the coffee rather than over-utilizing French press or Expresso–these methods do not capture the diterpenes.
Now and then is ok, but if you want to eliminate the oil-based diterpenes and you are a regular coffee drinker, which is actually favorable for protecting against diabetes, liver disease, and cognitive issues, then using good old paper filters will do the trick in capturing the problematic diterpenes relevant to controlling your too high cholesterol.
But if you enjoy green or black tea, that’s perfect!
They directly reduce total and LDL cholesterol if you love green or black tea because of their strong epicatechin/antioxidant content. Diterpenes are not an issue because it’s not present in the teas.
Also, as a bonus, as is the case with coffee and cocoa, the teas reduce the presence of LDL oxidation which is the culprit in engendering inflammation and foam cells, the treacherous precursor of atherosclerosis arising from the LDL becoming oxidized and then aggressively attacked by your immune system.
Green tea intake lowers fasting serum total and LDL cholesterol in adults: a meta-analysis of 14 randomized controlled trials
Xin-Xin Zheng 1, Yan-Lu Xu, Shao-Hua Li, Xu-Xia Liu, Rutai Hui, Xiao-Hong HuangPMID: 21715508 DOI: 10.
Also, as a useful “hack,” putting a tea bag in with your cup of coffee really does not change the taste particularly, but mellows out and balances, but does not reduce the “alert” effects of caffeine because teas contain an amino acid called “L-theanine.”
4 Stimulants in Tea — More Than Just Caffeine – Healthline
https://www.healthline.com
“Tea contains an amino acid called L-theanine, which increases the production of alpha waves in the brain. L-theanine, in combination with caffeine, may improve brain function”.
Matcha green tea comes as a powder because instead of a tea “infusion” with hot water, the entire tea leaf, after “hibernating” for some 40 hours under blankets in the dark, away from the light, actually helps to raise the amino acid content, other bioactive compounds including theanine, and caffeine. The leaves are stripped of their veins a ground into a fine soluble powder. Very tasty and versatile if you like green tea!
For myself, I like some milk in my coffee or some plant milk.
My milk of choice most often is whole goat milk.
What? Why Doc?
As earlier discussed, intelligent cholesterol management is more than a “one size” approach–several physiological functions intersect.–it’s not a complete or holistic approach that singularly only relies on an enzyme in the liver to inhibit and do the trick as purportedly with statins.
Also essential and part of the picture is what is in the GI tract– including the microbiome, adequate crude, soluble fiber, the health of your liver, and gall bladder contraction that increases the biliary expulsion of cholesterol salts into the bowel for excretion and food choices.
This is what ” whole goat’s milk” is apparently really good at, and at least in most animal studies, that consistently lower serum cholesterol and LDL and raises HDL commensurate with extra virgin olive oil!
However, I am still looking for good studies with humans regarding this specific subject in my peer-review research–it will come!
Goat Milk Feeding Causes an Increase in Biliary Secretion of Cholesterol and a Decrease in Plasma Cholesterol Levels in Rats
April 2005Journal of Dairy Science 88(3):1024-30
“….Compared with cow milk, the consumption of goat milk in the diet caused an increase in the biliary secretion of cholesterol and decreased plasma cholesterol concentration. In contrast, values for bile phospholipids, biliary acid concentrations, and the lithogenic index remained normal. Moreover, consumption of this type of milk decreased plasma triglyceride concentration and therefore had a positive effect, similar to that of olive oil (standard diet), on lipid metabolism; hence, it may be recommended for consumption by the general population”.
Continuing our discussions, many botanicals can help set the stage and have a profound impact on perhaps harmful cholesterol levels while also offering antioxidant benefits to help minimize oxidized LDL.
Remember, it is even more potentially threatening than high cholesterol alone when it becomes “oxidized” and immunologically provocative to create destructive inflammation of the endothelium of blood vessels.
Citrus aurantium L. essential oil exhibits anxiolytic-like activity mediated by 5-HT(1A)-receptors and reduces cholesterol after repeated oral treatment.
Celso A R A Costa 1, Thaís C Cury, Bruna O Cassettari, Regina K Takahira, Jorge C Flório, Mirtes Costa
PMID: 23432968 PMCID: PMC35985
What the study explains is that Citrus aurantium is very versatile. Used with chronic dosing to help lower cholesterol, it has also been noted as an anxiety-reducing nutraceutical and, in other studies, a substitute for ephedra that was banned from the market to help with respiratory problems.
Below is mentioned the herbal active “Berberine”–described as a “drug,” but it is also the natural component of botanicals such as the roots from Bayberry shrub.
Berberine is a novel cholesterol-lowering drug working through a unique mechanism distinct from statins.
Nat Med. 2004 Dec;10(12):1344-51. doi: 10.1038/nm1135. Epub 2004 Nov 7.PMID: 15531889
Weijia Kong 1, Jing Wei, Parveen Abidi,
“..We identify berberine (BBR), a compound isolated from a Chinese herb, as a new cholesterol-lowering drug. Oral administration of BBR in 32 hypercholesterolemic patients for 3 months reduced serum cholesterol by 29%, triglycerides by 35%, and LDL-cholesterol by 25%. Treatment of hyperlipidemic hamsters with BBR reduced serum cholesterol by 40% and LDL-cholesterol by 42%, with a 3.5-fold increase in hepatic LDLR mRNA and a 2.6-fold increase in hepatic LDLR protein. Using human hepatoma cells, we show that BBR upregulates LDLR expression independent of sterol regulatory element binding proteins but dependent on ERK activation. BBR elevates LDLR expression through a post-transcriptional mechanism that stabilizes the mRNA. These findings show BBR as a new hypolipidemic action mechanism different from statin drugs.
Popular in the natural formulation category for cardiovascular support and cholesterol management are supplements made with the combinations of Bayberry and Citrus aurantium.
Garcina Cambogia is attractive and often used as a favorite botanical in weight loss formulas. But it also appears to have positive effects on the serum lipid profile. The following excerpt from a Pub Med study elaborates on its synergy with certain probiotics.
“The concurrent use of G. cambogia extracts with probiotics further ameliorated weight gain and adiposity through modifying gut microbiota composition, significantly suppressing Clostridium aminophilum, the bacteria highly correlated with obese phenotypes. (27) Such an effect suggests a synergistic action of Garcinia and probiotics in weight reduction. Moreover, the effects of HCA extract from G. cambogia on metabolic, atherogenic, and inflammatory biomarkers were examined in obese women with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Results revealed that weight, body mass index, waist circumference, fasting blood sugar, hip circumference, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased concurrently with an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. (28)
G. cambogia is rich in flavonoids. Koshy and Anila (2001) had earlier reported that the rats – fed normal and cholesterol-containing diets – administered with flavonoids from G. Cambogia have significantly lower lipid levels due to an inhibition of the HMG CoA reductase enzyme, which is the regulatory enzyme of cholesterol biosynthesis, and increased excretion of cholesterol degradation products [25]. “
Foods such as “Red Rice” Yeast and “oyster mushrooms” contain natural statins such as lovastatin.
Hypolipidemic, Antioxidant, and Antiinflammatory Activities of Microalgae Spirulina
Ruitang Deng1 and Te-Jin Chow2
Spirulina is free-floating filamentous microalgae growing in alkaline water bodies. With its high nutritional value, Spirulina has been consumed as food for centuries in Central Africa. It is now widely used as a nutraceutical food supplement worldwide. Recently, great attention and extensive studies have been devoted to evaluating its therapeutic benefits on an array of diseased conditions, including hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia, cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory diseases, cancer, and viral infections. The cardiovascular benefits of Spirulina primarily result from its hypolipidemic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities.
In my closing thoughts and remarks, a diet and supplement plan richly diverse with flavonoid, carotenoid, algae, fungi, and anthocyanin compounds is practical, highly valuable, and perhaps overall essential for lipid management and virtually most health conditions and for optimal health.
Hence, though many cholesterol-reducing botanicals are described in the literature, most of them are in animal studies–that is changing!.
The momentum and incentive to find natural nutraceutical alternatives to the excess and expensive over-reliance on drugs with comparable effects and excellent safety are accelerating with serious scientific studies, investment, and consumer and industry motivation as never before.
Keep active, keep curious, and stay healthy!