I've had some questions about red yeast rice and cholesterol. Some of you may be aware of the controversy regarding red yeast rice and lovastatin in 1999-2000. This is when the FDA said that red yeast rice contained lovastatin (a prescription drug to reduce cholesterol). Any supplement company that had products containing red yeast rice were told they had to take them off the market because the FDA had to regulate them because they contained a pharmaceutical drug.
My take on this is that Big Pharma did not want the nutritional supplement industry to cut their profits by providing a nutritional supplement that would compete with their choleterol lowering drugs.
Beyond that fact, is the fact that cholesterol is really not the issue. The issue is inflammation. See my post on November 20, 08.
Showing posts with label Statins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Statins. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
C-Reactive Protein
As I mentioned yesterday, today I want to talk about C-Reactive Protein. This is a blood test and was actually the test used in the JUPITER study mentioned yesterday. Many physicians shy away from utilizing this test, but it is an excellent marker of inflammation in the body. So why is this so important.
In the cholesterol study I spoke about yesterday, all of the participants had C-Reactive Protein (CRP) levels done. If you have an elevated C-Reactive Protein in your body, you have higher levels of inflammation in your body. Inflammation is the key here.
Inflammation has been established as the prime contributor to heart disease and stroke. Oxidation occurs with inflammation and this is when the plaque in a blood vessel can be set free to move along and block a smaller vessel in the heart or in the brain.
By the way, a side effect of the statin drugs is that they decrease inflammation. So is it really the cholesterol we need to worry about, or is it the amount of inflammation? I say inflammation. So do we need statins to decrease inflammation? I don't believe that is our first or best choice.
There are lots of natural ways to decrease inflammation. Omega 3 is one of the best ways to decrease inflammation. See more on this in my earlier posts on omega 3.
In the cholesterol study I spoke about yesterday, all of the participants had C-Reactive Protein (CRP) levels done. If you have an elevated C-Reactive Protein in your body, you have higher levels of inflammation in your body. Inflammation is the key here.
Inflammation has been established as the prime contributor to heart disease and stroke. Oxidation occurs with inflammation and this is when the plaque in a blood vessel can be set free to move along and block a smaller vessel in the heart or in the brain.
By the way, a side effect of the statin drugs is that they decrease inflammation. So is it really the cholesterol we need to worry about, or is it the amount of inflammation? I say inflammation. So do we need statins to decrease inflammation? I don't believe that is our first or best choice.
There are lots of natural ways to decrease inflammation. Omega 3 is one of the best ways to decrease inflammation. See more on this in my earlier posts on omega 3.
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