Farmer Sue Tickle
10-20-2003, 01:36 PM
Cholesterol is getting a bad rap these days. A bad rap, considering it is the Good Samaritan helping out at a fight scene or a fireman called to put out a fire.
Cholesterol is found in abundant amounts in the victims of heart disease because it's called on to help rebuild arterial walls damaged by other causes (e.g. trans fats). Cholesterol is also needed for the construction and maintenance of all cell membranes and if you've got multiple sclerosis, it's needed to rebuild myelin sheath.
Cholesterol is needed in the production of sex hormones such as testosterone and oestrogen and is just too valuable to try and reduce it artifically. Three quarters of the cholesterol found in our bodies is manufactured by the liver, anyway, in response to fights and fires going on around ‘town’. So reducing your dietary cholesterol intake will have little effect. If there’s still a war going on in the arteries then cholesterol will continue to be manufactured – great for the drug companies with their eye on the wrong ball. But why does garlic work so well? Because it also is a potent firefighter and fightstopper especially when it comes to the heart.
So if your cholesterol is high, you have a bigger problem. Cholesterol-reducing drugs, will remove the firefighters and fightstoppers leaving the underlying disease to continue without being harassed.
As to the underlying disease, good healthy living (a long story in itself) is the key. Get this right and you're guaranteed healthy cholesterol levels as well as all the other health metrics we use today. Probably not what we all wanted to hear, however!
------------------
Turn the tap off before mopping up the mess
Cholesterol is found in abundant amounts in the victims of heart disease because it's called on to help rebuild arterial walls damaged by other causes (e.g. trans fats). Cholesterol is also needed for the construction and maintenance of all cell membranes and if you've got multiple sclerosis, it's needed to rebuild myelin sheath.
Cholesterol is needed in the production of sex hormones such as testosterone and oestrogen and is just too valuable to try and reduce it artifically. Three quarters of the cholesterol found in our bodies is manufactured by the liver, anyway, in response to fights and fires going on around ‘town’. So reducing your dietary cholesterol intake will have little effect. If there’s still a war going on in the arteries then cholesterol will continue to be manufactured – great for the drug companies with their eye on the wrong ball. But why does garlic work so well? Because it also is a potent firefighter and fightstopper especially when it comes to the heart.
So if your cholesterol is high, you have a bigger problem. Cholesterol-reducing drugs, will remove the firefighters and fightstoppers leaving the underlying disease to continue without being harassed.
As to the underlying disease, good healthy living (a long story in itself) is the key. Get this right and you're guaranteed healthy cholesterol levels as well as all the other health metrics we use today. Probably not what we all wanted to hear, however!
------------------
Turn the tap off before mopping up the mess