Natural supplements to Lower LDL

Just wondering if any of you have had success on natural supplements, foods, etc. in order to avoid Statins to lower the Bad cholesterol?. If so, what you did take or do, how long, dosage,etc. Any info would be greatly appreciated as I am trying to avoid getting put on the Statins if possible.
Thank You

Diet and lifestyle changes over one year were not enough to lower my numbers to an acceptable reading. I now take 10mg Lipitor and 2 Cholest-Off tablets per day (and have for 3 years). My numbers finally came down. I have no trouble taking that statin in that dose. I continue the diet and lifestyle measures. I credit most of the drop to the drug, but of course don't really know how much of a drop is due to each for sure as I've taken them all together, not separately.

I am 63 female former smoker slightly overweight otherwise healthy. I began with TC of 270+ and LDL of 170+. A year of diet and lifestyle changes and Cholest-Off lowered these about 10%. I may have done the diet part wrong (too many carbs may have been substituted for the fat I didn't eat). I gave up and went to the statin. Worked like a charm.

My goal now is to avoid any suggestion that my Lipitor dose be increased which means I have to be a good girl, lose some weight, watch my diet, exercise daily, and just for insurance, take Cholest-Off (plant sterols and stanols). I refuse to spend any more money on supplements, etc.

Take 1000 mgs of cinnamon a day . you can buy cinnamon capsules cheap at your local pharmacy . 1000 is 4 capsules a day preferrable 2 in the morning with breakfast and 2 at night with dinner . For some people it decreases in serum glucose ranged from 18 to 29%; triglycerides, 23 to 30%, and total cholesterol 12 to 26 % after 40 days of consuming cinnamon. You can go to the USFDA website for more info on the tests that are being done .

Originally Posted by zigwyth

Just wondering if any of you have had success on natural supplements, foods, etc. in order to avoid Statins to lower the Bad cholesterol?. If so, what you did take or do, how long, dosage,etc. Any info would be greatly appreciated as I am trying to avoid getting put on the Statins if possible.
Thank You

Zigwyth, I took Lipitor and later changed to Lovastatin and had way too many side effects so quit taking any statins. I took 1000mg of No-Flush Niacin from "Now" brand and I took 1 pill of "One a Day Plus" that has 10mg of Policosanol in it, I also took 3 1000mg fish oil caps. I use olive oil and coconut oil, to cook with. I don't exercise like I should. When I last had my total cholesterol checked the total had come down 40 points and my HDL is 60. I have decided to up my No-Flush Niacin to 1500mgs (which is 3 caps) and I am taking 2 "One a Day Plus" pills so that now I will be taking 20mg of Policosanol. The best part is I feel great compared to when I took the statins. I am sure if I was more strict I would do better but I hate formal exercise. Oh yes I should mention that I plan on taking the caps of green tea because I can't seem to drink enough tea to get what I need and I also use cinnamon in my food and in my morning coffee with a bit of honey. Sounds like a lot but not really and it is so cheaper then statins. We take vitamins for good health and we take CoQ10 to correct the damage the statins did.

If you are serious about lowering numbers naturally, it is a lifestyle change that takes commitment which can be difficult with fast food joints around every corner. A good read on the subject is "The New 8-week Cholesterol Cure" by Robert Kowalski. Although I do not abide by the book 100%, it has good insight into healthy diet and supplements that can help. If nothing else, you learn about what the numbers mean. Good Luck

zigwyth,

Dean Ornish's Diet for a Healthy Heart, is a recipe for plaque reversal and extreme cholesterol lowering through diet with NO drugs. It's draconian but probably DOES get the extraordinarily low levels of LDL he claims (below 70) AND the resulting plaque reversion.
Be warned though, it's a diet that maxes out at 10% fat, less than half of that saturated, with NO animal products...not even fish oil...you CAN wear a leather belt though.

It's what I would ATTEMPT if Lipitor hadn't made the job SOOOO much easier for me.

The only supplement that I have found to be of any use is high dose niacin...for upping my HDL's.

Lenin: I thought I read on another board here that you take lecithin before going to bed. Do you take that for blood pressure or something else? My husband takes it, too, and I am curious if it has another benefit.

Jane

Lenin: which niacin do you use, and do you get "hot flashes" with it? thanks..oh how much?

Zigwyth,

I have had luck with policosanol - my total cholesterol went down about 15% after 8-weeks on the supplement - I haven't had a subsequent blood test, so can't tell you if it dropped it any lower still...

I use a brand called 'Policocanol 10' made by the RxVitamins company.

If you take policosanol, it's important to know that the only versions that work are those made from Sugar Cane. Avoid any that list Rice or any other ingredients other than sugar cane. Only the version made from sugar cane has been studied and shown to be effective.


HubbleRules

Jane,

I take Lecithin and have done so for a good number of years, long before statins were invented. I started taking it because I read several authors who considered it the singularly best supplement at moving fat from the liver because it is lipotrophic (makes fat dissolve in water...a detergent.)
Since I've drunk a large amount of alcohol over the years...little now, I thought I could use it. My liver shows up as slightly enlarged...always has.

If there is additional benfit for the lipids in the coronary arteries I hapopily accept it but I don't feel I'm on solid ground by claiming that it really has a function in the heart...there just isn't much data.
I'm reasonably sure it can't do any harm though. In truth, the ability of lecithin to emulsify fat globules has given me pause...is it possible that smaller particles might be more atherogenic.

Anyway, I take 1200 mg. liquid lecithin a day. I HOPE it helps.

With niacin though, I have proven to myself that it raises my HDL into the tolerable level and I feel confident in recommending it to anyone who can take it without too much misery.

thanks lenin... Just saw something on lecithin the other day... it contains choline and inositol-two compounds thar are important fot the breakdown of fat and cholesterol. Did you flush with niacin? I tried niciamide sp? (a prescription) and even though i took an aspirin with it...i would sometimes flush in the evening, in the afternoon..various times, not everyday.. even though i took the niacin in the morning with an aspirin. In a month and a half it lowered my cholesterol 20 points.. I tried it because other than cholesterol, niacin supposedy has some good benifits... anyway its a B vitamin (B3). again thanks

Originally Posted by Lenin

With niacin though, I have proven to myself that it raises my HDL into the tolerable level and I feel confident in recommending it to anyone who can take it without too much misery.

Lenin,

I'm glad to hear that you are experiencing beneficial results with the niacin. Keep it up, and your HDL may further improve, as mine certainly did, and I've been taking it for 20 years.

Speaking of HDL, have you ever tried including a garlic supplement which is standardized for allicin? I found that I got an added boost in HDL once I started taking it. I've tried a few different brands, but the one I like best is from Puritan's Pride. It's called Maximum Garlic 6500. It is standardized to yield a minimum of 6,500 mcg allicin and 14,500 mcg alliin. It's probably the most potent standardized garlic supplement that I've come across so far. And it has one other advantage that I've noticed. Unlike some of the other brands that I've tried, which occassionally caused some gastrointestinal upset, the Puritan's Pride product never gave me any problems. Even my father, who is even far more prone to these problems, has never had a problem with this product.

Thanks, Lenin. I added lecithin in my quest to lower my husband's cholesterol, but I had forgotten exactly why I added it. He has low blood pressure so I thought if you used it for that I had better back off of it.

Jane

Originally Posted by ARIZONA73

Lenin,

I'm glad to hear that you are experiencing beneficial results with the niacin. Keep it up, and your HDL may further improve, as mine certainly did, and I've been taking it for 20 years.

Speaking of HDL, have you ever tried including a garlic supplement which is standardized for allicin? I found that I got an added boost in HDL once I started taking it. I've tried a few different brands, but the one I like best is from Puritan's Pride. It's called Maximum Garlic 6500. It is standardized to yield a minimum of 6,500 mcg allicin and 14,500 mcg alliin. It's probably the most potent standardized garlic supplement that I've come across so far. And it has one other advantage that I've noticed. Unlike some of the other brands that I've tried, which occassionally caused some gastrointestinal upset, the Puritan's Pride product never gave me any problems. Even my father, who is even far more prone to these problems, has never had a problem with this product.

Arizona, Can I ask how much of a dose of niacin have you been taking for 20 years? Also do you need liver tests with niacin, and lastly about the garlic, I wanted to take garlic (the kind without garlic smell) but when I took the pills my husband said he could still smell garlic on my body which he thinks is really offensive. I truly believe in garlic for all kinds of good reasons but what about body odor. I was taking 1000mg of No-Flush niacin and it has helped lower my total cholesterol 40 points. I have upped the dose to 1500mg like my doctor suggested at first and hope it will raise my 60 HDL more and lower the total some more. Always appreciate your posts.

Originally Posted by gardeninggal

Arizona, Can I ask how much of a dose of niacin have you been taking for 20 years? Also do you need liver tests with niacin, and lastly about the garlic, I wanted to take garlic (the kind without garlic smell) but when I took the pills my husband said he could still smell garlic on my body which he thinks is really offensive. I truly believe in garlic for all kinds of good reasons but what about body odor. I was taking 1000mg of No-Flush niacin and it has helped lower my total cholesterol 40 points. I have upped the dose to 1500mg like my doctor suggested at first and hope it will raise my 60 HDL more and lower the total some more. Always appreciate your posts.

Gardeninggal,

For many years I have been taking 1000mg (250mg four times a day) of immediate-release niacin. I've heard that most people can safely take up to that amount, and since I've been doing this on my own, I don't get any routine liver function tests done. If I needed to take much more than that, then I think that I would only do it while under a doctor's care. No-flush niacin, however, is easier on the liver, and most people can easily tolerate doses higher than 1000mg.

As far as the garlic is concerned, the only times I had people tell me I smell from garlic is when I've actually eaten fresh garlic or took those garlic oil capsules. But with the enteric coated tablets, they are designed to dissolve in the intestine, so there should be no tell-tale breath odor. Of course, the garlic still gets absorbed, so I suppose it's possible, especially if you're perspiring, that some of the garlic odor may manifest itself. You know what? I think I'll ask my mother. She would know. She would always tell me that I smelled of garlic, but that was always after I've eaten something with garlic in it. I've never heard her say anything while I've only been taking the enteric coated tablets. But I'll ask her anyway. What kind of garlic supplement are you taking?

Nevertheless, I do feel that the standardized garlic supplement has had a positive impact on my HDL. From the late 1980s to 1994, my five blood test results revealed an average HDL of 75. Not bad, I know. I'm not certain, but I believe I began taking the garlic supplement in 1995 or 1996. Then, in 1997 I had another blood test, and my HDL was up to 91. Another blood test in 1999 revealed an HDL reading of 113! My last blood test was in 2002, and the HDL was still a spectacular 107. Now, the ONLY thing that I could think of that I added during that period was the garlic. Is this proof that the garlic has made that much of a difference, or is it just a coincidence? I don't know, but whatever it is I've been doing, I must be doing something right.