Cholesterol?

[Atticus]

I think I'll take another test when my weight levels off. Then I plan on taking a month off of kava to test the theory. I hate to do it, but I'll do a little self experiment for the good of the kava drinking community.

This is so great of you! If your numbers go back down after use. I might take the plunge and do the same thing to try to confirm also. I'm seriously considering getting a more accurate blood test done. One that looks into the size of the LDL particles.

 

[Atticus]

It seems that the liver provides the signal to create cholesterol. So, it SEEMS that Kava may be indirectly telling the liver to produce Cholesterol. I think something that needs to be studied is the TYPE of cholesterol the Kava may be telling the liver to produce.

This is also an interesting read. http://www.drsinatra.com/the-great-cholesterol-myth/

http://www.drsinatra.com/the-most-important-cholesterol-ratio-to-watch/

http://www.drsinatra.com/nutrient-spotlight-citrus-bergamot-supports-healthy-cholesterol-levels/



I came across this information and found it interesting also.

Here are the main points to take away from the facts presented above:

Cholesterol that naturally occurs in animal foods is not harmful to your health. But it can become harmful to your health if it is damaged by exposure to high levels of heat and/or harsh processing techniques.

If you regularly consume damaged cholesterol and foods that are rich in free radicals, you likely have significant quantities of damaged cholesterol floating through your circulatory system.

And if you regularly have damaged cholesterol floating around in your blood, then a high LDL level correlates with a higher-than-average risk of developing cardiovascular disease, and a high HDL level correlates with a lower-than-average risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

In other words, if you have significant amounts of damaged cholesterol in your blood circulation, you don’t want a lot of LDL to be available to carry this cholesterol to your arteries, where the damaged cholesterol can contribute to atherosclerosis, and you want a lot of HDL available to shuttle damaged cholesterol away from your arteries.

So while it’s true that a high HDL/total cholesterol ratio can reflect a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, what’s most important when it comes to cholesterol and your health is to avoid eating animal foods that have been cooked at high temperatures, since these foods are typically rich in damaged cholesterol.

 

[Jerome]

@Todd Graves
You've definitely laid out a healthy lifestyle plan.

I eat a lot of meat, but its mostly grass-fed, organic, completely drug free cuts from a fairly local farm. Because of the cost of grass-fed organic meat, I buy organ meats and cheap cuts like tongue, shank, heart meat and liver. I also eat a lot of fresh saltwater fish I catch myself. I eat tons of leafy green vegetables, cooked and raw, and eat little to zero grains, sugar or any sort of processed foods. Basically the "paleo diet" with the addition of high fat cheese.

I actually had liver and sauerkraut for breakfast this morning...

So I'm thinking its either the kava, or the fact that I just dropped an extra 15 pounds. We'll see.

 

[Atticus]

@Todd Graves
You've definitely laid out a healthy lifestyle plan.

I eat a lot of meat, but its mostly grass-fed, organic, completely drug free cuts from a fairly local farm. Because of the cost of grass-fed organic meat, I buy organ meats and cheap cuts like tongue, shank, heart meat and liver. I also eat a lot of fresh saltwater fish I catch myself. I eat tons of leafy green vegetables, cooked and raw, and eat little to zero grains, sugar or any sort of processed foods. Basically the "paleo diet" with the addition of high fat cheese.

I actually had liver and sauerkraut for breakfast this morning...

So I'm thinking its either the kava, or the fact that I just dropped an extra 15 pounds. We'll see.

That is so great! I really think these healthy things will offset any of the increase in cholesterol. I think I might get a more comprehensive test done in 4 months or so that looks into plaque buildup, inflammation and other things. That Dr. Sinatra guy is really great. I'm liking his research. He has a whole list of things to get checked for that are more accurate. But, maybe we can be the test subjects for cholesterol and Kava.

 

[Jerome]

My blood pressure was great! I'll attribute that to the kava.

 

[kilakila]

It seems that the liver provides the signal to create cholesterol. So, it SEEMS that Kava may be indirectly telling the liver to produce Cholesterol. I think something that needs to be studied is the TYPE of cholesterol the Kava may be telling the liver to produce.

This is also an interesting read. http://www.drsinatra.com/the-great-cholesterol-myth/

http://www.drsinatra.com/the-most-important-cholesterol-ratio-to-watch/

http://www.drsinatra.com/nutrient-spotlight-citrus-bergamot-supports-healthy-cholesterol-levels/



I came across this information and found it interesting also.

Here are the main points to take away from the facts presented above:

Cholesterol that naturally occurs in animal foods is not harmful to your health. But it can become harmful to your health if it is damaged by exposure to high levels of heat and/or harsh processing techniques.

If you regularly consume damaged cholesterol and foods that are rich in free radicals, you likely have significant quantities of damaged cholesterol floating through your circulatory system.

And if you regularly have damaged cholesterol floating around in your blood, then a high LDL level correlates with a higher-than-average risk of developing cardiovascular disease, and a high HDL level correlates with a lower-than-average risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

In other words, if you have significant amounts of damaged cholesterol in your blood circulation, you don’t want a lot of LDL to be available to carry this cholesterol to your arteries, where the damaged cholesterol can contribute to atherosclerosis, and you want a lot of HDL available to shuttle damaged cholesterol away from your arteries.

So while it’s true that a high HDL/total cholesterol ratio can reflect a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, what’s most important when it comes to cholesterol and your health is to avoid eating animal foods that have been cooked at high temperatures, since these foods are typically rich in damaged cholesterol.

My go-to website! Very informative and sensible. Not like a lot of other "web doctor sites" out there. I've also read some good books about the cholesterol myth, and while excessively high cholesterol and triglycerides combined with other metabolic problems are a cause for concern, for most of us we should not be badgered by doctors to take statins that can start a cascade of dis-ease and lead to taking more pills to counteract the effects. Sadly most doctors do not have the time to read up on current thinking and stick to what Big Pharma or out-dated guidelines tells them what to do. My doctor dismissed the idea that statin drugs can lead to diabetes and said that muscle degeneration does not happen that often - my dad's health seriously declined once he started taking statin drugs and he developed diabetes. He became frail and "old" very fast. After suddenly being stricken with complete loss of sight in one eye and decreased sight in the other due to Macular Degeneration, he did not enjoy living and I think he was just waiting for his sad life to end. I'm not taking that chance.

Anyway, on that note I think I need some mahakea! Off to the beach in a minute to check out the surf! Now THAT is living!

 

[Jerome]

My go-to website! Very informative and sensible. Not like a lot of other "web doctor sites" out there. I've also read some good books about the cholesterol myth, and while excessively high cholesterol and triglycerides combined with other metabolic problems are a cause for concern, for most of us we should not be badgered by doctors to take statins that can start a cascade of dis-ease and lead to taking more pills to counteract the effects. Sadly most doctors do not have the time to read up on current thinking and stick to what Big Pharma or out-dated guidelines tells them what to do. My doctor dismissed the idea that statin drugs can lead to diabetes and said that muscle degeneration does not happen that often - my dad's health seriously declined once he started taking statin drugs and he developed diabetes. He became frail and "old" very fast. After suddenly being stricken with complete loss of sight in one eye and decreased sight in the other due to Macular Degeneration, he did not enjoy living and I think he was just waiting for his sad life to end. I'm not taking that chance.

Anyway, on that note I think I need some mahakea! Off to the beach in a minute to check out the surf! Now THAT is living!

Well put, on that note, I think I'll have some Moi.

 

[Jerome]

I'm also going to have to check out this Dr. Sinatra guy... and of course now I have Sinatra songs in my head.

Damn.

 

[boxcar beatnik]

I've read that small amounts of dark beer and aged alcohol lower cholesterol and if one were to stop drinking alcohol and start drinking kava more regularly that could also have some effect on cholesterol.

 

[Sam Handwich]

I've read that small amounts of dark beer and aged alcohol lower cholesterol and if one were to stop drinking alcohol and start drinking kava more regularly that could also have some effect on cholesterol.

Wow, that's interesting. I did quit drinking alcohol for Kava cold turkey and quickly dropped 35 lbs. Sounds like this all could have added up to a cholesterol spike.

 

[Atticus]

See the problem here. This is ridiculous.

Look at what has happened in America. In 1960-62, normal (average) cholesterol levels for 60-74 year olds were 250 mg/dl (6.5 mmol/l). After decades of statinating people, ‘normal’ cholesterol levels have been reduced to approximately 215 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/l) for this age group, by 1999-2002.

You know why this happens. Normal people have no value whatsoever to the pharmaceutical industry. But redefine ‘normal’ as hi gh and suddenly healthy people can be medicated. This is how Lipitor was able to earn $125 billion for Pfizer during its patent. And who sets the targets?

In America, they are set by the National Cholesterol Education Programme (NCEP). The 2004 NCEP financial disclosure report reveals that ALL members of the 2004 guideline participants had received payments and/or grant funds from some, many or most of the following organisations: Abbott, Astra Zeneca, Bayer, BMS-Sanofi, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Esperion, Fournier, Glaxo SmithKline, Kos, Lipid Sciences, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Reliant, Sankyo, Takeda, Tularik, Wyeth. (For full details of conflicts see point 3 on this post.)

Cholesterol is perhaps the most successful and horrific redefining of normal that the medical world has ever got away with. Look at figure 2, on page 3 of 5, here. It’s a graph of the normal distribution for cholesterol in the UK. There are two lines – one from the Health Survey for England and the other for The Health Improvement Network. The high point of the chart (the average) is 5.6 mmol/l (216 mg/dl) for the Health Survey for England and 6.3 mmol/l (243 mg/dl) for The Health Improvement Network. Both the red and blue lines follow a normal distribution (slightly skewed) with readings between 2 and 10. Can you imagine the reaction of your doctor if your cholesterol reading were 9-10 mmol/l (that’s 348-387 mg/dl)?! And yet it is absolutely normal that a section of the population will have this as their normal reading, just as a section will have a normal cholesterol level of 2-3 (77-116 mg/dl).

Just as happened with diabetes, normal is not allowed to remain normal. The medical profession has redefined cholesterol to be high at the absurdly low number of 5 mmol/l (193 mg/dl). You can see from the graph that only a small proportion of the population would have a cholesterol level below 5 in normal circumstances. Indeed, if you look at government data measuring people against this made-up target – the Health Survey for England for example (summary of key findings) – we have the crazy situation (page 22) where it is noted that 80% of men and women in many age groups have cholesterol levels above the government target of 5.0 mmol/L. That’s not because 80% of people have ‘high cholesterol’, but because normal has been redefined as high so people cannot be normal any more.

 

[4bikes]

I had a quick cholesterol test while at a health fair a few weeks ago. I'm at 165 total. I drink noble kava almost every day, but skipped it the day before the test. I looked up some old test results from a few years ago, before I started drinking kava, and I was at 115 then (same testing format). I eat healthy, no animal stuff so only very minimal plant cholesterol in my diet, exercise quite a bit, and probably have a genetic predisposition toward lower cholesterol, which are consistent across the two time periods. There are a variety of other factors across the two tests that vary (age, etc.), so the comparison isn't perfect. But, I'm wondering if this increase is consistent with what others have experienced in a before and after comparison? It'd be interesting to be able to give an idea about how much to expect total cholesterol might increase when someone begins consuming kava. Also, I don't have the numbers for HDL and LDL with me right now, but it was interesting that the ratio of good to bad cholesterol had improved as a result of a greater increase in the proportion of good cholesterol than bad. But, in my case, total cholesterol went up about 50 points.

I'm not worried about this since my numbers are still good, just curious if others have calculated how much their cholesterol values increased before/after they started to regularly drink kava?

 

[Kojo Douglas]

Honestly, I don't have a clue what cholesterol even is. When a doctor tells me something about cholesterol my mind tends to wander to an image of Serena Williams' generous gifts and I just smile and nod with glazed eyes.

 

[blindy107]

The definitions have changed so much over the years it's impossible to follow. Drives me nuts. Used to be eating it raised it. Then it was fat that raised. Now it's sugar/starch apparently. Particle density vs actual amount comes up too. And don't forget cholesterol is essential as a building block for cells and muscles. We don't understand much it seems.

 

[Kojo Douglas]

Eggs are bad. Eggs are good. Eggs are food? Eggs are for reproduction. Eggs are eggs.

 

[nabanga]

I knew an obese guy in his 60's who ran a video rental shop. He had very high cholesterol. The Australian doctor told him to take up kava drinking to help control it, something he had never done in the 20 years he had lived in Port Vila.
I dont know if his cholesterol reduced, but he really got into kava and probably enjoyed his last years a lot more than if he just stayed at home and ate pies.

 

[Jerome]

Eggs are bad. Eggs are good. Eggs are food? Eggs are for reproduction. Eggs are eggs.

Chicken ovulation.

I do love eggs, but it sure is strange. Although no stranger than bovine lactation, bee vomit, or yeast excretion.

 

[Blinkyrocket]

Cholesterol is just a steroid and nutrient transport system, and probably transports other things too. The raising of cholesterol just means that cholesterol receptors are a little inactive. I remember the wiki mentioning that kava dermopathy was theorized to be related to altered metabolism of cholesterol. If it has something to do with hormones, than supplementing pregnenelone (men) or progesterone (women) might help but I must admit that I have little knowledge about this stuff.

Your lipoprotein count is more indicative of how much "material" you have flowing through your arteries, cholesterol numbers just describe how much cholesterol is "riding" the lipoproteins. Lipoproteins also carry around free fatty acids, and the more unsaturated those fatty acids are, the less stable, more prone to oxidation. It's lipoproteins you gotta worry about, and vitamin C is possibly good for keeping those in check, even though it may seem too simple to be true. Doses of 500 mg a day of vitamin C are sufficient.

 

[Crunked]

http://eatingacademy.com/cholesterol-2/heart-disease-begin-tell-us-prevention

 

[One good deed]

http://eatingacademy.com/cholesterol-2/heart-disease-begin-tell-us-prevention

Hey, first posting here... Just wanted to second Crunked's recommended website - read the whole cholesterol series. It's by far the best explanation of what 'cholesterol' actually means and the latest science related to it.