Cholesterol: “the magic word” and the dark side of medicine.

Cholesterol: “the magic word” and the dark side of medicine.

With some “trepidation” I will try to write something about this huge subject, where everybody “seems” to have his saying.
Just hearing the word causes many patients some “shivering” , mostly caused by brainwashing by the medical media over the last 40 years or more 
I will try to keep away from big controversies and will write what is quite well known[or at least could have been known by most doctors working in in this field, if they wished to know]
Most of the confusion in this field was created by financial interests from the food -and pharmaceutical industry, to create huge market profits for their artificial creations.
Nowhere has the word “Patent” an uglier meaning then here, because it concerns human health.
Butter was “banned” because patented margarine’s had to be pushed on the market, eggs were “devils” ,because all kind of artificial replacements had to be marketed  instead, again with a patent-name and this has been going on for the last 40 years or more.
Artificial oils -“plant oils”- were highly promoted.
Lately Canola [“Canadian oil”] has become the new superstar and in my opinion it should be  avoided by all means.
In the seventies of the last century eggs were pictured in American medical journals as a gray tasteless dish on a plate resembling a dead-gray body….!! [ i should  still have these articles in file]
One thing is clear: all this has been shown to be huge nonsense, promoted by a corrupted industry  and many doctors were easily influenced because most of them  were [are??] absolute “analphabetics” when it comes to basic nutrition or……. they had them self nice financial interests.
Until now[2009] human nutrition is a totally neglected subject in the medical curriculum.

The age  of the “statins” [anticholesterol drugs-antilipids]  started…………. the corruption and falsifications reached an  an all time high
Statins are highly sophisticated medicines which without doubt lower cholesterol levels, even aggressively[dependent on the dose], but this is by no means automatically equal to better health.
At the best statins may reduce cardiovascular incidents in men [ not in women!] but all in all total mortality rates seem not to be influenced by them.
The Chinese knew about a traditional dish-red yeast rice- which contains many beneficial compounds and one of these compounds [lovastatin] was patented by the pharmaceutical industry to make a statin.
When a producer of statins felt that the Chinese red yeast rice[which in the mean time was sold in capsules] could spoil their market they took the producers of these red yeast rice capsules to court and with an incredible chutzpa and “bribery” managed to win the case ,”showing” that the Chinese red yeast rice infringed on their patent [the Chinese rice was just only at least a thousand years earlier known…………and of course………. the artificial statin producer claimed that he  had the first right and not this traditional Chinese product.
One of the most famous producers of red yeast rice had to move  it offices from the USA to Europe.
After all this: are the statins a good thing or not?
Of course there is a clear statistical relation between cardiovascular diseases and blood lipids but the subject is too complicated to be dealt with here and to give an unblemished answer we need unblemished scientists to sit together and this is nearly an utopia…..and a long story and virtually impossible by the many conflict of interests.
In the meantime the wild growth of prescribing of statins is out of any proportion!
Very recently it was found that  34 percent of researchers admitted to omitting contradicting results and leaving out data or observations concerning medical research [and this is of course -concerning the sensitivity of this subject-an under estimation]
So where do you stand as a patient?
First of all consult somebody who really deals with nutrition and general health.
For those who wish I have 3 talmidot [students] who can guide you quite knowledgeable in the field of nutrition and general health.
Listen to your doctor but do ask questions and don’t opt to be a statistical and promotional “piece” for the pharmaceutical industry.
The ideas about cholesterol have been ever changing and many factors have to be taken in consideration 
What is checked until now in the laboratories in this area is a “quite insufficient and maybe misleading” and the reflex of : a higher cholesterol……….stains prescription …..is nearly robotic.
Realize that the aggressive advertisements have made the statins to be the best sold drugs in the world and not a day passes or one tries to find another reason/indication to prescribe them.

A short remark: for years I have been asking people with a risky history to do a blood test called:  Lp [a] = lipoprotein [a].
This test is probably the most reliable one to know the risk factors concerning blood lipids [fats].
As far as I am aware of [at this moment]  kupat cholim meuchedet is  the only kupa which performs/performed this test without much fuss [it should be done fasting: 12 hours, water allowed]
A high level [the higher the level] …………….reason to relate to “cholesterol”
A low level…………carry on eating healthy, breathing  and walking etc
To prevent “self-doctoring” [and also not everything is yet fully known] I don’t mention here values.[to give an rough idea: a level higher the 20 mg/dl should certainly be looked into]

The price of doing this test privately in Meuchedet is more or less 70 shekel.

In case there is a real problem then likely the only medicine [known in the West] that will do good is: NIACIN[vitamin B3] [In India the herb Arjuna has shown to have significant effects on Lp[a]]
A VERY SAFE MEDICINE-cheap and not patented!!- but with some nasty [non dangerous] side effects in the beginning like flushing and itching.
One should also not treat himself with  niacin without some guidance of a doctor as niacin in high doses may have to be supplemented by other vitamins of the B group [also folic acid]
You may hear much more about this in the future.
If you do have a family history of cardiovascular diseases then ask your doctor for this test or have it done privately yourself.
As a last word: don’t decide yourself what to do , let your doctor coach you, but use your common sense,if possible.
Conclusion: There may be many opinions in medicine but when it comes to pure financial interests then all discussion and judgement becomes “cloudy” we shev we al ta-ase becomes preferable or look for other options.