Copying with high CHOLESTEROL

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By James Duke, Ph.D.

The cholesterol story began in 1951, when the Pentagon sent pathologists to Korea to study the bodies of servicemen killed in the war there.

Although almost no one under 35 dies of coronary heart disease, autopsies revealed that more than 75 percent of the soldiers, average age 21, had yellow deposits of atherosclerotic plaque on their artery walls. The Army pathologists' reports shocked the medical community because, until these autopsies, doctors had assumed these artery-clogging deposits were found only in much older men.

Soon after, cholesterol was identified as a major contributor to the buildup of plaque and to the risk of heart disease. More recently, scientists have discovered that for every 1 percent drop in cholesterol level, there is a 2 percent decrease in heart attack risk.

UNDERSTANDING THE NUMBERS

The total cholesterol level of the average American is higher than 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) of blood. Because heart attack risk rises sharply above that level, the American Heart Association urges everyone to take measures to reduce cholesterol if it's anywhere near that high.

How far below 200 should you go to feel that your risk is significantly less? Research suggests that very low cholesterol levels, below 150 or so, increase risk of death from other causes, including liver cancer, lung disease and certain kinds of stroke. My reaction is that people should strive for a cholesterol range of 170 to 190.

To complicate matters, there are two kinds of cholesterol: low-density lipoproteins (LDL), which increase the risk of heart attack, and high density lipoproteins (HDL), which actually reduce it. You want to get your total cholesterol down below 190. But if you have high cholesterol, your doctor may focus on your LDL levels and have you work to reduce those, since the "bad" kind is most dearly linked to heart disease.

An estimated 25 percent of Americans have cholesterol levels high enough to place them at risk for heart attack; 10 percent have levels so high that doctors prescribe aggressive cholesterol-lowering drug treatments. But these are powerful drugs that can have negative side effects - for example, the drug Baycol was voluntarily withdrawn from the market because of reports of serious, sometimes fatal, muscle reaction. Doctors are far less likely to tell you Green Pharmacy ways to reduce your heart disease risk.

FIBER POWER

Any, and probably all, plant fibers can lower cholesterol. That means eating a diet that includes lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, with a minimum of fats.

In one study, a high fiber supplement (Fibercel) was added to the diets of laboratory hamsters, enough to comprise 5 percent of their daily calorie intake. The Fibercel lowered their total cholesterol by 42 percent and their "bad" LDL cholesterol by 69 percent. Beneficial HDL increased 16 percent.