Worried about Cholesterol?

The use of Red Rice Yeast as a "natural" tool to lower cholesterol is on the rise, but is it really as good for you as most claim it to be? The link to the whole article is below, but I included some Key points:

Dangers of Statins, even natural remedies:
"The "active" compounds in red yeast rice are known as monacolins, and are substances known to inhibit cholesterol synthesis. One type of monacolin, "monacolin K," is also known as mevinolin or lovastatin...
And if you are concerned about your cholesterol levels, taking a drug, even a "natural" drug like red yeast rice, should be your absolute last resort. And when I say last resort, I’m saying the odds are very high, greater than 1000 to 1, that you don’t need drugs to lower your cholesterol. To put it another way, among the more than 20,000 patients... only four or five of them truly needed these drugs, as they had genetic challenges that required it. "

"Statin drugs work by inhibiting an enzyme in your liver that’s needed to manufacture cholesterol. What is so concerning about this is that when you go tinkering around with the delicate workings of your body, you risk throwing everything off kilter. For starters, statin drugs deplete your body of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which is beneficial to heart health and muscle function. CoQ10 is a cofactor (co-enzyme) that is essential for a system of enzymes that create ATP molecules, which are needed for cellular energy production."

"Statins deplete your body of CoQ10, which can have devastating results. As your body gets more and more depleted, it can lead to fatigue, followed by muscle weakness and soreness, and eventually heart failure. Congestive heart failure is in fact a very common health risk of statin drugs, and a major reason to avoid them.
Muscle pain and weakness, a condition called rhabdomyolysis, is the most common side effect of statin drugs, which is thought to occur because statins activate the gene atrogin-1 gene, which plays a key role in muscle atrophy.
It’s important to remember that your heart is also a major muscle and can be affected in the same manner as the other muscles in your body. By the way, muscle pain and weakness may be an indication that your body tissues are actually breaking down -- a condition that can cause kidney damage."


Why you need Cholesterol:
Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance found not only in your bloodstream but also in every cell in your body, where it helps to produce cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D and bile acids that help you to digest fat. Cholesterol also helps in the formation of memories and is vital for your neurological [BRAIN] function."

"Consider the role of "good" HDL cholesterol. Essentially, HDL takes cholesterol from your body’s tissues and arteries, and brings it back to your liver, where most of your cholesterol is produced. If the purpose of this was to eliminate cholesterol from your body, it would make sense that the cholesterol would be shuttled back to your kidneys or intestines so your body could remove it. Instead, it goes back to your liver.

Why?

Because your liver is going to reuse it.

"It is taking it back to your liver so that your liver can recycle it; put it back into other particles to be taken to tissues and cells that need it," Dr. Rosedale says. "Your body is trying to make and conserve the cholesterol for the precise reason that it is so important, indeed vital, for health."

"Sally Fallon, the president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and Mary Enig, Ph.D, an expert in lipid biochemistry, have gone so far as to call high cholesterol "an invented disease, a ‘problem’ that emerged when health professionals learned how to measure cholesterol levels in the blood." And this explanation is spot on. If you have increased levels of cholesterol, it is at least in part because of increased inflammation in your body. The cholesterol is there to do a job: help your body heal and repair."

7 WAYS TO SAFELY REGULATE YOUR CHOLESTEROL:

1. Get the right amount of exercise.

2. Make sure you’re getting plenty of high-quality 4 to 1 ratio of animal-based omega6-fats and omega3-fats.

3. Eliminate grains and sugars in your daily diet

4. Eat a good portion of your food raw.

5. Eat healthy, preferably raw, fats. This includes: Olive oil, Coconut and coconut oil, Organic raw dairy products (including butter, cream, sour cream, cheese, etc.), Avocados, Raw nuts, Seeds, Eggs (lightly cooked with yolks intact or raw), Organic, grass-fed meats
   

6. Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol excessively.

7. Address emotional challenges.
   

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/09/10/Why-You-Should-Avoid-Red-Rice-Yeast.aspx