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Statins, Herbs and Healthy Choices

A lot of people are running scared - told
their cholesterol numbers are dangerous, they're taking statin drugs.
What's going on, and is there an alternative?

Pamela Levin, R.N.
Copyyright 2013
All Rights Reserved

Pamela Levin is an R.N., an award-winning nutritional journalist and author with 500+ post-graduate hours in clinical nutrition, herbology and applied kinesiology. In private practice 42 years, she has worked extensively and effectively with female hormone issues and has shared her expertise with colleagues and lay audiences in 10 countries and four continents. 

Health practitioners are seeing increasing numbers of people who take statin drugs because their cardiologist prescribed them to lower their cholesterol numbers. In fact, statin drugs, such as Lipitor®, Mevacor®, Crestor® and Zocor® have been prescribed to about a 15 percent of U.S. adults, at a cost ranging from about $11 for the least expensive generic version to  around $200 for a  name-brand.  Now,new prescribing guidelines qualify more than 30% of the adult population, which doubles the number of people in the 'definite treat' category.

How do these drugs actually affect the body?  What health problem do they address? Are they best approach? And, what, if any, is the alternative?

First, how they work: each body has a metabolic pathway that breaks down all fats and oils to make these essential nutrient building blocks  available for a number of processes. For example, fats and oils are not merely used, but are necessary to make brain cells, the lining of nerves, anti-inflammatories, hormones and, of course,  inflammatories. 

As the fats and oils are processed along this metabolic chain, there are various places where it  branches off to make whatever substances the body requires.    Statins have their effect along this metabolic, or 'eicosanoid chain'. Essentially, they cut the eicosanoid chain above the place where it branches off to make inflammatories, thus preventing the body from making cholesterol.

But do lower cholesterol numbers as a result of taking statins actually translate to better health? For one, there's the issue of adding to the liver's toxic burden, as these drugs have to be broken down and eliminated. Then, there are the side effects.  Ten to-15% of those taking statins  experience muscle damage. Labels now include warnings  about confusion, memory loss, elevated blood sugar leading to Type 2 diabetes, and muscle weakness, to name a few side effects.

What about taking Red Rice Yeast instead?  After all, that would at least reduce the liver's toxic burden.  And, Red Rice Yeast's active ingredients do the same thing as the statins: they both cut this metabolic chain above the place where it branches off to make inflammatories.   When lab results come back with lowered cholesterol, the problem is solved, right?  Absolutely wrong.

Here's why: because both the herb and the drug cut the eicosanoid chain at a fairly high level, before they have a chance to go through all the various metabolic steps, the body is ALSO prevented from making hormones.  And anti-inflammatory molecules. And the lining of nerves, the myelin sheath that insulates nerves.  And brain cells.
And the boundary around every cell in the body.

The only gain from taking Red Rice Yeast instead of statins seems to be reducing somewhat the toxic load the liver has to manage.  And, depending on the insurance plan,  out-of-pocket expenses might be reduced. If you've concluded that using Red Rice Yeast is only a stop-gap measure for lowering cholesterol, you'd be absolutely right.

That said, it's important to note that high cholesterol in and of itself does not cause heart attacks or strokes.  Rather, when the body raises cholesterol, it does so in an attempt to mount a defense. It's the body's attempt to handle repair of cell damage due to inflammation.

If statins have their problems, what then, is the alternative?  Is there an effective solution to lowering heart attack and stroke risk, as reflected in cholesterol numbers?  It seems the true solution to lowering cholesterol levels reflecting these inflammatory processes lies in finding and eliminating any and all causes of chronic inflammation.  Some of these would be specific to each person, while others are applicable to all.

Sounds like a great idea, but where to start? To reduce and eliminate causes of inflammation, a good place to start is with  food intolerances.  Eliminating the foods any  particular body cannot digest can reduce high cholesterol numbers quite rapidly.

Another strategy many find helpful is to accompany their food intolerance elimination efforts  with the precursors the body uses to make its own anti-inflammatories.  These precursors - called gamma linolenic acid - are available in abundance in Black Currant Seed Oil and Evening Primrose Oil, for example.  They provide the body with the particular oils it uses to resolve inflammation. Does this lower those pesky cholesterol numbers? 

Scientific evidence for this was published in Phytotherapy Research in 2010, involving 2,154 patients with abnormal cholesterol levels.  They consumed black currant seed oil daily for six weeks. Results indicated that this regular consumption of black currant seed oil may help improve total cholesterol levels and reduce levels of triglycerides.

That said, it's important to note that doing so while still taking either statin drugs or Red Rice Yeast will prevent the body from completely process these oils.  That's because, as described above, both prevent fats and oils from being completely metabolized. 

Apparently taking Black Currant Seed Oil or Evening Primrose Oil instead of statins or Red Rice Yeast is a good strategy to employ while finding and eliminating all sources of inflammation for each particular body.
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