Be-Well Information

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (“Giving weight to the other cholesterol”, 06/16/2009) provides interesting food for thought.

Several large pharmaceutical companies are glad to have so many millions of people popping their pills to reduce cholesterol. You have probably seen ads for Pfizer’s Lipator, Merck’s former star Zocor, and AstraZeneca’s Crestor.

Great stuff, or so they tell us. What they fail to remind us is that statins are best at lowering blood levels of the LDL component (Low-Density Lipoprotein), but most (other than Crestor) do little to lower triglycerides or raise HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein), the “good cholesterol”.

The Wall Street Journal article goes on to say that some pills can help raise HDL, such as niacin (a vitamin) and fibrates (drugs). But cardiologists say that the best option for triglycerides (to lower) and HDL (to raise) is to cut calories (especially saturated fats), increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, and to exercise.

Golly, gee wizz! Turns out, that is also a great prescription to lower LDL. How about that!

In other words, if you make small changes to your lifestyle, you can get large benefits to your health. Protect your heart, ward of diabetes, trim your belly and waist, gain stamina, feel more alive, etc., etc. Gosh, if you do all that, you might not even need those very profitable statin medications.

This reminds me of when former President Bill Clinton had his famous heart bypass surgery. After his tests on Friday, reporters spoke of how he had been a junk food addict, loving burgers, fries, and shakes, even eating a whole pie at one sitting. BAD, BAD Bill! Naughty!

By the time of his quadruple bypass surgery on Monday, the major drug companies had managed to manipulate the news media (money talks) to report that Bill had not been taking his statin pills religiously. BAD, BAD drug companies! Naughty, indeed!

Sometimes drug companies make me sick!

A web search on “low fat recipes” found Dr. Ornish’s “Life Choice Diet”
which is a low-fat vegetarian way of eating with less than ten percent of calories coming from fat. The focus is on beans, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, with processed foods and non fat dairy products consumed in moderation. Refined sugars and alcohols, like fat, are to be avoided.

In my “Easy Health Diet”, I don’t insist on a totally vegetarian diet. I do, however, show that it is easy to curb fat fried foods and fatty sauces, and to replace a large portion of four legged meats with traditional soy foods. Of course, moderate exercise helps, as in my “Easy Exercise All Ages.”

Tip #1: If you can’t find your cheek bones and jaw bone in the mirror without using your fingers, you are FAT! If you are merely “pleasingly plump”, you are still at elevated risk. You are inviting a whole host of possibly fatal diseases.

Tip #2: Any extra calories you consume are turned into triglycerides and stored in fat cells to be used later, regardless of what kind of food you eat — fat, carbohydrate (including sugar), protein, or alcohol.

Take responsibility for your own health. And be very careful interpreting news. Statin pills and prayers do less for health than good diet and moderate exercise.