Cholesterol-lowering supplements

Lower your numbers without prescription medication

If you're worried about your cholesterol and have already started exercising and eating healthier foods, you might wonder if adding a cholesterol-lowering supplement to your diet can help reduce your numbers. Although few natural products have been proved to reduce cholesterol, some might be helpful. With your doctor's OK, consider these cholesterol-lowering supplements and products.

Cholesterol-lowering supplement	What it does	Side effects and drug interactions	Usual suggested doses
Artichoke extract	May reduce total cholesterol and LDL, or "bad," cholesterol	May cause gas or an allergic reaction	1,800 to 1,920 milligrams a day, divided into 2 to 3 doses
Barley	May reduce total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol	None	3 grams barley oil extract or 30 grams barley bran flour a day
Beta-sitosterol (found in oral supplements and some margarines, such as Promise Activ)	May reduce total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol	May cause nausea, indigestion, gas, diarrhea or constipation May be ineffective if you take ezetimibe (Zetia), a prescription cholesterol medication	800 milligrams to 6 grams a day, divided and taken before meals, or 2 tablespoons of margarine containing beta-sitosterol a day
Blond psyllium (found in seed husk and products such as Metamucil)	May reduce total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol	May cause gas, stomach pain, diarrhea, constipation or nausea	5 grams seed husk twice a day, or 1 serving a day of products such as Metamucil
Fish oil (found as a liquid oil and in oil-filled capsules)	May reduce triglycerides	May cause a fishy aftertaste, bad breath, gas, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea May interact with some blood-thinning medications, such as warfarin (Coumadin)	2 to 4 grams a day
Flaxseed, ground	May reduce total triglycerides	May cause, gas, bloating or diarrhea May interact with some blood-thinning medications, such as aspirin, clopidogrel (Plavix) and warfarin (Coumadin)	40 to 50 grams a day, stirred into cereal or yogurt, or mixed into the batter for baked goods
Garlic extract	May reduce total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides	May cause bad breath or body odor, heartburn, gas, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea May interact with blood-thinning medications, such as warfarin (Coumadin)	600 to 1,200 milligrams a day, divided into 3 doses
Oat bran (found in oatmeal and whole oats)	May reduce total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol	May cause gas or bloating	Up to 150 grams of whole-oat products a day
Sitostanol (found in oral supplements and some margarines, such as Benecol)	May reduce total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol	May cause diarrhea	800 milligrams to 4 grams a day, or 4 1/2 teaspoons of margarine containing sitostanol a day

Another popular cholesterol-lowering supplement is red yeast rice. There is some evidence that red yeast rice can help lower your LDL cholesterol. However, the Food and Drug Administration has warned that the following red yeast rice products could contain a naturally occurring form of the prescription medication known as lovastatin:

• Red Yeast Rice and Red Yeast Rice/Policosanol Complex sold by Swanson Health Products Inc. and manufactured by Nature's Value Inc. and Kabco Inc.
• Cholestrix sold by Sunburst Biorganics

The presence of lovastatin in the red yeast rice products in question is potentially dangerous because there's no way for you to know what level or quality of lovastatin might be in red yeast rice.

Sometimes healthy lifestyle choices, including supplements and other cholesterol-lowering products, aren't enough. If your doctor prescribes medication to reduce your cholesterol, take it as directed while you continue to focus on a healthy lifestyle. As always, if you decide to take an herbal supplement, be sure to tell your doctor. The herbal supplement you take may interact with other medications you take.

Vitamin C Injections Slow Tumor Growth in Mice

High-dose injections of vitamin C, also known as ascorbate or ascorbic acid, reduced tumor weight and growth rate by about 50 percent in mouse models of brain, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers, researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) report in the August 5, 2008, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers traced ascorbate’s anti-cancer effect to the formation of hydrogen peroxide in the extracellular fluid surrounding the tumors. Normal cells were unaffected.

Natural physiologic controls precisely regulate the amount of ascorbate absorbed by the body when it is taken orally. "When you eat foods containing more than 200 milligrams of vitamin C a day — for example, 2 oranges and a serving of broccoli — your body prevents blood levels of ascorbate from exceeding a narrow range," says Mark Levine, M.D., the study’s lead author and chief of the Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the NIH. To bypass these normal controls, NIH scientists injected ascorbate into the veins or abdominal cavities of rodents with aggressive brain, ovarian, and pancreatic tumors. By doing so, they were able to deliver high doses of ascorbate, up to 4 grams per kilogram of body weight daily. "At these high injected doses, we hoped to see drug-like activity that might be useful in cancer treatment," said Levine.

...In their laboratory experiments on 43 cancer and 5 normal cell lines, the researchers discovered that high concentrations of ascorbate had anticancer effects in 75 percent of cancer cell lines tested, while sparing normal cells. In their paper, the researchers also showed that these high ascorbate concentrations could be achieved in people.

...The team then tested ascorbate injections in immune-deficient mice with rapidly spreading ovarian, pancreatic, and glioblastoma (brain) tumors. The ascorbate injections reduced tumor growth and weight by 41 to 53 percent. In 30 percent of glioblastoma controls, the cancer had spread to other organs, but the ascorbate-treated animals had no signs of disseminated cancer.

...It was not realized [at the time] that only injected ascorbate might deliver the concentrations needed to see an anti-tumor effect," said Levine, who noted that new clinical trials of ascorbate as a cancer treatment are in the planning stages.

Complete article at nih.gov
National Institutes of Health, Monday, August 4, 2008

Healthy Computing: Clear Vision

© Erik Peper Ph.D.

Optimize your performance and prevent computer-related injuries with Healthy Computing Email Tips. Each week we provide hints to help you stay healthier while working. After working at the computer, do your eyes feel tired and irritated? Approximately 33 to 37 percent of people experience eye irritation such as, itching, burning, dry eyes or difficulty focusing on the distant objects after computer work. Look to your health and increase CLEAR VISION. HOW TO INCREASE CLEAR VISION: Blink frequently when looking (or is it staring?) at the monitor. This helps because our blinking rate decreases approximately 70% when concentrating versus when we are relaxed. Remember to blink at the end of every paragraph or with every mouse click. Adjust the top of the monitor screen so that it is equal to or lower than your eyebrows. When looking straight ahead or upward at the monitor, our eyes tear less and the corneal surface dries. When looking slightly down, our eyelids will usually sweep down the whole eyeball when blinking, which moistens the cornea instead of only the upper eyeball. Look out a window (if possible) at a distant tree or lawn when taking a break, when talking on the telephone or when thinking about a task. Green is a soothing color for our eyes. If you don't have access to a window, decorate your work area with green plants that you can look at during your vision breaks. Adjust and correct other factors that influence vision such as glare, reflections and wearing the correct prescription glasses. Healthy Computing: Clear Vision

Arthritis: Rosehip is better than drugs for pain-relief

Published on Saturday, July 26, 2008
by Healthy News Service

Back to Healthy News

Rosehip could be a more effective pain-reliever than standard drugs for people with arthritis, a new study suggests. A powder form of the wild variety of rosehip, Rosa canina, is better at relieving pain among osteoarthritis patients than paracetamol and the nutritional supplement, glucosamine. The three therapies were tested on a group of 300 patients, who tested each in turn for three months. Overall, the patients reported that the rosehip preparation was almost three times more effective than paracetamol, and 40 per cent better than glucosamine. Rosehip also didn’t come with the side effects associated with paracetamol, including constipation and drowsiness. The researchers from Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen believe that rosehip is so effective because it also reduces the inflammation in the joints, which is characteristic of osteoarthritis. (Source: Osteoarthritis and Cartilage)

Arthritis: Rosehip is better than drugs for pain-relief

Provided by What Doctors Don't Tell You on 7/26/2008

Create a Bigger Picture of Health

© John W Travis M.D., M.P.H.

Health is a function of participation. - Werner Erhard

The "participation" that Erhard talks about is participation in relationships and participation in work that serves a vision or a context larger than your own personal survival. Your health and wellness are by-products of a life that is focused and ripe with meaning, full of generous engagement with others in the creation of a world that works for everybody. This insight is not new. Wise women and men throughout the ages have demonstrated an elegant unconcern for their own problems (physical or circumstantial) combined with a diligent commitment to the wellbeing of others. Such an orientation results in an observable radiance, a tangible strength of character and profound wisdom, as well as a remarkable ability for compassion even in the direst situations. Think of Mother Teresa. Think of the current Dalai Lama. Think of someone whom you admire.

People in Western industrialized nations have a great luxury of time and money to devote to personal health. But it may be beneficial to ask whether these populations are truly healthier and happier than other cultures as a result. Are we really well in body, mind, and spirit?

Obsession with health can be every bit as wasteful of your human potential as ignorance and carelessness can be. Focusing primarily on self-health may be endlessly fascinating, but it can also be tremendously isolating, exorbitantly expensive, and outrageously time consuming. Ultimately, overconcern for personal health keeps people imprisoned in a tiny cell, limiting the vast possibilities of creative expression and loving relationships that await them. The equation is really basic: in serving others, we serve ourselves. Or put another way: Creating a bigger vision and living in support of it, we put our personal concerns in perspective, and we are subsumed and fulfilled by a greater need, a greater possibility, a greater love.

Reaching Out
"People helping people" is a tried and true strategy for moving out of and beyond personal pain and suffering. You are not alone with whatever diseased condition you may be struggling with, even though it may often feel that way. People are typically ashamed of their weaknesses and vulnerability and fearful of more pain, all of which feeds their loneliness and isolation. Yet when someone opens a door by showing friendship or offering a hand of assistance, especially if they have walked the same path of pain or disease, that help can be tremendously beneficial, drawing you out of your closed world and inviting you into the larger world with others who share a common vulnerability.

Service to others in need can be a powerful remedy for your own pain or sense of alienation. There is relief in putting your own drama aside, for however long, in order to touch, with understanding, the life of another.

Few people can fail to generate a self-healing process when they become genuinely involved in healing others. . . . Selflessness is the greatest weapon in integrating and aiding the self. - Theodore Isaac Rubin, MD

The best healers are often those who know illness intimately from their own experience.

Moving beyond Identification
To identify with something is to incorporate that thing (be it an object, a person, a job, a role, a thought, an action, a feeling, or a series of symptoms) within your definition of who you are. It’s funny, but most people don’t realize how closely their self-definition depends on a particular identification until that identification is challenged in some way. For example, people become identified with their jobs. When they lose their job, they lose their self-esteem.

When you are ill, illness tends to permeate your world, whether it is a simple cold or a chronic condition. Having asthma or having arthritis can easily become "being the woman with asthma" or "being the guy with arthritis." And you may come to identify yourself with that illness. You might use it, and abuse it, to judge yourself or to manipulate others. Some folks believe that illness or disease is some form of punishment. When they are sick, therefore, they feel guilty. They feel unloved and unlovable. They compound an already aggravated situation with negativity and self-judgment. To align with a bigger context of health means refusing to use illness or disease in this way.

Next time you find yourself "under the weather" or experiencing discomforting symptoms, watch the way your mind works. Illness can provide self-understanding, if you don’t get stuck in it. Pay attention to what you identify with. Self-observation is the first and most crucial step in breaking unproductive habits about your health, like blaming or berating yourself, other people, or circumstances for your condition, or thinking that because you are ill you are somehow a failure.

Observation without self-judgment is the key. Seeing clearly what your mind is up to, especially when it is caught in a loop of negative feedback, will teach you to simply move forward, regardless of the mind’s chatter.

Open to Prayer
Some people pray as a means of seeking comfort in difficult times. Others view prayer as a type of communion with a source of love or with the mystery that surrounds their lives. Because prayer, by its very definition, connects you with a higher power, or universal source, or deep innate wisdom, it can encourage a more expansive view of life. With prayer, the gift of health may be seen in a new perspective, which prizes health but does not assign it ultimate importance. The old adage, "If you’ve got your health, you’ve got everything," simply isn’t true. There are values more transcendent and meaningful than personal health.

Prayer can also serve as a means of expressing your interrelatedness with others. Recent research indicates that people who are prayed for by others, even by people they don’t know, receive benefit in the form of fewer complications in surgery and faster healing time. Science may question such studies and the efficacy of prayer for a long time. What is unquestionable, however, is what it does for you. When you direct care and attention outside yourself toward another person’s wellbeing, when you unite yourself with others in the commonality of shared pain and shared humanity, there is no doubt that you are healthier for it.

Expanding Your Context
Here are a couple of ways to carry the bigger picture of health even further.

* Spend some quiet time, an hour if possible, in which you simply contemplate and/or write about the ideas presented above. For instance, what do you think about the statement, "Health is a function of participation"? What do you believe about the old adage, "If you've got your health, you’ve got everything"?

* Make a phone call to a friend or relative who is currently ill or dealing with some chronic condition. As you listen, silently support, love, and pray for the person without trying to solve any problems or without demanding anything for yourself. Just be there. Notice if this activity affects the way in which you view your own health concerns.
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Simply Well by John W. Travis, MD, & Regina Sara Ryan. Copyright 2001. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA. www.tenspeed.com John W. Travis, M.D., M.P.H.,Wellness Workbook with Sara Regina Ryan (Ten Speed Press). The online version of the Wellness Inventory may be accessed by individuals at (www.WellPeople.com) and licensed by organizations (www.WellnessInventory.net).

It takes one a long time
to become young.

-- Pablo Picasso

Butt Lake Grasses & Blooms, July 2008, c. Janis Davies. all rights reserved.

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind,
of what, then, is an empty desk?”
-Einstein