For years, you’ve probably seen or heard the continual hype about how having high cholesterol can lead to heart disease and increase your risk of dying prematurely from a heart attack.  You’ve also most likely witnessed the pharmaceutical industry presenting the solution in the form of a cholesterol-lowering medication known as a statin.  After all, for a long time now, cholesterol medications have been at the top of the list when it comes to prescriptions written.  The obvious assumption, of course, is that if your cholesterol is up, you simply need to bring it down to resolve the problem and return to picture-perfect health.

So, what’s the truth?  Does having high cholesterol lead to heart-related disease and premature death?  Are statins the answer to lowering elevated LDL?  What is cholesterol anyway, and what causes it to become elevated?

Let’s face it, most people never ask those questions of health professionals, or any other related questions for that matter.  Instead, we’re told to keep quiet, take the meds, and believe that they are the answer.  Remember, this is even though the numbers don’t add up.  Seriously, do you realize that with heart disease alone, the numbers have continued to rise over the last three decades, to the point that nearly the same number of people dies each year from heart disease as all the American soldiers who lost their lives in WWI, WW2, the Korean, and the Vietnam wars combined?

Listen, your body needs cholesterol.  That’s right, this soft waxy substance that has been given such a bad name through the years is an essential part of life.  In fact, did you know that not only is cholesterol found in your blood stream but it is also present in every cell in your body, and is instrumental in producing cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D, and the bile acids that help in digesting fat?  Interestingly, 25% of the total cholesterol in your body is found in your brain.  Cholesterol is so important that without it your body can NOT make estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisone, thyroid hormones and a host of other vital hormones.  Since this is the case, it would also stand to reason that when statins are taken, as the cholesterol levels decrease, a patient is more prone to sickness, symptoms, and diseases associated with a lack of those very substances.

You see, your liver makes about 75 percent of your body’s total cholesterol. There are also two types of cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein or HDL, and low-density lipoprotein or LDL.  The HDL is known as the “good guy,” while the LDL is the “bad guy.”

The HDL, or “good” cholesterol helps keep the cholesterol away from your arteries while removing any excess arterial plaque.  It is for these reasons that the HDL gets the reputation of being the superhero.

The LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, on the other hand, gets the bad rap of being the villain. This type of cholesterol circulates in the blood and is blamed endlessly for building up and clogging the arteries, which causes narrowing of the arteries, making it more likely for a clot to form, which may then cause the blockage of oxygenated blood from getting to the heart or brain, leading to either a heart attack or stroke.

Now to give the LDL the benefit of the doubt, you need to ask the question, “Why does the body produce LDL if it’s so bad?”  Is there any other way(s) to lower the cholesterol naturally?

Well, of course there are ways to naturally lower your cholesterol.  Understand however that the pharmaceutical companies may not want you to know that, but truth is truth, and it’s important that you know that.

Here’s the thing though, after having been told for decades that having higher cholesterol will likely lead to a heart attack and premature death, patients across the globe have been taking statins by the handful.  In fact, cholesterol-lowering medications have been among the top drugs prescribed and taken faithfully by patients for years.   After all, why would anyone not want to comply with their doctor’s best recommendations when the studies have proven the decline of heart disease since taking this breakthrough, life-saving approach? Or have they?

Do the studies really indicate that statins work?  Do they work in the sense that they are truly preventing the demise that we’re being told they will help us avoid?   In other words, even if the studies showed that cholesterol decreased, is that what the body needs to function optimally? If these medications do work, there would be reason to believe that there has in fact been a noticeable decline in cardiovascular-related deaths, right?

So, what is the truth?  Do cholesterol-lowering medications really decrease the risk of coronary heart disease and associated premature deaths?  Is having high cholesterol really the “cause” of coronary heart disease?  What causes higher cholesterol in the first place?

You see, like with any other health-related matter, we’re each responsible for our own health.  That’s right, the person you see in the mirror each day is the one who determines how healthy you are.  It’s not a doctor, nurse, spouse, or friend that decides the state of your health, just you.

Knowing this, it’s vital that we all learn to take full responsibility for our lives and begin to learn how to ask the right questions.  We need to learn what questions need answered to have the greatest impact on our lives.

Take for example the idea of where cholesterol comes from.  Did you know that your brain is made up of 75% cholesterol?  Were you aware that most of the cholesterol in your body was created inside you, mostly by your liver, but every cell must also create cholesterol for optimal function?  So, if cholesterol is so bad, why is it that your body would make so much of it?  What is the purpose of it?  If your body was innately able to create you from two cells, controlling trillions of functions and cellular responses each day, could there be a purpose for the increased production of the cholesterol?  Could it be that there is an underlying cause or purpose that triggers such a response?  Have you ever considered the potential of how the stresses of your life might be playing a role in this increase of cholesterol?  What if the cholesterol increase was part of a necessary and adaptive healing response?  Would eating healthy for the sake of giving your body what it needs to heal help remove the cause for that adaptive response?  What effect do you think regular exercise would have?  How much better would your body function and heal with regular chiropractic care, having a better-functioning nervous system?

Here’s the thing, in a Netherlands study in 1998, it was shown that patients with the lowest LDL’s had an 350% increased risk of Parkinson’s disease.  The study also showed that Alzheimer’s patients had significantly lower cholesterol in their cerebrospinal fluids regardless of the apo4 gene. Furthermore, a Boston University Study in 2005 showed that patients with cholesterol above 240 had a better cognitive function than patients with 160, causing Dr. Jerry Tennett, MD to conclude that “No one should be on statins.”

Studies also show that statins can then lead to the development of type 2 diabetes, particularly in postmenopausal women, by a risk factor of 48%.  Another study in the journal Atherosclerosis shows that statin use is associated with a 52% increased prevalence and extent of calcified coronary plaque compared to non-users.

These studies are only a few of the many out there, but the point of bringing them up is to illustrate the fact that they are there.  This becomes increasingly important when realizing that statins have been shown to significantly increase not only diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, but also symptoms like muscle aches and pains, nerve damage in the hands and feet, immune depression, pancreas and liver dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, cataracts, memory loss, and an increased risk of cancer.

It’s also important to know that statins have been shown to deplete CoQ10, a natural substance found in every cell of the body.  To produce the energy necessary for cell growth and maintenance, the body produces and uses CoQ10.  It has also been shown to be essential in protecting the heart and skeletal muscles.

Listen, if the array of previously noted symptoms wasn’t bad enough, your heart needs continual energy.  Therefore, when the statins deplete the needed CoQ10, the body then will generally suffer even more.  It’s been said that the primary role of the heart is to simply feed the brain.   It’s also been said that your liver health can be a reflection of your brain health.

Don’t focus on the high cholesterol or even the heart, but rather on what you desire…great life and health.  If health is the prize that you are reaching for, then let your choices be reflective of that in all areas.  Give your body what it needs to heal at its best, so that it can be the full reflection of life the way you were created to express it.

If you haven’t already made chiropractic part of your health plan, you may want to consider doing so, as chiropractic focuses on optimizing the function of your body so it can heal innately at its very best.  By doing so, many people find chiropractic helpful in overcoming many symptoms and conditions, not by treating those symptoms, but by focusing on searching for the underlying cause(s), while at the same time being a builder of health.