Q & A archive—Cholesterol

Question: I was advised to start Lipitor because of high cholesterol, 249. LDL 171. Not sure of HDL, but it was one point below what it should be. Would like to do something more natural than the Lipitor. Thank you.

Answer:

Congratulations. You are very wise to try a more natural approach than the drugs to influence your cholesterol levels. First I would say that NOBODY—and I mean nobody—knows what YOUR cholesterol should be. If you take your cholesterol level on five different occasions you are going to get five different answers and how is anyone going to know which is the best one. Certainly, it may not be the lowest reading because cholesterol is a stress chemical that the liver produces to protect you against stress and disease and if you happen to be under unusual stress when your blood is drawn your cholesterol will be high. When the stress conditions no longer exist your cholesterol reading will be much lower. Some of the best scientific minds in the country believe that cholesterol is not the cause of heart problems anyway. The pharmaceutical companies have spent millions of dollars to make everyone paranoid about cholesterol because it is so profitable and in many, if not most cases, it is probably doing more harm than good.

If you follow a good diet and stay away from most of the sugar foods and “junk” foods and get a moderate amount of exercise, your liver will control the level of cholesterol at what is best for your particular body. There is no such thing as a cholesterol level that everyone should have. If you did absolutely nothing to change you eating or lifestyle habits and then did another blood test, I can guarantee you that your reading will be different than the last one you had done. Suppose you took a drug to lower cholesterol for a month or two and then did another test and found it lower than the previous time. You would think for sure that the drug had worked. The problem being that it might have been down ten or fifteen percent if you had done nothing but take it again under different circumstances. Don’t become dependent on drugs!

If you have not already done so, I would suggest that you read my book: “Letters to my Patients.” There is a long chapter on Cholesterol (#9) and it may open your eyes. Some of the other information in it will certainly give you many proven suggestions on how to improve your health, or maybe even safe your life. I would also suggest that you go to my website to the Question & Answer Archives and read several of the answers I have given about Cholesterol and LDL and Thyroid (which has a definite effect on cholesterol). It is your body. Take charge of your own health as much as you can. The drug companies will certainly not do it for you. Good luck.

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