Statin Drugs are Dangerous

A new paper cites nearly 900 studies on the adverse effects of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, also called statins, which are a class of drugs widely used to treat high cholesterol. The review provides the most complete picture to date of reported side effects of statins.

Muscle problems are the best known of statin drugs' adverse side effects, but cognitive problems and pain or numbness in the extremities are also widely reported. A spectrum of other problems, ranging from blood glucose elevations to tendon problems, can also occur as side effects.

The paper summarizes powerful evidence that statin-induced injury to the function of the body's energy-producing cells, called mitochondria, underlies many of the adverse effects that occur to patients taking statin drugs. Statins lower levels of coenzyme Q10, a compound central to the processes of making energy within mitochondria and eliminating dangerous compounds called free radicals.

Higher statin doses and more powerful statins are linked to greater risk of developing side effects. Sources: Eurekalert January 26, 2009 American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs 2008;8(6):373-418

Check out my friend the Spacedoc who is permanently damaged by his statin use. A world class NASA flight surgeon, he now crusades to stop people from believing the lies and using statins

http://www.spacedoc.net/

Nutrient deficiency allows viruses a foothold

Why don't we get a cold or flu in summer? They tell us that catching a cold has nothing to do with being cold. It has lots to do with the body making its own antibiotics but these work on viruses where pharmaceutical antibiotics cannot affect a virus at all. These natural disease fighters are called antimicrobial peptides and the body makes them IF....I say ONLY IF we get enough Vitamin D. In summer we get more sunlight which causes the body to make this nutrient. How many other viruses could we be protected from if we got enough nutrition? How about HIV? smallpox? measles? Ebola? hanta? these antimicrobial peptides drill right through the impenetrable virus shell and destroy them. This leads me to wonder something. Since peptides are small molecules that hold amino acids together in a protein chain, could these be manufactured or rather separated out, and concentrated in the lab so that these antimicrobial peptides could be given to plants, animals, and humans to combat every kind of virus. Well that could be the next twenty years of research but I don't want to wait, getting more sunlight gives me more vitamin D and that is what I plan to do. Here is the video that told me about this:
WATCH VIDEO

Your wealth IS your health but money is nice too
Doug

A key to your optimal health and fat loss program

It is a pity that our nutritional industrial complex insists on feeding all meat animals with grains and not the grass they were meant to eat. Grass puts omega 3 into the meat. grain fed meat is contributing to our national poor health and obesity. Make sure a source of omega 3 is part of your fat loss or optimal health program

Fight obesity and illness at the source. Omega-3 fats are thought to play an important role in reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, obesity and other serious diseases. However, humans are unable to synthesize omega-3 for themselves and must obtain it from meat, fish and dairy products.

Studies have indicated that animal feeds enriched with omega-3 improves the health and fertility of animals, and the nutritional quality of their meat and dairy products. Obese volunteers eating a diet comprising meat and dairy products derived from animals fed with omega-3-enriched linseed (flaxseed) lost 3 kg in three months, and sustained the weight loss five months later. Omega-3 fats are essential for your body and may help reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, obesity and other chronic diseases.

The study mentioned came from Valorex, a French company that has developed a way of “thermo-extruding” the seeds from the flaxseed plant, and is now marketing them as an additive for cattle feed. According to studies by Valorex, animals fed a diet enriched with their extruded flaxseed had improved health and fertility, and their meat and dairy products contained higher levels of omega-3 fats.

Obese people with diabetes who then ate a diet enriched with the thermo-extruded flaxseed reportedly had a partial loss of abdominal obesity and a reduction in their triglycerides levels.

Next they conducted a trial in which obese volunteers ate meat and dairy products from animals fed the flaxseed-enriched diet, and found they lost over 6.5 pounds in three months, and kept the weight off five months later. Although control volunteers who ate alternative types of diets also lost the same amount of weight, they had gained some of it back by the end of the study.

Valorex’s enriched animal feeds are already in high demand by food manufacturers and farmers in France, and agreements with factories in Germany, Portugal and Switzerland are already underway. For many folks this could be an answer to fighting obesity and chronic disease that the we have been waiting for?

Well, I’m all for adding more omega- 3 fats to your diet, but there is something being overlooked about the source of the omega-3.

Why You Want to Get Your Omega-3 Primarily From Animal, NOT Plant, Sources

There are three types of omega-3 fats:

• DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid)
• EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid)
• ALA (Alpha-Linolenic Acid)

Most of the health benefits associated with omega-3 fats are linked to the animal-based omega-3 fats EPA and DHA, not the plant-based omega-3 fat ALA. ALA, which is the type of omega-3 found in flaxseed, is converted into EPA and DHA in your body, but only at a very low ratio.

I am convinced that we all need both plant and animal based omega 3 fats but I have seen many people, primarily vegans, that are strongly opposed to eating any animal products, suffer serious health complications from excluding animal based omega-3 fats.

Even if you eat large amounts of ALA, your body can only convert a relatively small amount into EPA and DHA, and only when sufficient enzymes are present.

This does not mean plant-based omega-3 fats are intrinsically harmful or that they should be avoided. Eating meat enriched with omega-3 is likely a healthier option than eating the typical grain-fed beef available in U.S. supermarkets.

In fact, one reason why I recommend choosing grass-fed beef over grain-fed beef is because it contains higher levels of omega-3 fats. The increased levels of omega-3 come from the cattle’s diet of grass, as 60 percent of the fat content of grass is ALA.

It’s important that the grass-fed beef you choose is really finished on grass, as opposed to being shipped to a feedlot and fattened on grain for the last few months.

Why? Because as soon as cattle stop eating grass, they begin to lose the omega-3 stored in their tissues, which is why grain-fed beef typically has only 15-50 percent of the omega-3 that grass-fed beef has. One reason why it’s so important to make sure your beef has higher levels of omega-3 has to do with your ratio of this fat and another called omega-6.

While most people are seriously lacking in omega-3, they are overdoing omega-6, which is found primarily in vegetable oils but also in grain-fed beef. The ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats is 1:1. Today, though, our ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 averages from 20:1 to 50:1!

Research shows that if your ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 exceeds 4:1, you’re at risk for more health problems. This is especially meaningful since grain-fed beef can have ratios that exceed 20:1, whereas grass-fed beef is down around 3:1. That said, most people don’t eat beef every day, and even if you did an average serving of grass-fed beef would provide only around 88.5 mg of omega-3 fat, according to California State University’s College of Agriculture, which on its own is not very much.

How Else Can You Get Omega-3 Fat?

The best source of plant-based omega-3 fats are fresh organic flaxseeds. The key is to buy organic flaxseeds and grind them fresh immediately before you use them. The fats are highly perishable so it is best to avoid pre-ground seeds or oil as the risk of oxidation of these fats is too high. Refrigerating flax helps avoid oxidation of the fats. Never store them in a warm or hot area. When it comes to choosing between animal-based omega-3 options, the primary options are fish, fish oil, cod liver oil or krill oil.

Fish oil can be a problem if you buy it from drugstores or discount stores because much of it is seriously contaminated with heavy metals like mercury and other pollutants. And cod liver oil is no longer recommended because it can have problematic ratios of vitamins A and D.

I get my omega-3 from two sources and they come highly recommended by doctors I trust. I get Krill oil from Dr. Mercola (mercola.com) and Dr. Steve Nugent, the toxin expert (author of “How to Survive on a Toxic Planet”) suggests Nordic Naturals’ version of fish oil that is the cleanest unpolluted oil to be found. http://www.nordicnaturals.com/en/4/General_Public. Buy or don’t buy, I don’t make money on these. I just use them to get my nutritional needs.

To your improved health and wealth

Doug