Sugar versus Lipids (Fat & Cholesterol)

Cholesterol now deserves a full pardon and should be awarded ‘Freedom of the Body’. We now know cholesterol is (and always was) a hero in all the cells of our bodies. The cell walls are made of fat and cholesterol working together to protect, give shape and function to each cell..So when you seek to lower your cholesterol you can expect some loss of function and ill effects (see http://bit.ly/1LdEqhn for details)

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Statin Damage: We have seen a huge growth in on-line social media groups complaining bitterly the devastating health effects of statin medications. Statins stop an enzyme in the liver from working, depriving the body of vital substances and signalling compounds (Cholesterol, Hormones and Co-Q10 and more). Eventually tissues break down (muscle & neuron loss) and stop communicating (signalling loss).  The adverse effects are well documented and we have some idea of the numbers  from the FDA’s own FAER database. results have been documented. This “Mevalonate Blockade” is basic cellular biochemistry so the question is why is modern medicine unwilling to acknowledge and deal with this statin damage?

Sugar-Damaged Lipids

After 50 years of blaming cholesterol for upsetting our blood lipids it has come as a shock to the medical profession to find that the guilty party is sugars (fructose & glucose). Diabetics and their clinicians are increasingly commenting on the fact that Lipid tests show improvement (LDL/HDL ratio in blood fats) if excess blood sugar is well managed. The most important number a medical check-up can give you is a blood sugar-damage test called HbA1c or A1c. Get this number under control and the LDL/HDL ratio improves along with general health. The reason that good control of blood sugar improves blood lipids is the reduction in damage caused by sugar to the LDL lipid receptors that absorb the lipids into our cells and organs . The blood LDL lipids are responsible for transporting all the fats, fatty nutrients and cholesterol to our organs to ensure they work.  The HDL collects and returns excess fatty substances for recycling.

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So it was sugar that stopped the cycle from working – not cholesterol!

An ultimately lethal combination of excess blood sugar, low-fat diets and statins is doing huge harm among our mature population.

Fortunately many patients abandon statins after a few months of experiencing their effects but some persist believing they owe their lives to the misguided claims that they prevent heart disease. Some pharmaceutical companies fund CPD courses on which Doctors are advised to see the statin side-effects as part of the progression of the diseases the statins are claimed to prevent. Treating statin adverse side-effects adds to profitability and makes good financial sense. This is a poor unethical way for drug for the Pharmaceutical Industry to behave and independent regulatory investigation is urgently required. The problem is finding independent experts who are not ultimately dependent of the system for funding!

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What has changed is the science. Over recent decades evidence was building that blood sugar-damage was damaging the lipid nutrition cycle by attacking the LDL receptor mechanisms.

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Excess Sugar+ Low-Fat+ Statins = Debilitating Deterioration of Organs

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Why cholesterol drugs might affect memory
Dr Duane Graveline has agreed to share his comments on the article in Scientific American with you:  
“When  I saw Melinda Moyers’  first mistake I was amused  for my morning walk
took place in Island Pond, Vermont not Merritt Island  Island, Florida where
I currently reside. It was then I spotted the title  “Why cholesterol
drugs  might affect memory’ and began to get angry. I had spent 15 years
documenting  the cognitive side effects of statin drugs and our FDA’s
Medwatch had recently  reported over 7500 statin associated transient
global amnesia and memory loss  reports received during the time period
2004-2014. A reasonably accurate title  would not read cholesterol
lowering drugs might affect memory. The proper title  would read
cholesterol lowering drugs affect memory.
If Ms Moyer has done her  job
she would know these facts just as I know them so why not use them.

Then
 when my name came up again in the article I was surprised to read I
had been  “following a healthy diet to keep my cholesterol low.” Never
since  my research on the subject have I been even remotely concerned
about my  cholesterol. It is irrelevant to heart attack and stroke.
Inflammation is the  underlying cause. Many times in my writing I have
told my readers how ashamed I  was to have raised my family on no eggs,
skim milk and margarine for 17 years so  conned I had been as a much
younger doctor. Had Ms. Moyer but asked me I would  have told her this.
And then she topped it off by saying “he says he has never felt better.”
Now  I am really angry for she has never in the past decade asked me
and since  the year 2000 I have almost completely lost the ability to
walk. I barely make  it with cane and walker and am but a moment away
from wheelchair existence.  Peripheral neuropathy says my neurologist
with my muscle biopsy showing  denervation atrophy (no nerve, no
muscle). Ms Moyer conjured up this entire  thing. If she had only called
me.

Duane Graveline MD  MPH”

It’s Not Dementia, It’s Your Heart Medication: Cholesterol Drugs and Memory