CHOLESTEROL AND HEART DISEASE
Cholesterol is a life sustaining substance needed to make
every cell in our body. It is not a source of calories like
sugar and fat. Eight hundred milligrams of this crucial
substance is made in our liver every day. Just one of those
milligrams is equivalent to the weight of 10 crystals of
table salt. The normal American diet contains only 400 mg
of cholesterol per day, half as much as supplied by our
own bodies.
After a meal, the fat and cholesterol in the intestinal
tract appear in the blood as tiny droplets called chylomicrons.
These are gradually cleared from the body by the
liver. Two fat carriers are formed in the liver from protein
that carry the cholesterol and fat in the blood. These are
the LDL and HDL lipoproteins.
A high LDL level indicates that you have eaten too
much fat; a low HDL level indicates that you have not
eaten enough protein, or enough food that contains the
8 essential amino acids to make the necessary apoprotein.
(These are listed in my book Cholesterol Won’t kill
you but Trans Fat Could.) The “bad” LDL (oxLDL) is an
oxidized form of LDL. What we do not know yet is why
more LDL is converted into oxLDL in patients with
heart disease.
Because sugar is soluble in blood and requires a minimum
of processing to become glycogen, or stored sugar,
it is used as the first source of energy. But after the sugar
in the blood decreases enough, LDL begins to provide
the energy. The reason that so many Americans are fat
around the waistline is that their diet contains so much
sugar and fat that they eat subsequent meals before they
have used up the initial energy sources. That fat is stored
around the waist.
DANGEROUS CHANGES IN THE CELLULAR
STRUCTURE
The cell membranes that encase each cell are largely composed
of cholesterol. They change in composition during a
person’s lifetime. This is a natural process that results in
hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) to some extent
in all of us as we age. One way to show this change is to
study the veins of artery by-pass patients.
By-pass procedures include finding veins in legs, or
perhaps arteries in arms, that can be harvested and then
used to by-pass the diseased arteries leading to the heart in
the same patient. Of particular interest is the chemical
composition of the veins that have been used as arteries to
the heart in second by-pass patients. These veins were
clear when they were first used in a by-pass. However, in
second-time by-pass patients, they too became clogged
and required replacement. By studying the chemical composition
of those veins, we found changes occur that cause
calcium deposits. They contained forty times more calcium
that they did when first inserted.
Oxysterols are what regulates the level of cholesterol in
the blood. They are formed from cholesterol in the liver.
Eight years ago, in our lab, we found that patients who
had undergone by-pass surgery contained a higher level of
these oxysterols in the blood than those patients who did
not need a by-pass.
We grew (cultured) human cells along with synthetic
oxysterols. Those cells cultured with an oxysterol resembled
the composition of the clogged cells in the vein of the
second by-pass surgery. This revealed that oxysterols are a
risk factor in heart disease.
These changes in cell structure allowed calcium to flow
into the cell and disrupted its normal functioning enough
to kill the cell. When the cell dies, enzymes remove the
protein and lipid portions of the cell, but allow the calcium
to remain embedded in the cell wall. It is this calcium
and lipid plaque that eventually lead to atherosclerosis in
the arteries. What we do not now know is why higher levels
of oxLDL and oxysterols are formed in the liver of
patients with heart disease.
We do know, however, that antioxidants in the blood
are necessary to keep the polyunsaturated fatty acid LDL
from forming oxidized, or “bad,” LDL. This is continually
being done in most people. However, in some people there
are just not enough antioxidants in the blood. We have
found one antioxident that keeps LDL from becoming
“bad” LDL. Once oxLDL is not found in the blood, the
possibility of atherosclerosis forming in the arteries is
diminished.
THE IMPORTANCE OF UNSATURATED FAT AND
FIBER
In 1957, Dr. Edward Ahrens reported the results of a
study entitled, “Dietary Fats and Human Serum Lipid
Levels.” He used an all-liquid diet consisting of salt-free
milk protein product and sugar, along with the vitamins
available in 1957. He found that saturated fats like butter
raised blood cholesterol levels while unsaturated
fats, like corn oil, lowered them. This diet contained no
magnesium, which was later found to be essential for
the metabolism of saturated
fat.
Dr. Ahrens also used this
diet in 1969 to measure the
absorption of cholesterol
from the intestinal tract.
Without any fiber in the
diet, 70% of the cholesterol
used in this test was
absorbed in the blood.
These 1957 and 1969 studies
indicated that saturated
fat and dietary sources of
cholesterol cause higher
blood cholesterol levels.
This is still believed to be
the case by many health
professionals today.
However, as far back at
1957, medical researcher
Dr. Warren Sperry found no
correlation between the
plasma cholesterol level
and atherosclerosis in
autopsied men who had died of heart disease. Subsequent
research has shown that the American diet contains
enough unsaturated fat to cancel out the effect of
saturated fat. When a source of fiber is present in the
diet, little cholesterol is absorbed from the intestinal
tract. Our own research has also shown no correlations
between the plasma cholesterol levels and heart disease
in 1,200 people who have been tested for heart disease.
THE NEED FOR MORE RESEARCH
The solving of the mystery of what causes atherosclerosis
will come from more basic research. The University of Illinois
has the staff to solve problems in metabolic diseases,
such as heart disease, but that requires more laboratory
space and more funds for research than are presently available
at the university. At the national level, Congress needs
to double the NIH budget and earmark at least $6 billion
for the construction and funding of research centers devoted
exclusively to solving the problems caused by metabolic
diseases.
Get Connected
Search Public i
Public i
Get Connected
Archives
- October 2024
- July 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- February 2024
- November 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- February 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- September 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- November 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- September 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- July 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- November 2008
- October 2008
- August 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- June 2005
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- December 2003
- November 2003
- October 2003
- September 2003
- August 2003
- June 2003
- May 2003
- November 2002
- October 2002
- April 2002
- March 2002
- February 2002
- December 2001
- November 2001
- October 2001
- September 2001
- August 2001
- July 2001