Heart disease: New formula attacks the three causes of heart disease

Look them up anywhere, check the latest medical references, ask your friends, or better yet call the doctors who are handing them out like lollipops. Chances are youll hear that statin drugs like Lipitor and Crestor help fight heart disease.

But statin drugs only address one of the causes of heart disease cholesterol while ignoring the other major factors. So, even though they might do their job and successfully lower your cholesterol, statins actually lull you into a false sense of security because theyve still done nothing to affect what researchers have found to be the key cause of deadly heart attacks inflammation.

However, we at HSI learned about a new product available for the first time here in the UK, called Cholectin from Rick Popowitz, president of Biocentric Health, which addresses all three key factors in heart disease: cholesterol, triglycerides, and inflammation.

Heart disease: Sometimes you arent what you eat

Even though cholesterol isnt the only factor in heart disease, it is a factor that a lot of people are concerned about. For years, most people thought that the main way to control cholesterol was by reducing dietary fat. But as it turns out, only some of your bodily cholesterol comes from the food you eat most of it is manufactured by your liver. You can limit your cholesterol intake all you want, but it wont reduce the cholesterol thats manufactured in your body.

It would be like trying to cool off a house by opening the windows instead of turning down the heating system. Since the heat is generated by the furnace or radiator, no matter how much cool air you let in, the thermostat will keep signalling the furnace/radiator to supply heat. In fact, the more cold air that enters, the more heat will be supplied.

Its the same with cholesterol, which is why people who adhere to healthy diets can still have high levels. You can try to affect the levels by limiting what you take into your body, but the fact is 80 per cent of the cholesterol in your body is produced in the bodys furnace the liver through the action of the enzyme HMGR (hydroxyl-methyl-glutaryl coenzyme A reductase).

Heart disease: Too much of a good thing

Once scientists realized that, they began to focus on controlling the action of HMGR in order to control cholesterol levels. Statin drugs like Lipitor, Crestor, Zocor, and others were designed to totally block the HMGR enzyme. That would be a great idea if you wanted to shut off the thermostat completely and eliminate all HMGR activity. But the problem is that the HMGR pathway also produces another substance vital to your overall health and energy levels Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10).
Shutting down the production of CoQ10 is a health disaster. It can lead to neurological and muscular damage that is often irreversible. And since every cell in your body uses CoQ10 to produce energy, it makes sense that blocking the production of it would leave you feeling sluggish and worn down (a few of the less serious side-effects of statins).

Numerous studies confirm that statin use blocks CoQ10 production, and they also confirm the muscle weakness that occurs as a result.1-4 And dont forget that the heart is a muscle too: 15 animal studies have shown that statin-induced depletion of CoQ10 increases heart failure, as well as overall mortality. 

Heart disease: Positive results with none of the side effects

Researchers at Biocentric Health, led by Dr. Floyd Taub, combed through over a decade of research looking for natural ingredients that could lower cholesterol levels without putting your body through the wringer. After compiling all the research, they took the two best performers and blended them into one synergistic formula, Cholectin, which slows cholesterol production safely and naturally. Instead of completely blocking the HMGR receptors and shutting down the thermostat the way statins do, the plant extracts they used only decrease the amount of HMGR in the blood. This way you can control cholesterol levels without blocking the CoQ10.

The first of Cholectins ingredients is a patented formula called Sytrinol. It contains plant extracts called polymethoxylated flavones, or PMFs. Scientists tested 564 flavanoids before isolating this active substance from the peels of citrus fruits.

This key ingredient lowers all three of the triple whammy that leads to heart disease: cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels, and inflammation. Take a look:

* A study published in the May 12, 2005 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showed that PMFs reduced cholesterol by 24.7 per cent.
* They can lower triglycerides by as much as 28 per cent by decreasing levels of diacylglycerol acetyl transferase, the liver enzyme needed to produce them. High triglycerides are directly linked to heart attacks and heart disease because they contribute to the formation of plaque in the arteries.
* Studies also show that PMFs can decrease apolipoprotein B, the specific protein your liver needs to create LDL cholesterol. This has resulted in a 23-per cent drop in LDL cholesterol.
* The anti-inflammatory action of PMFs has been documented for over 38 years well before doctors even realized that inflammation is a key cause of heart disease. Recent research shows that they can lower an inflammatory marker known as C-reactive protein (CRP). High levels of CRP can put you in the danger zone, since this protein substance is tied more directly to heart-attack risk than any other factor.

As powerful as PMFs are on their own, theyre even more effective at lowering bad cholesterol when theyre used in combination with tocotrienols. Tocotrienols are a form of vitamin E found in palms, rice bran, and barley that have been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol by lowering the activity of HMGR.

So scientists combined these two powerful ingredients, PMFs and tocotrienols, into the patented formula called Sytrinol. The researchers who developed Sytrinol also tested it in vitro, in vivo, and most importantly on hundreds of human subjects, using the same scientific protocols used by drug companies. This ensures that the results are reliable, verifiable and can be reproduced consistently.

Heart disease: Trick your body into blocking cholesterol

As mentioned earlier, dietary cholesterol isnt the primary source of elevated levels in the body. But it does play a part, and one of the things that makes Cholectin so unique is that it addresses both sources using safe, natural ingredients. 

Along with Sytrinol, the other major ingredient is phytosterols. These plant substances target the other source of cholesterol your food. They work by blocking the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines.

Because cholesterol and phytosterols are almost identical molecularly, your body cant tell the difference between them. As a result, taking phytosterols tricks your body into thinking it has absorbed cholesterol already, so it blocks any further absorption. And because the absorption rate of phytosterol is much slower (approximately 1/10th the absorption rate of cholesterol), the effects are long-lasting.

Scientific research dating back to the 1950s has proven the effectiveness of these molecules. Studies in the European Heart Journal show that phytosterols can bring down your total cholesterol by 10 per cent to 15 per cent and your LDL cholesterol by 20 per cent.

In fact, phytosterols are so beneficial that the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has authorised a health claim stating that 800mg per day can promote improved cardiovascular health.

You can get phytosterols from raw almonds, cashews, peanuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, green peas, barley, buckwheat, and rice bran. But youd have to eat several pounds a day to get the 800mg-per-day dose that researchers recommend for a significant cholesterol-lowering effect. Cholectin includes 400mg of phytosterols in each capsule, so your two-capsule, 800mg daily dose provides a much simpler way to get the benefits. 

Cholectin: What to take for best results

Each Cholectin capsule contains 150mg of Sytrinol and 400mg of phytosterols. The suggested dose is two capsules per day.

If you opt to continue taking statins, Dr. Martin Milner, US HSI panellist and professor of cardiovascular and pulmonary medicine at National College of Naturopathic Medicine says that its a good idea to get your CoQ10 levels measured to verify that they are optimal. If theyre not, you should supplement with at least 100mg of CoQ10 per day.

Sources:

1. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1990;87(22):8931-4
2. J Am Coll Nutr 2001;20(6):591-8
3. Arch Neurol 2004;61(6):889-92
4. Arch Neurol 2005;62(11):1709-12