Week 3 Heart Health Sneak Peek: Cholesterol

Statin Drugs and CoQ10
If you’re taking a statin drug to lower your cholesterol, your heart is being depleted of an important nutrient: Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which supplies the energy for your heart’s pumping action.

Studies show that statin drugs may cause CoQ10 deficiencies that can lead to heart problems. If you are a statin user, you should consider talking with your doctor about taking a CoQ10 supplement. Not only is it a powerful heart protector, but it is a potent antioxidant as well.

Not All Cholesterol Is Bad

Cholesterol “per se” is not bad. It is actually a waxy fat that is essential for many of our body's functions. Our liver produces about 80% of the cholesterol in our body. It is a component of our cell membranes, and is needed for hormone production.

Raise The HDL

Until relatively recently almost all attention has been focused on lowering our total cholesterol and LDL (the "bad" cholesterol) levels. Now evidence is mounting that we should be trying to raise our HDL (the “good” cholesterol) levels in order to reduce our heart disease risk.

HDL cholesterol is actually a complex molecule consisting of protein and lipids that carries excess cholesterol from our blood vessels to our liver where is processed. Think of HDL as a “street sweeper” that helps clean our artery walls of oxidized (“bad”) LDL cholesterol. It is oxidized LDL that can lodge in our artery walls and produce inflammation.

If your HDL level is less than 40 mg/dL, see our Game Plan for this week to see some steps you can take to increase it as much as possible.

For the “Rest of the Story,” click here and click on the Game Plan for more tips on achieving healthy cholesterol levels naturally.