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Transcript of “How to clean up your cholesterol numbers”

Bad body chemistry creates the mess. It is unfortunate, but not a disaster, because the liver dispatches HDL particles, to bring the superfluous cholesterol back to base

You’ve got a diagnosis of high cholesterol.

Oh dear !

We’re accustomed to viewing high levels of LDL cholesterol as “a heart attack waiting to happen”.

This viewpoint leads to

• Low cholesterol diets and
• Statin prescriptions.

While extremely high levels of LDL particles are definitely not a sign of GOOD HEALTH, the real red flag, is the combination of high LDL particles and low HDL particles.

You see, the LDL particles are being deliberately dispatched by the liver, to provide cells with the cholesterol they need to function.

Surprise, surprise – cholesterol is a critical nutrient

• Shoring up membranes
• Insulating nerve cells
• Serving as a building block for hormones,
• Killing off nasties in the GUT
• Facilitating the absorption fat soluble vitamins etc.

It’s needed.

When LDL levels are high – it’s because cells NEED MORE.

Why they need more…………….. typically, they’re in some kind of TROUBLE. I like to think of LDL particles as the Red Cross, delivering supplies and band aids.

Interfering with these helpful supplies is “misguided”.

In the firing line

Unfortunately, when the LDL particles are navigating the highways and bi-ways of the body, they’re subject to some destructive forces.

Oxidative stress is brutal. So is glycation.

Our hero, gets hurt.

One thing leads to another and……………… next thing you know, the intima, the layer that lines the arteries, is jammed up with foam cells, that are overloaded with cholesterol.

The overflow, blocks blood flow………………

Things come to a head – when blood flow ceases all together.

Clearing the pipes of cholesterol

Bad body chemistry creates the mess. It is unfortunate, but not a disaster.

The liver dispatches HDL particles, to bring the superfluous cholesterol back to base, so it can be appropriately disposed of. The reason the HDL particles can vacuum up the excess cholesterol, is they have equipment that facilitates reverse cholesterol transport.

A key player in this process is a transporter protein, known as the ABCA1 transporter.

It’s all very civilized…………….

Except when the body suffers an HDL shortage.

When this happens, the cholesterol overflow is not removed timeously, the minor mess accumulates, becoming a disaster.

In light of this, maybe it’s time to focus on increasing HDL, not lowering LDL ?

Training clean up crews

So what can you do to beef up HDL levels ?

Regrettably……………….. you cannot just swallow a pill. Despite a valiant effort from big pharma, there still is not a drug on the market that does this well.

But, that doesn’t mean you don’t have options.

You do.

One of the options – is to move MORE.

This is what a group of researchers from Urmia University recently confirmed….in a group of couch potatoes.

The training programme

The researchers rounded up 36 women who were overweight couch potatoes.

The ladies were then divided into two groups.

• Group 1 : continued life as usual, sitting on the couch
• Group 2 : enrolled in a 12 week exercise programme, which required pushing and pulling for approx. 1 hour, at 65-75 % of their max heart rate, three times a week

At the start of the study, and then at the end of the training programme, they measured all the usual biomarkers……..

BMI, weight, fat mass, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides and fasting glucose levels.

And they also assessed the “functioning” of the “cholesterol clean up crew” in the blood cells, by quantifying the mRNA levels of the ABCA1 transporter and apo-A1 protein.

Muscle building and fat burning

The training programme improved overall body chemistry. Sitting pretty, didn’t.

The exercising ladies, managed to lose a little weight, dropping from 83.61 ± 1.49 Kg, to 79.38 ± 0.14 kg. The weight they lost was FAT. Whoohoo ! And their other numbers were also better, including their HDL levels, which increased.

Proving, moving more does create better body chemistry.

Which is something, we all already knew. Of course, knowing and doing, are not always the same thing. Eish !

But, this was not the point of this study, the point of this study was to “observe” what happened to the cholesterol clean up crew.

Training more than just muscles

The team found, both the levels of ABCA1 AND Apo A-1 in the blood, increased significantly in the exercising ladies.

Suggesting………..

The improvements in the cholesterol numbers were due to a better trained clean up crew.   The in form, ABCA1 transporter is able to move phospholipids out of the cell membranes and package them into the lipid poor Apo A1 containing lipoprotein particles.

Which is a good thing……………..

So get up off that couch and MOVE…………… it will create BETTER BODY CHEMISTRY !

NOTE  : If you’re too lazy to move, you can improve you HDL levels by eating more eggs.

Further reading

Interested in learning more about the chemistry behind heart disease ?

For more tips and strategies, that will help you keep you keep your body chemistry balanced so you minimize your risk of cardiovascular disease

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