*HEALING THERAPIES NEWSLETTER* This is the 61^st newsletter^ associated with, the purpose of which is to expand the healing spectrum of people with physical disabilities, especial y spinal cord dysfunction. This issue focuses on cholesterol, an absolutely essential molecule, especial y for brain and spinal-cord functioning. *CHOLESTEROL: THE ESSENTIAL NUTRIENT* (Adapted from an article appearing in the June 2012 /PN Magazine/)
The expression "sacred cow" is defined as an idea, custom, or institution considered exempt from criticism. If you study the history of medicine or science, you wil find many ardently embraced sacred cows that eventual y staggered and col apsed.
Past is prologue. This is not just a reflection of an unenlightened past, in which, for example, authorities persecuted Galileo for advocating heliocentricity or the 19^th -century physician Ignaz Semmelweis for audaciously recommending hand washing for surgeons, but very much a contemporary issue. As a former scientific director of a half-bil ion dol ar institute at the National Institutes of Health, I know first-hand that sacred cows stil shape our health and nutritional policy.
Influenced by profit-making agendas, one modern-day sacred cow is the belief we need to lower cholesterol levels at al costs through either taking side-effect-laden drugs or eating foods that humans never physiological y evolved to consume in quantity (e.g., trans-fats). Natural-foods advocate and author Sal y Fal on cal ed high cholesterol "an invented disease, a problem that emerged when health professionals learned how to measure cholesterol levels." According to George Mann, former Vanderbilt University Professor, the cholesterol "myth is the greatest scientific deception of this century, perhaps of any century."
There are countless studies documenting 1) cholesterol's benefits, 2) health risks of having too low cholesterol, and 3) eye-opening side effects associated with cholesterol-lowering drugs. The evidence presented in such studies is often ignored, trivialized, or statistical y manipulated because it chal enges prevailing health-care policies - which like aircraft carriers take a long time to change direction. *Cholesterol's Role* In spite of its vilification, cholesterol is an absolutely essential molecule, especial y for brain and spinal-cord functioning. Accumulating evidence suggests that pushing down cholesterol levels through drugs over time may have adverse neurological consequences. Given the molecule's paramount importance in the nervous system, some speculate that such efforts may compromise neurological recovery after traumatic spinal-cord or head injury.
Most of our cholesterol comes not from food but is produced by the body, especial y the liver. General y, our bodies synthesize three to five times more cholesterol than we consume. Notwithstanding the indoctrination otherwise, cholesterol levels are influenced very little by diet. For example, the Maasai, an African nomadic tribe who traditional y ate more animal fat than virtual y any other population, had some of the world's lowest cholesterol levels. Although there may be other healthconsequences, if we eat a large ham-and-cheese omelet for breakfast and a bacon cheeseburger with a milkshake for lunch, our bodies just produce less cholesterol. If we eat an ascetic vegetarian diet, our bodies wil produce more cholesterol.
In contrast, by interfering with cholesterol biosynthesis, commonly prescribed statin drugs (e.g., Lipitor), are extremely effective in lowering cholesterol. However, they also compromise the production of several other substances vital for health, including 1) coenzyme Q10 critical for energy metabolism and heart and muscle health, and 2) dolichol, a fatty molecule crucial in the assembly of cel ular proteins.
Cholesterol is an essential structural component of al cel s, needed to ensure membrane integrity, permeability, and fluidity. It has a key role in the transport of molecules into the cel , interaction between cel s, and, importantly for /PN/ readership, nerve conduction. The amount of cholesterol in the CNS is about 10 times greater than any other organ. If one is trying to rebuild a damaged nervous system, does it make sense to take away the supply of essential building blocks through cholesterol-lowering drugs?In addition, cholesterol is the precursor to a variety of sex hormones, including testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen, and adrenal-gland hormones, such as the stress hormone cortisol. Given that SCI already compromises production of function-restoring testosterone (/PN/ October 2011), one can only speculate on the additional impact of pushing down the levels of cholesterol, a testosterone precursor.
In addition, the sun's ultraviolet rays convert cholesterol in skin into vitamin D, which is a vital y important nutrient for individuals with SCI and MS. Final y, the liver uses cholesterol to produce bile, needed for fat digestion in the smal intestine. *Problems with Low Cholesterol* Several adverse health consequences connected to low cholesterol include:
Mental Health:Low cholesterol is associated with various mental-health issues. For example, research suggests that individuals with too low cholesterol 1) have more depression, 2) commit more suicide, 3) exhibit greater violent and aggressive behaviors, 4) relapse more in cocaine addiction, 5) have reduced attention, concentration, and word fluency, and 6) in the elderly, have more cognitive decline and dementia. Lower cholesterol levels lead to decreased brain levels of serotonin, a feel-good neurotransmitter that Prozac-like drugs attempt to stimulate.
Infectious Disease: Low cholesterol is correlated with an increased risk of dying from various infectious diseases. For example, in a study involving 100,000+ subjects, individuals with lower cholesterol were admitted more often to a hospital due to infectious disease.
Longevity:Low cholesterol in the elderly increases risk of dying. A study published in the prestigious journal /Lancet/ concluded that in the elderly "long term persistence of low cholesterol concentration actual y increases the risk of death."
Heart Disease:In spite of the hype otherwise, many studies indicate little correlation between cholesterol levels and heart disease. For example, although Americans have higher cholesterol than Japanese, the arteries of Japanese people were just as atherosclerotic - i.e., factors other than cholesterol must be involved. *Norwegian Study* Given editorial constraints, it's difficult to summarize the numerous studies whose results counter the cholesterol-lowering dogma. In one recent example, researchers investigated the relationship between cholesterol levels and mortality rates in over 52,000 Norwegians.
Although cholesterol has been subdivided into "good" and "bad" cholesterol depending upon its sequestering into greater complexes (e.g., high- density and low-density lipoprotein), the investigators focused on /total/ cholesterol levels because health policies use this number to determine treatment. Using official guidelines, 75% of Norwegian adults are considered at risk for cardiovascular disease and, hence, "in need of clinical attention." About 47% of the subjects were men and 53% women. Age ranged from 20-74. Subjects were fol owed for 10 years.
The relationship of mortality to cholesterol levels were gender dependent. For men, mortality fol owed a U-shaped pattern. Specifical y, the greatest mortality was observed in men with the lowest cholesterol levels, the least mortality noted in men with intermediate cholesterol levels, and in-between mortality documented in men with the highest cholesterol levels.
With women, it fol owed a downward, linear pattern, in which cholesterol levels were inversely related to death rates. Specifical y, as levels increased, the risk of death decreased; i.e., more cholesterol was associated with living longer. In both men and women, the highest death rate was associated with the lowest cholesterol levels.
The investigators diplomatical y concluded that given their results, "clinical and public-health recommendations regarding the dangers of cholesterol should be revised. This is especial y true for women, for whom moderately elevated cholesterol (by current standards) may prove to be not only harmless but even beneficial." Undiplomatical y, it is yet another stumble of a public-health sacred cow. *Conclusion* German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer stated "Al truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." The notion that cholesterol needs to be lowered at al costs is so passionately embraced by medical authorities that any suggestion otherwise, regardless of merit, is virulently opposed. But it's just a matter of time before a more balanced viewpoint wil prevail.
CODIGO DE ETICA PREÁMBULO E INTRODUCCIÓN El propósito de este Código es enunciar los principios que orientan la actitud y la conducta de los traductores y de los intérpretes en su correcto desempeño específico y dotar a los miembros asociados a AGIT con las normas de la ética profesional. Estas normas éticas no excluyen otras no enunciadas expresamente, pero que surgen del digno y