The Great Cholesterol Myth, Revised and Expanded


Book Description

The best-selling book on heart disease, updated with the latest research and clinical findings on high-fat/ketogenic diets, sugar, genetics, and other factors. Heart disease is the #1 killer. However, traditional heart disease protocols—with their emphasis on lowering cholesterol—have it all wrong. Emerging science is showing that cholesterol levels are a poor predictor of heart disease and that standard prescriptions for lowering it, such as ineffective low-fat/high-carb diets and serious, side-effect-causing statin drugs, obscure the real causes of heart disease. Even doctors at leading institutions have been misled for years based on creative reporting of research results from pharmaceutical companies intent on supporting the $31-billion-a-year cholesterol-lowering drug industry. The Great Cholesterol Myth reveals the real culprits of heart disease, including: inflammation, fibrinogen, triglycerides, homocysteine, belly fat, triglyceride to HDL ratios, and high glycemic levels. Best-selling health authors Jonny Bowden, PhD, and Stephen Sinatra, MD, give readers a four-part strategy based on the latest studies and clinical findings for effectively preventing, managing, and reversing heart disease, focusing on diet, exercise, supplements, and stress and anger management. Myths vs. Facts Myth: High cholesterol is the cause of heart disease. Fact: Cholesterol is only a minor player in the cascade of inflammation which is a cause of heart disease. Myth: Saturated fat is dangerous. Fact: Saturated fats are not dangerous. The killer fats are the transfats from partially hydrogenated oils. â?? Myth: The higher the cholesterol, the shorter the lifespan. Fact: Higher cholesterol protects you from gastrointestinal disease, pulmonary disease, and hemorrhagic stroke. Myth: High cholesterol is a predictor of heart attack. Fact: There is no correlation between cholesterol and heart attacks. Myth: Lowering cholesterol with statin drugs will prolong your life. Fact: There is no data to show that statins have a significant impact on longevity. Myth: Statin drugs are safe. Fact: Statin drugs can be extremely toxic including causing death. Myth: Statin drugs are useful in men, women, and the elderly. Fact: Statin drugs do the best job in middle-aged men with coronary disease. Myth: Statin drugs are useful in middle-aged men with coronary artery disease because of its impact on cholesterol. Fact: Statin drugs reduce inflammation and improve blood viscosity (thinning blood). Statins are extremely helpful in men with low HDL and coronary artery disease.




Vitamin D and Cholesterol


Book Description

Since its discovery in the early years of the 20th Century, and its use as the treatment of childhood rickets, vitamin D has become neglected. This book sets out to explain why these things have happened, explaining how the benefits of vitamin D extend beyond healthy bones to a vital role in the development of immunity.




Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Vitamin D, and Fluoride


Book Description

Since 1941, Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) has been recognized as the most authoritative source of information on nutrient levels for healthy people. Since publication of the 10th edition in 1989, there has been rising awareness of the impact of nutrition on chronic disease. In light of new research findings and a growing public focus on nutrition and health, the expert panel responsible for formulation RDAs reviewed and expanded its approachâ€"the result: Dietary Reference Intakes. This new series of references greatly extends the scope and application of previous nutrient guidelines. For each nutrient the book presents what is known about how the nutrient functions in the human body, what the best method is to determine its requirements, which factors (caffeine or exercise, for example) may affect how it works, and how the nutrient may be related to chronic disease. The first volume of Dietary Reference Intakes includes calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin D, and fluoride. The second book in the series presents information about thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12, pantothenic acid, biotin, and choline. Based on analysis of nutrient metabolism in humans and data on intakes in the U.S. population, the committee recommends intakes for each age groupâ€"from the first days of life through childhood, sexual maturity, midlife, and the later years. Recommendations for pregnancy and lactation also are made, and the book identifies when intake of a nutrient may be too much. Representing a new paradigm for the nutrition community, Dietary Reference Intakes encompasses: Estimated Average Requirements (EARs). These are used to set Recommended Dietary Allowances. Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs). Intakes that meet the RDA are likely to meet the nutrient requirement of nearly all individuals in a life-stage and gender group. Adequate Intakes (AIs). These are used instead of RDAs when an EAR cannot be calculated. Both the RDA and the AI may be used as goals for individual intake. Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (ULs). Intakes below the UL are unlikely to pose risks of adverse health effects in healthy people. This new framework encompasses both essential nutrients and other food components thought to pay a role in health, such as dietary fiber. It incorporates functional endpoints and examines the relationship between dose and response in determining adequacy and the hazards of excess intake for each nutrient.




Ultraviolet Light in Human Health, Diseases and Environment


Book Description

This book is about the roles and importance of Ultraviolet (UV) light from sun and from man-made UV lamps in our daily life, on health and diseases, also its application in sterilization and treatment. The key words are: reactive oxygen species, DNA damage, UV mutagenicity, skin cancers, polymorphous light eruption, Xeroderma pigmentosum, vitiligo, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndromes, cardiovascular diseases, dermatology, photobiology, photodermatosis, vitamin D synthesis, vitamin D efficiency, water sterilization, blood sterilization, phototherapies, skin tanning and UV dosimeter. The book starts with introduction to UV light and the history of development of UV lamps and its applications. It then moves to describing the interaction of this light with biological components and the production of reactive oxygen species, their roles in cell signaling, cellular defense from foreign invaders, in mutagenesis leading to skin diseases including vitiligo, polymorphous light eruption and various forms of skin cancer. Then it presents the synthesis and importance of UV light and diseases, induced due to the deficiency of vitamin D. Roles of UV light in sterilization, disinfection, phototherapies are depicted in the next part and finally use and abuse of UV light in tanning salon and the availability and importance of use of UV dosimeter are highlighted. The three main focuses of this book are: - Damage to biological systems by UV light leading to certain skin diseases; most importantly skin cancers. - Importance of UV light in the in vivo synthesis of vitamin D when human bodies are exposed to it. - Diseases caused due to the deficiency of vitamin D and the use of UV lamps in phototherapy and sterilization processes. The editor has considerable experience in publishing medical books and has used it critically selecting the matters which will attract the readers from many areas of medical and non-medical fields. It is hoped that the materials presented in this book will give great benefit and will stimulate both novice and expert researchers in the field. The book gives excellent overviews of the current status of research and pointers to the future research achievements. Clinicians, medical general practitioners, technicians and staff working in UV related industries and especially those working in tanning salon should benefit from the information presented in safe handling of this light.




The Fat-Soluble Vitamins


Book Description

The first demonstration of the existence of a vitamin and the full recognition of this fact are often attributed to the work of McCollum, who found that a sub stance in butterfat and cod-liver oil was necessary for growth and health of ani mals fed purified diets. It became obvious that an organic substance present in microconcentrations was vital to growth and reproduction of animals. Following the coining of the word vitamine by Funk, McCollum named this fat-soluble sub stance vitamin A. We can, therefore, state that vitamin A was certainly one of the first known vitamins, yet its function and the function of the other fat-soluble vitamins had remained largely unknown until recent years. However, there has been an explosion of investigation and new information in this field, which had remained quiescent for at least two or three decades. It is now obvious that the fat-soluble vitamins function quite differently from their water-soluble counter parts. We have learned that vitamin D functions by virtue of its being converted in the kidney to a hormone that functions to regulate calcium and phosphorus metabolism. This new endocrine system is in the process of being elucidated in detail, and in addition, the medical use of these hormonal forms of vitamin D in the treatment of a variety of metabolic bone diseases has excited the medical com munity.




Diet and Health


Book Description

Diet and Health examines the many complex issues concerning diet and its role in increasing or decreasing the risk of chronic disease. It proposes dietary recommendations for reducing the risk of the major diseases and causes of death today: atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (including heart attack and stroke), cancer, high blood pressure, obesity, osteoporosis, diabetes mellitus, liver disease, and dental caries.




Lipoproteins in Health and Disease


Book Description

This comprehensive work deals with the major health problem of high lipid levels in blood, a cause of serious heart and vascular disease. Formerly the province only of the chemical pathologist, cardiologists and general physicians are now offering treatment as new 'lipid-lowering' drugs become available. The area is also of considerable interest to public health physicians as changes in lifestyle (such as dietary and smoking habits) have significant effects on lipid levels. A prestigious team of contributors covers all aspects of the topic, from molecular biology to practical dietary management to help reduce lipid levels.




Vitamin D


Book Description

The Nutrition and Health series of books has as an overriding mission to provide health professionals with texts that are considered essential because each includes: a synthesis of the state of the science; timely, in-depth reviews by the leading researchers in their respective fields; extensive, up-to-date fully annotated reference lists; a detailed index; relevant tables and figures; identification of paradigm shifts and the consequences; of information between chapters, but targeted, inter-chapter refer virtually no overlap rals, suggestions of areas for future research; and balanced, data-driven answers to patient questions that are based on the totality of evidence rather than the findings of any single study. The series volumes are not the outcome of a symposium. Rather, each editor has the potential to examine a chosen area with a broad perspective, both in subject matter as well as in the choice of chapter authors. The international perspective, especially with regard to public health initiatives, is emphasized where appropriate. The editors, whose training is both research and practice oriented, have the opportunity to develop a primary objective for their book, define the scope and focus, and then invite the leading authori ties from around the world to be part of their initiative. The authors are encouraged to provide an overview of the field, discuss their own research, and relate the research de findings to potential human health consequences.




Nutrigenomics


Book Description

The fascinating area of Nutrigenomics describes this daily communication between diet, food and nutrients, their metabolites and our genome. This book describes how nutrition shapes human evolution and demonstrates its consequences for our susceptibility to diseases, such as diabetes and atherosclerosis. Inappropriate diet can yield stress for our cells, tissues and organs and then it is often associated with low-grade chronic inflammation. Overnutrition paired with physical inactivity leads to overweight and obesity and results in increased burden for a body that originally was adapted for a life in the savannas of East Africa. Therefore, this textbook does not discuss a theoretical topic in science, but it talks about real life, and our life-long “chat” with diet. We are all food consumers, thus each of us is concerned by the topic of this book and should be aware of its mechanisms. The purpose of this book is to provide an overview on the principles of nutrigenomics and their relation to health or disease. We are not aiming to compete with more comprehensive textbooks on molecular nutrition, evolutionary biology, genomics, gene regulation or metabolic diseases, but rather will focus on the essentials and will combine, in a compact form, elements from different disciplines. In order to facilitate the latter, we favor a high figure-to-text ratio following the rule “a picture tells more than thousand words”. The content of this book is based on the lecture course “Nutrigenomics”, which is held since 2003 once per year by Prof. Carlberg at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio. The book is subdivided into three sections and twelve chapters. Following the "Introduction" there are sections on the "Molecular genetic basis" and the "Links to disease", which take a view on nutrigenomics from the perspective of molecular mechanisms or from the causes of metabolic diseases, respectively. Besides its value as a textbook, Nutrigenomics will be a usefull reference for individuals working in biomedicine.




Cholesterol Down


Book Description

Take control of your cholesterol with this 10-point plan from nutrition and fitness expert Dr. Janet Brill—without using drugs. If you are one of the nearly 100 million Americans struggling with high cholesterol, then Dr. Janet Brill offers you a revolutionary new plan for taking control of your health—without the risks of statin drugs. With Dr. Brill’s breakthrough Cholesterol Down Plan, you simply add nine “miracle foods” to your regular diet and thirty minutes of walking to your daily routine. That’s all. This straightforward and easy-to-follow program can lower your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by as much as 47 percent in just four weeks. Cholesterol Down explains Dr. Brill’s ten-point plan as well as the science behind it. You’ll learn how each miracle food affects LDL cholesterol and how the foods work together for maximum effect, as well as: • How eating whole grains helps reduce LDL cholesterol in your bloodstream • Why antioxidants keep plaque from building up in your arteries • How certain steps change the structure of LDL cholesterol particles (and why it’s best for them to be large and fluffy) • Why walking just thirty minutes a day lowers “bad” cholesterol and cuts dangerous belly fat With everything you need to stay focused on the plan, including a daily checklist, a six-month chart for racking LDL cholesterol changes, tools for assessing your risk level for cardiovascular disease, sample weekly menus, and even heart-healthy recipes, Cholesterol Down is the safe and effective alternative or complement to statin drugs.




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