Why Pomegranate Juice Is ‘Roto-Rooter’ For The Arteries

Millions take toxic cholesterol and blood pressure lowering drugs that may do nothing to reduce heart disease specific mortality. Pomegranate juice, on the other hand, actually reverses underlying pathologies of the cardiovascular system that lead to bypass surgeries and heart attacks. 

One of the most amazing clinical studies ever performed has been hidden away behind a pay wall for over a decade. When I first stumbled upon this clinical pearl two years ago, in the form of the publicly indexed abstract on pubmed.gov, my jaw nearly dropped. I’ve finally acquired the full version of the study and am now excited to report on its implications in greater depth to help raise awareness about the power of pomegranate to heal the body, and I believe, save millions lives from premature death from heart disease.

The most eye-opening line in the abstract reveals why our original report on the study, How To Clean Your Arteries With One Simple Fruit, received over 500,000 social media shares:

“Pomegranate juice consumption resulted in a significant IMT [intima media thickness] reduction, by up to 30%, after 1 year.”

We shouldn’t be that surprised at how great an interest there is among the masses in safe, delicious, and affordable drug alternatives that have the power to unclog arteries? Certainly the drugs aren’t working, with the most popular class — cholesterol-lowering statins — being linked to over 300 adverse health effects. But sometimes the technical language of medicine gets confusing: what does this pomegranate-induced reduction in the intima media thickness (IMT) of the arteries mean?

Reducing The Intima Media Thickness: Reversing Atherosclerosis

The intima media is the middle portion of the arteries that become inflamed and fill up with plaque comprised of oxidized fats, immune cells, and their debris, in the condition known colloquially as “blocked arteries.” As the intima media grows thicker, less space is available for the blood contents to move through the opening (lumen) of the arteries. When the arteries eventually close or are blocked, catastrophic injury or death may follow. Therefore, anything that can safely reduce, or better, reverse intima media thickening is the holy grail as far as obtaining a root cause resolution of atherosclerosis, and by implication would profoundly reduce deaths linked to cardiovascular mortality.

Indeed, in a world where the #1 cause of death is cardiovascular disease, and where we preemptively medicate millions more with drugs that only reduce surrogate markers for cardiovascular disease risk – i.e. lipoproteins carrying cholesterol – without showing any convincing evidence that it is reducing cardiovascular disease or all-cause mortality, how could something as simple and powerful as pomegranate be overlooked? In fact, if a simple daily dietary intervention is capable of regressing and/or reversing the underlying disease process in millions of fatal cardiac cases, it would seem highly unethical not to use it.

Here, we wish to bring some of the finer details of this clinical trial to light, to further substantiate the value of botanical and food-based interventions not only in preventing but treating major chronic disease processes like cardiovascular disease, the developed world’s most deadly disease.

The Pomegranate “Artery Cleaning” Clinical Trial

Published in Clinical Nutrition in 2004 and titled, “Pomegranate juice consumption for 3 years by patients with carotid artery stenosis reduces common carotid intima-media thickness, blood pressure and LDL oxidation,” Israeli researchers discovered pomegranate, administered in juice form over the course of a year, reversed plaque accumulation in the carotid arteries of patients with severe, though symptomless, carotid artery stenosis (defined as 70–90% blockage in the internal carotid arteries).

The study consisted of nineteen patients, 5 women and 14 men, aged 65-75, non-smokers. They were randomized to receive either pomegranate juice or placebo. Ten patients were in the pomegranate juice treatment group and 9 patients that did not consume pomegranate juice were in the control group. Both groups were matched with similar blood lipid and glucose concentrations, blood pressure, and with similar medication regimens which consisted of blood-pressure lowering (e.g. ACE inhibitors, β-blockers, or calcium channel blockers) and lipid lowering drugs (e.g. statins).

The ten patients in the treatment group group received 8.11 ounces (240 ml) of pomegranate juice per day, for a period of 1 year, and five out of them agreed to continue for up to 3 years.

The remarkable results were reported as follows:

“The mean intima media thickness the left and right common carotid arteries in severe carotid artery stenosis patients that consumed pomegranate juice for up to 1 year was reduced after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of pomegranate juice consumption by 13%, 22%, 26% and 35%, respectively, in comparison to baseline values.”

You can only imagine what would happen if a pharmaceutical drug was shown to reverse plaque build up in the carotid arteries by 13% in just 3 months! This drug would be lauded the life-saving miracle drug, and not only would be promoted and sold successfully as a multi-billion dollar blockbuster, but discussion would inevitably follow as to why it should be mandated.

While these results are impressive, if not altogether groundbreaking for the field of cardiology, they may be even better than revealed in the stated therapeutic outcomes above.  When one factors in that the carotid artery stenosis increased 9% within 1 year in the control group, the pomegranate intervention group may have seen even better results than indicated by the measured regression in intima media thickness alone.  That is, if we assume that the pomegranate group had received no treatment, the thickening of their carotid arteries would have continued to progress like the control group at a rate of 9% a year, i.e. 18% within 2 years, 27% within 3 years. This could be interpreted to mean that after 3 years of pomegranate treatment, for instance, the thickening of the arteries would have been reduced over 60% beyond what would have occurred had the natural progression of the disease been allowed to continue unabated.

3 Ways How Pomegranate Heals The Cardiovascular System

The researchers identified three likely mechanisms of action behind pomegranate’s observed anti-atherosclerotic activity:

• Antioxidant properties: Subjects receiving pomegranate saw significant reductions in oxidative stress, including decreases in autoantibodies formed against ox-LDL, a form of oxidized low density lipoprotein associated with the pathological process of atherosclerosis. Decreases in oxidative stress were measurable by an increase in the blood serum enzyme paraoxonase 1 (PON1) of up to 91% after 3 years; PON1 is an enzyme whose heightened activity is associated with lower oxidative stress. All of this is highly relevant to the question of pomegranate’s anti-atherosclerotic activity because of something called the lipid peroxidation hypothesis of atherosclerosis, which assumes that it is the quality of the blood lipids (i.e. whether they are oxidized/damaged or not), and not their quantity alone that determine their cardiotoxicity/atherogenicity. Essentially, pomegranate prevents the heart disease promoting effects of oxidative stress.


• Blood Pressure Lowering Properties: The intervention resulted in significant improvement in blood pressure: the patient’s systolic blood pressure was reduced 7%, 11% ,10%, 10% and 12% after 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of pomegranate consumption, respectively, compared to values obtained before treatment. Pomegranate’s ability to reduce systolic blood pressure indicates it has a healing effect on the endothelium, or the inner lining of the artery which fails to relax fully in heart disease; a condition known as endothelial dysfunction.


• Plaque Lesion Stabilization: Because two of the ten patients on PJ (after 3 and 12 months) experienced clinical deterioration, carotid surgery was performed and the lesions were analyzed to determine the difference in their composition to those who did not receive pomegranate. The researchers noticed four distinct positive differences in the composition of the pomegranate-treated lesions:

1.     Reduced Cholesterol Content: “The cholesterol content in carotid lesions from the two patients that consumed PJ was lower by 58% and 20%, respectively, in comparison to lesions obtained from CAS patients that did not consume PJ (Fig. 3A).”

2.     Reduced Lipid Peroxides: “[T]he lipid peroxides content in lesions obtained from the patients after PJ consumption for 3 or 12 months was significantly reduced by 61% or 44%, respectively, as compared to lesions from patients that did not consume PJ (Fig. 3B).

3.     Increased Reduced Glutathione Content: “A substantial increase in the lesion reduced glutathione (GSH) content, (GSH is a major cellular antioxidant) by 2.5-fold, was observed after PJ consumption for 3 or 12 months, (Fig. 3C).

4.     Reduced LDL Oxidation: “LDL oxidation by lesions derived from the patients after PJ consumption for 3 or 12 months, was significantly (Po0.01) decreased by 43% or 32%, respectively, in comparison to LDL oxidation rates obtained by lesions from CAS patients that did not consume PJ (Fig. 3D).”

Essentially these results reveal that not only does pomegranate reduce the lesion size in the carotid arteries, but “the lesion itself may be considered less atherogenic after PJ consumption, as its cholesterol and oxidized lipid content decreased, and since its ability to oxidize LDL was significantly reduced.”

This finding is quite revolutionary, as presently, the dangers of carotid artery stenosis are understood primarily through the lesion size and not by assessing for the quality of that lesion. This dovetails with the concept that the sheer quantity of lipoproteins (i.e. “cholesterol”) in the blood can not accurately reveal whether those lipoproteins are actually harmful (atherogenic); rather, if lipoproteins are oxidized (e.g. ox-LDL) they can be harmful (or representative of a more systemic bodily imbalance), whereas non-oxidized low density lipoprotein may be considered entirely benign, if not indispensable for cardiovascular and body wide health. Indeed, in this study the researchers found the pomegranate group had increased levels of triglycerides and very low density lipoprotein, again, underscoring that the anti-atherosclerotic properties likely have more to do with the improved quality of the physiological milieu within which all our lipoproteins operate than the number of them, in and of itself.

Finally, it should be pointed out that all the patients in this study were undergoing conventional, drug-based care for cardiovascular disease, e.g. cholesterol- and blood pressure-lowering agents. Not only did the pomegranate treatment not appear to interfere with their drugs, making it a suitable complementary/adjunct therapy for those on pharmaceuticals, but it should be pointed out that the control group’s condition got progressively worse (e.g. the mean IMT increased 9% within 1 year), speaking to just how ineffective drugs are, or how they may even contribute to the acceleration of the disease process itself.

Pomegranate’s 100+ Health Benefits

Believe it or not, pomegranate has many other ways in which it can help to heal the cardiovascular system, as well as other organ systems. Our research project has identified over 100 distinct health benefits of pomegranate: View the Pomegranate Research Database. Learn more by reading some of our other articles on the topic:

• 100+ Health Properties of Pomegranate Now Includes Diabetes


• Amazing Fact: Pomegranate Can Serve As A Backup Ovary


• Pomegranate-Polyphenol Food Blend Reduces Prostate PSA Rise

© April 17, 2018 GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter.

The post Why Pomegranate Juice Is ‘Roto-Rooter’ For The Arteries appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Eating Black Sesame May Slash Heart Disease Risk

Blood pressure is a major focus of cardiovascular disease prevention, but the blood pressure lowering drugs may actually increase mortality. We need food-based drug alternatives now more than ever, and black sesame may be the perfect candidate. 

There is no denying heart disease is a huge concern in the modern world. It is indisputable that your chance of dying from cardiovascular disease is greater than any other cause. But modern medicine fixates on suppressing proxy markers of risk, such as cholesterol and blood pressure levels, with drugs, instead of identifying and resolving the actual underlying causes of this global health epidemic.

In the case of high blood pressure (hypertension), the drugs themselves (e.g. beta blockers, ace inhibitors, calcium channel blockers) may actually raise the risk of mortality. This was famously demonstrated in a 2010 study published in JAMA. Diabetics treated with blood pressure lowering drugs and who maintained tight blood pressure control (systolic BP at less than 130 mm Hg) had increased mortality compared to those on the less restrictive blood pressure control (systolic at less than 140 MM Hg).

Clearly, this outcome does not bode well for those who are aggressively pressured into taking blood pressure medications as a “preventive measure.” Indeed, hypertension is largely a symptom of pathological changes like endothelial dysfunction within the blood vessels. Treating the symptom — elevated BP numbers — like it is the disease itself is wrong minded, and rarely does anything to change the underlying problem; indeed, it may worsen the problem.

Today, it is common for relatively symptomless populations to be screened for hypertension, leading to millions of diagnoses and subsequent prescriptions. But things may be getting worse. Back in 2003, the questionable entity known as prehypertension was introduced (a “condition” of having blood pressure between 120/80 mmHg and 139/89 mmHg, considered an indication of risk for hypertension). That year, The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC-7) revised its classifications of high blood pressure (BP) to include “prehypertension.”¹ Yet, this category was formerly covered by both the “normal” and “borderline” groups, and since then, it has been suggested that some forms of prehypertension be treated with medication.² This reminds us of the WHO’s decision to reify “osteopenia” or “pre-osteoperosis” as a disease entity, resulting in the manufacture of tens of thousands of highly misleading diagnoses, despite the fact that it is not an evidence-based categorization.

Food Is Medicine When Treating Blood Pressure Disorders

Given the danger of being overdiagnosed and overtreated with blood pressure medications that may be cardiotoxic, not to mention carcinogenic, why not use food-based solutions that improve blood pressure that are not only time-tested, safe, affordable, easily accessible, but also delicious?

At GreenMedInfo.com we have indexed a remarkably broad range of natural substances — 153 presently indexed on our Hypertension database — that can prevent and/or reduce elevated blood pressure. Some of these are as familiar as oats, garlic, whey, watermelon, coenzyme Q10, cocoa, and the amino acid arginine. You’ll also find there 20 Therapeutic actions such exercise, yoga, aromatherapy that help with hypertension. Of course, our database also focuses on avoidable causes, such as over 30 problem substances that can worsen hypertension like fructose and NSAID pain-killers. Did you know, for instance, that sugar — not salt — is a bigger threat to blood pressure?

The good news is that this is only the tip of the research iceberg. Over the course of the past five years alone, an ever-increasing body of research has accumulated showing that relatively simply dietary modifications can prevent health problems like prehypertension from worsening to the point where pharmaceutical intervention will be recommended, or deemed necessary.

Only Half A Teaspoon of Black Sesame A Day for A Month Reverses “Pre-Hypertension”

For instance, a study published in 2011 in Nutrition Journal titled, “Antihypertensive and antioxidant effects of dietary black sesame meal in pre-hypertensive humans,” found that in those diagnosed prehypertension, simply giving them 2.52 grams of black sesame meal (that’s less than half a teaspoon)  in capsules each day for 4 weeks resulted in significant reductions of systolic blood pressure compared to the placebo group. The study method was described as follows:

Twenty-two women and eight men (aged 49.8 ± 6.6 years) with prehypertension were randomly divided into two groups, 15 subjects per group. They ingested 2.52 g black sesame meal capsules or placebo capsules each day for 4 weeks. Blood samples were obtained after overnight fasting for measurement of plasma lipid, malondialdehyde (MDA) and vitamin E levels. Anthropometry, body composition and BP were measured before and after 4-week administration of black sesame meal or a placebo.”

For those wondering, malondialedhyde (MDA) levels are are indicator of the amount of oxidative stress occurring in the body. The results were remarkable, showing that participants went from an average systolic blood pressure of 129.3, which is less than a point shy of the official definition of hypertensive (130-140), down to an average of 121.0, which is only a little over a point into the technical definition of prehypertension (120-129). The more detailed results were reported as follows:

The results showed that 4-week administration of black sesame meal significantly decreased systolic BP (129.3 ± 6.8 vs. 121.0 ± 9.0 mmHg, P < 0.05) and MDA level (1.8 ± 0.6 vs. 1.2 ± 0.6 μmol/L, P < 0.05), and increased vitamin E level (29.4 ± 6.0 vs. 38.2 ± 7.8 μmol/L, P < 0.01). In the black sesame meal group, the change in SBP tended to be positively related to the change in MDA (R = 0.50, P = 0.05), while the change in DBP was negatively related to the change in vitamin E (R = -0.55, P < 0.05). There were no correlations between changes in BP and oxidative stress in the control group.”

As you can see, in the black sesame intervention group a relationship was identified between the systolic blood pressure and the improvement oxidative stress status in the body (measured by the reduced MDA level). Presumably, the black sesame’s antioxidant properties are positively modulating the structure/function of the blood vessels and the hemodynamics of the blood itself, which helped to reduce the blood pressure.

The researchers of the study concluded:

These results suggest the possible antihypertensive effects of black sesame meal on improving antioxidant status and decreasing oxidant stress. These data may imply a beneficial effect of black sesame meal on prevention of CVD.”

You can actually read more about the study and implications in a report done by our naturopath contributor Case Adams here: Black Sesame Seed Reduces High Blood Pressure Also, consider that black sesame likely possesses many if not all of the same health benefits identified within regular sesame, which include about 90 health benefits, and which you can look at here on our sesame seed database. The difference, of course, is that black sesame seed is pigmented. This melanin-like substance known as allomelanin has potent antioxidant and healing properties which may also explain why black seed (nigella sativa) has been found to have such profound healing properties, and known in ancient times within the Islamic tradition as the “remedy for everything but death.”

Kitchen Cupboard Life-Savers You Should Know About

It is amazing to think that such a simple intervention with food can have such a powerful effect on reducing one of the primary risk factors linked to premature death in the developed world. This is not the only example! Take a glance below at some of the other foods we have reported on that have been validated clinically to significantly impact the risk of dying from some of today’s most common causes:

• 
  

  How Garlic Can Save Your Life

  
  


• 
  

  10 Food-Medicines That Could Save Your Life

  
  


• 
  

  Curry Dilates Arteries with One Serving

  
  


• 
  

  Lime Juice Could Save 100’s of Thousands of Lives Each Year

  
  


• 
  

  Why Eating Sesame Seed Paste Could Save Your Life

  
  

Looking for more? Check out our Healing Foods research feed.

Let’s face it. Modern Western medicine’s founding father Hippocrates was right all along: “Let Food Be Thy Medicine”!

References

¹The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure: the JNC 7 report. Chobanian AV, Bakris GL, Black HR, Cushman WC, Green LA, Izzo JL Jr, Jones DW, Materson BJ, Oparil S, Wright JT Jr, Roccella EJ, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure, National High Blood Pressure Education Program Coordinating Committee JAMA. 2003 May 21; 289(19):2560-72. [PubMed]

² Cardiovasc Ther. 2010 Dec;28(6):339-43. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-5922.2010.00167.x. Prehypertension: the rationale for early drug therapy. Fuchs FD1.

© January 29, 2018 GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter.

The post Eating Black Sesame May Slash Heart Disease Risk appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Chocolate Gives Statins A $29 Billion Run For Their Money

With the blockbuster cholesterol-lowering class of drugs known as statins being widely promoted for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, despite their having over 300 documented adverse health effects (including heart failure!), how does chocolate sound as a viable, heart-friendly alternative?

We already connect amorously with chocolate (to the tune of 6 billion lbs of cocoa consumed annually worldwide), revealing in heart-felt expressions like “I love it,” and “this is to die for!” how comfortable we are with publicly declaring our affection. But did you know that while it makes our emotional hearts sing, it may actually keep our physical hearts happy, alive and ticking longer, as well?

Indeed, back in 2006, researchers found that for elderly men, eating cocoa intake was inversely associated with blood pressure and 15-year cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. When compared with the lowest tertile (lowest 33%) of cocoa intake, the adjusted relative risk for men in the highest tertile was .50 for cardiovascular mortality, or a 50% reduction, and .53 for all-cause mortality, or a 47% reduction. Not bad considering the median cocoa intake among users was 2.11 grams per day, or just one half an ounce a week. While many people are searching out supplements such as ubiquinol to combat the side effects of statin drugs, they could have been eating chocolate instead.

Anything that can reduce your risk of dying from all causes by 50%, which is not an expensive and potentially dangerous drug, but a food, should be be taken seriously, even if — paradoxically — it is usually found in the candy section of the grocery store.

There is no shortage of solid, human clinical research supporting the consumption of cocoa, the signature ingredient in chocolate, for the reduction of both cardiovascular disease risk factors, and “hard” cardiovascular outcomes, e.g. hypertension, endothelial dysfunction, insulin resistance, low HDL, stroke, heart disease, etc. GreenMedInfo.com has made 30 such studies available to view on its cocoa page.

The remarkable thing about the research on chocolate is that its consumption appears to improve the pathological condition of the blood vessels known as endothelial dysfunction, and which is believed to be at the root of the problem of plaque accumulation in the arteries, as well as elevated blood lipids. Statins may in fact exert their greatly exaggerated health benefits not by suppressing lipids (as popularly advertised), but by acting as a mild vasodilator through enhancing nitric oxide concentrations in the lining of the blood vessels (endothelium). Statins, however, are produced from chemicals, and therefore guarantee a certain degree of collateral poisoning will take place, whereas chocolate has a long history of safe use both as a food and a medicine. Chocolate has also been extensively researched for effectively lowering blood pressure in those who consume it, which is still considered one of the best ways to reduce cardiovascular disease risk, and which drug-based blood pressure medications are notoriously ineffective at, since they may actually raise cardiac mortality even while effectively lowering blood pressure. In a similar way, statins may effectively suppress blood lipids while at the same time weakening the heart muscle.

Some of cocoa/chocolate’s other potential health benefits include:

• Inhibiting Accelerated Aging – Not only has the preference for chocolate in older age been linked with better health, optimism and better psychological well-being, but it has also been shown in the fruit fly-based experimental model of aging to have antioxidative, pro-oxidative, and metal-chelating effects associated with increased lifespan. Moreover, research in women shows that long-term ingestion of favanol-rich chocolate (raw chocolate is especially rich in these compounds) protects against UV-induced skin redness and improves their skin condition.


• Protecting Against Alzheimers – Cocoa procyanidins attenuate lipid peroxidation associated neuronal cell death in a manner relevant to Alzheimer’s disease.


• Reducing Stress (Elevated Catecholamines) – Daily consumption of 40 grams of chocolate during a 2 week period reduces the urinary excretion of cortisol and catecholamines, while reducing other metabolic indicators of stress, including gut microbial metabolism.

• Inhibiting Cholesterol Oxidation – Rather than fixating on the absolute number of lipoproteins or cholesterol within the blood (quantitiative analysis) it makes sense to ensure that those lipids don’t undergo excessive oxidize (qualitative analysis) which is associated with injury to the blood vessels and the formation of atherosclerotic plaque. More than a few studies have found that chocolate prevents LDL cholesterol oxidation, while also boosting the beneficial HDL cholesterol

• Boosting Cognitive Performance – Chocolate, along with flavonoid-rich red wine and tea, were shown to boost cognitive performance in elderly men and women, with the maximum effect at intacts of 10g/d, or the equivalent of 2 ½ ounces a week.

• Inhibiting Cancer – Llimited, though significant research indicates that cocoa is capable of inhibiting certain types of cancer. The growth of prostate cancer cells have been selectively inhibited with cocoa polyphenols, and animal research indicates that cocoa liquor is capable of inhibiting chemically-induced liver cancer.

• Improving Diabetes – New research from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has revealed that the consumption of chocolate, or its active constituents (cocoa, flavan-3-ols), reduces a broad range of risk factors for cardiovascular disease including insulin resistance. The researchers looked at 42 acute and long-term studies and found a 33% median reduction in insulin resistance following chocolate consumption. What is so unique about this new study is that chocolate consumption is generally believed to elevate blood sugar and blood insulin levels; not only does it disprove this myth but it sheds additional light on why chocolate consumption (especially dark, organic) may be beneficial in both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.

• Boosting Sexual Function – Chocolate is an excellent vasodilator, which is one reason why it has been traditionally linked to improved fertility and virility. Research also indicates that chocolate consumption is linked to higher sexual function in women, as well.

This is only a sampling from the research we have gathered on chocolate/cocoa’s potential health benefits, of which there are several dozen.

Lastly, any serious discussion on the medicinal properties of chocolate should be qualified by pointing out that chocolate is often unfairly traded, and has even been linked to child enslavement. Non-organic cocoa may also contain residues of the dangerous herbicide glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup), among many other biocides used in conventional farming, so the consumer must take special care to avoid these moral and physiological pitfalls. Also, because chocolate has complex pharmacologically active properties, it must be consumed in moderation, and with attention paid towards the tendency for using it to self-medicate, especially when the cocoa content is lower and the sugar content higher.

© November 18, 2017 GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter.

The post Chocolate Gives Statins A $29 Billion Run For Their Money appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Sugar Cane Extract Superior To Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs?

 

There is a little known natural extract of plant waxes known as policosanol, extractable from sugar cane, yams, and beeswax, which has been giving some of the more profitable drugs on the market a biomedical beating since it was first investigated in clinical trials by the Cubans in the 1990’s.

Not only has it been shown superior to aspirin for treating conditions linked with peripheral artery disease (intermittent claudication), but it has put the $29 billion dollar a year statin drug category to shame.  At $5 for a month supply, you can understand why you haven’t heard it advertised on television or promoted through a conventional physician’s increasingly drug dispensary-like office.

And here is the kicker: while aspirin has been linked to 50 serious, if not life-threatening side effects,[i] and statin drugs to well over 300,[ii] policosanol was evaluated for safety in animal toxicity studies and was found to have no negative effects on carcinogenesis, reproduction, growth, and development at 1500 times normal human doses (on the basis of body weight).[iii] With such a low cost, and high margin of safety, it is unconscionable that more are not being made aware of it as an alternative to pharmaceuticals for lipid modulation.

It should be said before we continue, that while we do not subscribe to the intellectually bankrupt and vastly over-simplified “cholesterol hypothesis” of heart disease, if a patient feels compelled to lower cholesterol, or is pressured to do it for financial reasons (e.g. medical insurance premium hikes), they should at least have the option of doing so without poisoning themselves into disability, even death, which sadly, is increasingly the case.

In comparison studies policosanol has been shown either to be superior, or to compare favorably, to the following statin drugs:

Pravachol (Pravastatin) – 10 mg of policosanol given during evening meals for 8 weeks was capable of lowering LDL-cholesterol, (19.3%), total cholesterol (13.9%) and the ratios of LDL-cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol (28.3%) and total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio (24.4%).

In comparison, pravastatin, also administered at 10 mg during evening meals for 8 weeks, resulted in lowering LDL-cholesterol, (15.6%), total cholesterol (11.8%) without affecting the ratios of LDL-cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol and total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratios — clearly demonstrating the superiority of policosanol to pravastatin.

Moreover, policosanol and not pravastatin, significantly increased levels of HDL-cholesterol (18.4%) and reduced (p < 0.01) triglycerides (14.1%).  Also, policosanol was more effective at inhibiting platelet aggregation induced by chemical agonists and arachadonic acid (a by-product of omega-6 metabolism).

Simvastatin/Lovastatin – Patients with a LDL cholesterol over 160 mg/dl were studied. They received either policosanol 10 mg/day (55 patients), lovastatin 20 mg/day (26 patients) or simvastatin 10 mg/day (25 patients). Serum cholesterol was measured again after 8 weeks of therapy. A 24% LDL cholesterol reduction was obtained with policosanol, compared with a 22% reduction with lovastatin and a 15% reduction with simvastatin. HDL cholesterol significantly increased in patients on policosanol and did not change in the other treatment groups.[iv]

Lipitor (Atorvastatin) – 10 mg of policosanol was compared to 10 mg of atorvastatin. After 8 weeks of therapy, policosanol lowered LDL-cholesterol  25.7% versus 41.9% for the drug. While atorvastatin was capable of suppressing LDL-cholesterol more dramatically,  policosanol was shown superior in raising the HDL-cholesterol, as well inhibiting platelet aggregation.[v]

Also, LDL-cholesterol may have significant protective effects against cancer, infections and even heart attack itself. In fact, our research project has identified up to 30 conditions that may benefit from higher LDL cholesterol levels, illustrating just how misguided dramatic, drug-mediated suppression of cholesterol may actually be.

Additionally, policosanol has even been compared to another blockbuster class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, the fenofibrates, with the following positive result:

Bezalip (Besafibrate) – 10 mg of policosanol was compared to 400 mg of besafibrate, and after a 8-week course of treatment the policosanol group’s total cholesterol diminished by an average of 15%, LDLP cholesterol fell by 18%, triglycerides by 15%, while in the drug group a respective decrease was 8, 11 and 6%.[vi]

Policosanol has also been shown superior to the statin drug lovastatin in preventing experimentally-induced carotid artery lesions associated with atherosclerosis. [vii]

Research comparing policosanol to aspirin for another cardiovascular disease related complaint, intermittent claudication, is also compelling:

Aspirin – 10 mg of policosanol was compared to 100 mg of aspirin in 39 patients with intermittent claudication, a condition characterized by muscle pain (ache, cramp, numbness or sense of fatigue), which occurs after exercise, usually in the calf muscle. Policosanol was capable of significantly increasing walking distances, whereas aspirin had no discerned effect.[viii]  Incidentally, policosanol has also shown favorable results when compared to the antiplatelet drug tricoplidine for intermittent claudication.[ix]

Another study found that 20 mg of policosanol was as effective as 100 mg of aspirin as a platelet inhibitor, but without the serious side effects associated with taking aspirin, e.g. headache, epigastralgia and nose bleeding.[x]

A final note on aspirin alternatives. A 125 mg dose of the pine bark extract known as pycnogenol has been clinically demonstrated in smokers to be as effective as 500 mg of aspirin as a platelet inhibitor, but without increasing bleeding time — a difference that can mean life or death, when it comes to risks for hemorrhagic side effects associated with the use of blood thinners. .[xi]

Until the conventional medical establishment prioritizes safety, affordability and effectiveness over profit, policosanol will have few advocates within the medical professional caste. On the other hand, if these so-called “health” professionals do not find a place for natural substances for high cholesterol such as policosanol, can they really claim to be practicing medicine, or would it not be more accurate to describe it as glorified, applied pharmacology?

Related Articles

Superiority of Natural Substances versus Drugs

Consumer Alert: 300+ Health Problems Linked To Statin Drugs

Confirmed Once Again: Statins Likely Harm The Heart

Chocolate Gives Statins A $29 Billion Run For Their Money

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[i] GreenMedInfo Aspirin Research Page

[ii] GreenMedInfo Statin Research Page

[iii] Policosanol: a new treatment for cardiovascular disease? Altern Med Rev. 2002 Jun;7(3):203-17. PMID: 12126462

[iv] [Comparative effects of policosanol and two HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors on type II hypercholesterolemia]. Rev Med Chil. 1999 Mar;127(3):286-94. PMID: 10436712

[v] Comparison of the effects of policosanol and atorvastatin on lipid profile and platelet aggregation in patients with dyslipidaemia and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Clin Drug Investig. 2003;23(10):639-50. PMID: 17535079

[vi] [Results of the multicenter controlled study of the hypolipidemic drug polycosanol in Russia]. Ter Arkh. 2000;72(12):7-10. PMID: 11201841

[vii] A comparative study of policosanol vs lovastatin on intimal thickening in rabbit cuffed carotid artery. Science. 2009 Jul 10;325(5937):201-4. PMID: 11207063

[viii] Effects of policosanol (10 mg/d) versus aspirin (100 mg/d) in patients with intermittent claudication: a 10-week, randomized, comparative study. Angiology. 2008 Jun-Jul;59(3):269-77. Epub 2008 Apr 2. PMID: 18388038

[ix] Effects of policosanol and ticlopidine in patients with intermittent claudication: a double-blinded pilot comparative study. Angiology. 2004 Jul-Aug;55(4):361-71. PMID: 15258682

[x] Comparative study of policosanol, aspirin and the combination therapy policosanol-aspirin on platelet aggregation in healthy volunteers. Pharmacol Res. 1997 Oct;36(4):293-7. PMID: 9425618

[xi] Inhibition of smoking-induced platelet aggregation by aspirin and pycnogenol. Thromb Res. 1999 Aug 15;95(4):155-61. PMID: 10498385

 

© November 15, 2017 GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter.

The post Sugar Cane Extract Superior To Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs? appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Statin Drugs Linked To Arthritis, Heart Trouble And More

Research revealing the broad spectrum toxicity of statin drugs continues to accumulate unabated.  A study reveals that these cholesterol-lowering drugs may be contributing to an epidemic of arthritis and autoimmunity in exposed populations, adding to a growing body of clinical evidence that they may cause over 300 adverse health effects.

Published this month in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy, and titled “Statins accelerate the onset of collagen type II-induced arthritis in mice,” researchers found that 100% of the animals given statin drugs developed arthritis and markers of autoimmunity versus 58% in the control population who did not receive them.[1]

The study was performed in the wake of an observational study showing that statin drug use was associated with an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.[2]  The researchers hypothesized that statin drug use may eventually lead to dysregulation of immune responses, possibly resulting in autoimmunity.  This finding does not come as a great surprise considering that statins have already been linked to lupus-like syndrome,[3] as well as immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy.[4]

Because atherosclerosis is known to have an autoimmune component, the emerging connection between statins and autoimmunity may undermine the justification for their continued use in the primary prevention of heart disease. Lesions form in an artery only after the body’s immune system snowballs out of control. White blood cells (macrophages and T-lymphoctyles) infiltrate the damaged area in an attempt to heal it, absorbing oxidized-LDL in the process, and eventually depositing in the artery wall as foam cells, triggering more white blood cells to infiltrate in a vicious cycle.

The blood work of heart disease patients has also shown elevations of a well-known marker of autoimmunity in the blood, namely, antinuclear antibodies.[5] What is more concerning is that statin drugs have been shown to induce elevations of these same antibodies,[6]not only calling into question their utility in preventing heart disease, but implicating them as potentially cardiotoxic agents.

Indeed, the cardiotoxicity of statin drugs was demonstrated back in 2009 when the journal of Clinical Cardiology showed that statin drugs actually weaken the heart muscle.[7] In addition, the GreenMedInfo.com statin drugs research page now contains 76 studies indicating the myotoxicity (muscle-damaging) effect of statins and 53 studies indicating their neurotoxicity (nerve-damaging). Since the heart is a highly innervated muscle, using them for “protecting” the heart is an insurmountable contradiction.

Related Links

Consumer Alert: 300+ Health Problems Linked To Statin Drugs

Coconut Water May Drive the Statin Drug Industry NUTS

Chocolate Gives Statins A $29 Billion Run For Their Money

Lower Your Cholesterol, Increase Your Diabetes Risk By 48%

Confirmed Once Again: Statins Likely Harm The Heart

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[1] Statins accelerate the onset of collagen type II-induced arthritis in mice. Arthritis Res Ther. 2012 Apr 26 ;14(2):R90. Epub 2012 Apr 26. PMID: 22537858

[2] Use of statins is associated with an increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2011 Oct 6. Epub 2011 Oct 6. PMID: 21979000

[3] Association Between Statin Use and Lupus-Like Syndrome Using Spontaneous Reports. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2011 Aug 23. Epub 2011 Aug 23. PMID: 21868063

[4] Autoimmune myopathies: autoantibodies, phenotypes and pathogenesis.Nat Rev Neurol. 2011 Jun ;7(6):343-54. Epub 2011 Jun 8. PMID: 21654717

[5] More Evidence that Atherosclerosis Is An Autoimmune Disease? http://www.theheart.org/article/166113.do

[6] [Polymyositis induced or associated with lipid-lowering drugs: five cases].Rev Med Interne. 2004 Apr ;25(4):294-8. PMID: 15050796

[7] Statin therapy decreases myocardial function as evaluated via strain imaging. Clin Cardiol. 2009 Dec;32(12):684-9. PMID: 20027659

© November 7, 2017 GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter.

The post Statin Drugs Linked To Arthritis, Heart Trouble And More appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Consumer Alert: 300+ Health Problems Linked To Statin Drugs

A growing body of clinical research now indicates that the cholesterol-lowering class of drugs known as statins, are associated with over 300 adverse health effects — research boldly flying in the face of national health policy, medical insurance premium guidelines, statin drug manufacturer advertising claims, and the general sentiment of the public, with approximately 1 in every 4 adult Americans over 45 currently using these drugs to “prevent heart disease.”

The Cholesterol Myth

For well over 40 years, statin drugs have successfully concretized a century old myth about the primary cause of heart disease: namely, that cholesterol “causes” plaque build up in the arteries, ultimately leading to obstruction of blood flow, and subsequent morbidity and mortality.

Indeed, the medical establishment and drug companies have been singing the praises of this “cholesterol myth,” to the tune of 25 billion dollars in statin drug sales, annually.

While it is true that oxidized low-density lipoprotein is found within the atheromatous plaque that is found in damaged arteries, it is less likely a cause than an effect of heart disease. The underlying damage to the lining of the artery, which could be infectious, chemical, stress and/or nutritionally-related, comes before the immune response that results in plaque buildup there. Blaming LDL cholesterol for causing heart disease, is like blaming the scab for the injury that caused it to form, or, like blaming the band-aid for the scab it is covering — this is, after all, the inborn and fatal flaw of allopathic medicine which focuses only on symptoms of disease, which it then — fool-heartedly — attempts to suppress by any chemical means necessary.

Death By Statins?

No one can deny that statins do exactly what they are designed to do: suppress cholesterol production and reduce measurable blood serum levels. The question is, rather, at what price do they accomplish this feat, and for what ultimate purpose?

With the National Cholesterol Education Program Guidelines, having been designed by “experts” on the payroll of statin drug manufacturers, requiring ultra-low levels to obtain a strictly theoretical and numerical definition of “health,” statin drugs are guaranteed to receive first-line treatment status in the goal of the preventing and treating heart disease through lipid suppression.

What is at question here, is whether the unintended, adverse effects of this chemical class of drugs are less, the same or worse than the purported “cardiovascular” benefits they provide?

Fundamentally, statin drugs damage the muscles and nerves in the body — so much so that a dose as low as 5 mg a day (albeit in rare cases) can kill a human. There are well over 100 studies demonstrating the myotoxic, or muscle-harming effects of these drugs, and over 80 demonstrating the effects of nerve damage, as well. When you consider that a vast proportion of our body is comprised of muscles and coordinating nerve systems, this drug has the potential to cause damage to the entire body, and undoubtedly does so universally, differing only in the matter of degree — the damage occurring acutely in those at the tip of the iceberg, asymptomatically in the majority of others at the base.

Moreover, statin myotoxicity is not exclusive to skeletal muscle. If you consider that the heart is also a muscle, in fact, is our most tireless muscle, an obvious red flag should go up. It is a remarkable fact that it took over 40 years before the biomedical research and publishing fields were able to produce a human study, like the one published in the Journal of Clinical Cardiology in Dec. 2009, showing that statin drugs, despite billions of advertising/marketing dollars to the contrary, actually weaken the heart muscle. 

These results, while disturbing, are to be expected given the well-known problem associated with statin drug use, namely, the inhibition of the mevalonate pathway necessary to produce the heart-essential nutrient coenzyme Q10. Coenzyme Q10 deficiency itself may be a major contributing cause to heart disease. There is also research that statin drugs deplete the body of the cardioprotective minerals (and associated mineral-protein complexes) zinc and selenium. This finding may also explain why rates of heart failure may be increasing in the general population given these drugs.

While the discovery that statin drugs, instead of preventing heart disease, likely contribute to it, is surprising and counterintuitive, it should not distract from the more disturbing discovery that they contribute to over 300 disease and/or adverse health effects.

Millions of statin drugs users around the globe are risking their lives on a bad bet that taking a magic chemical pill will reduce their risk of dying of a disease that is not caused by a lack of the drug. What is more likely to happen, however, is that the quality and duration of their lives will be reduced, profoundly, along with billions of dollars of squandered cash that could have been spent on authentically medicinal and cardioprotective foods, nutrients, minerals and vitamins.

In light of these findings, a very serious question is raised: are those who are party to the manufacture, promotion, administration and/or prescribing of this chemical class of drugs, in violation of the medical ethical principle of informed consent? And is this ethical violation, insofar as it results in injury to those who have been mislead and/or coerced to take these drugs, also a legal/criminal one?

Additional Research Links

Natural Cholesterol Lowering Agents

Natural Substances Which Reduce Cardiac Mortality

Natural Substances Which May Unclog Arteries

© August 2, 2017 GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter.

Worried About Clogged Arteries? Drink This.

Millions take toxic cholesterol and blood pressure lowering drugs that may do nothing to reduce heart disease specific mortality. Pomegranate juice, on the other hand, actually reverses underlying pathologies of the cardiovascular system that lead to bypass surgeries and heart attacks. 

One of the most amazing clinical studies ever performed has been hidden away behind a pay wall for over a decade. When I first stumbled upon this clinical pearl two years ago, in the form of the publicly indexed abstract on pubmed.gov, my jaw nearly dropped. I’ve finally acquired the full version of the study and am now excited to report on its implications in greater depth to help raise awareness about the power of pomegranate to heal the body, and I believe, save millions lives from premature death from heart disease.

The most eye-opening line in the abstract reveals why our original report on the study, How To Clean Your Arteries With One Simple Fruit, received over 500,000 social media shares:

“Pomegranate juice consumption resulted in a significant IMT [intima media thickness] reduction, by up to 30%, after 1 year.”

We shouldn’t be that surprised at how great an interest there is among the masses in safe, delicious, and affordable drug alternatives that have the power to unclog arteries? Certainly the drugs aren’t working, with the most popular class — cholesterol-lowering statins — being linked to over 300 adverse health effects. But sometimes the technical language of medicine gets confusing: what does this pomegranate-induced reduction in the intima media thickness (IMT) of the arteries mean?

Reducing The Intima Media Thickness: Reversing Atherosclerosis

The intima media is the middle portion of the arteries that become inflamed and fill up with plaque comprised of oxidized fats, immune cells, and their debris, in the condition known colloquially as “blocked arteries.” As the intima media grows thicker, less space is available for the blood contents to move through the opening (lumen) of the arteries. When the arteries eventually close or are blocked, catastrophic injury or death may follow. Therefore, anything that can safely reduce, or better, reverse intima media thickening is the holy grail as far as obtaining a root cause resolution of atherosclerosis, and by implication would profoundly reduce deaths linked to cardiovascular mortality.

Indeed, in a world where the #1 cause of death is cardiovascular disease, and where we preemptively medicate millions more with drugs that only reduce surrogate markers for cardiovascular disease risk – i.e. lipoproteins carrying cholesterol – without showing any convincing evidence that it is reducing cardiovascular disease or all-cause mortality, how could something as simple and powerful as pomegranate be overlooked? In fact, if a simple daily dietary intervention is capable of regressing and/or reversing the underlying disease process in millions of fatal cardiac cases, it would seem highly unethical not to use it.

Here, we wish to bring some of the finer details of this clinical trial to light, to further substantiate the value of botanical and food-based interventions not only in preventing but treating major chronic disease processes like cardiovascular disease, the developed world’s most deadly disease.

The Pomegranate “Artery Cleaning” Clinical Trial

Published in Clinical Nutrition in 2014 and titled, “Pomegranate juice consumption for 3 years by patients with carotid artery stenosis reduces common carotid intima-media thickness, blood pressure and LDL oxidation,” Israeli researchers discovered pomegranate, administered in juice form over the course of a year, reversed plaque accumulation in the carotid arteries of patients with severe, though symptomless, carotid artery stenosis (defined as 70–90% blockage in the internal carotid arteries).

The study consisted of nineteen patients, 5 women and 14 men, aged 65-75, non-smokers. They were randomized to receive either pomegranate juice or placebo. Ten patients were in the pomegranate juice treatment group and 9 patients that did not consume pomegranate juice were in the control group. Both groups were matched with similar blood lipid and glucose concentrations, blood pressure, and with similar medication regimens which consisted of blood-pressure lowering (e.g. ACE inhibitors, β-blockers, or calcium channel blockers) and lipid lowering drugs (e.g. statins).

The ten patients in the treatment group group received 1.69 ounces (50 ml) of pomegranate juice per day (about the volume of a shot glass), which contained .036 milligrams of total polyphenols (primarily tannins and anthocyanins), for a period of 1 year, and five out of them agreed to continue for up to 3 years.

The remarkable results were reported as follows:

“The mean intima media thickness the left and right common carotid arteries in severe carotid artery stenosis patients that consumed pomegranate juice for up to 1 year was reduced after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of pomegranate juice consumption by 13%, 22%, 26% and 35%, respectively, in comparison to baseline values.”

You can only imagine what would happen if a pharmaceutical drug was shown to reverse plaque build up in the carotid arteries by 13% in just 3 months! This drug would be lauded the life-saving miracle drug, and not only would be promoted and sold successfully as a multi-billion dollar blockbuster, but discussion would inevitably follow as to why it should be mandated.

While these results are impressive, if not altogether groundbreaking for the field of cardiology, they may be even better than revealed in the stated therapeutic outcomes above.  When one factors in that the carotid artery stenosis increased 9% within 1 year in the control group, the pomegranate intervention group may have seen even better results than indicated by the measured regression in intima media thickness alone.  That is, if we assume that the pomegranate group had received no treatment, the thickening of their carotid arteries would have continued to progress like the control group at a rate of 9% a year, i.e. 18% within 2 years, 27% within 3 years. This could be interpreted to mean that after 3 years of pomegranate treatment, for instance, the thickening of the arteries would have been reduced over 60% beyond what would have occurred had the natural progression of the disease been allowed to continue unabated.

3 Ways How Pomegranate Heals The Cardiovascular System

The researchers identified three likely mechanisms of action behind pomegranate’s observed anti-atherosclerotic activity:

• Antioxidant properties: Subjects receiving pomegranate saw significant reductions in oxidative stress, including decreases in autoantibodies formed against ox-LDL, a form of oxidized low density lipoprotein associated with the pathological process of atherosclerosis. Decreases in oxidative stress were measurable by an increase in the blood serum enzyme paraoxonase 1 (PON1) of up to 91% after 3 years; PON1 is an enzyme whose heightened activity is associated with lower oxidative stress. All of this is highly relevant to the question of pomegranate’s anti-atherosclerotic activity because of something called the lipid peroxidation hypothesis of atherosclerosis, which assumes that it is the quality of the blood lipids (i.e. whether they are oxidized/damaged or not), and not their quantity alone that determine their cardiotoxicity/atherogenicity. Essentially, pomegranate prevents the heart disease promoting effects of oxidative stress.


• Blood Pressure Lowering Properties: The intervention resulted in significant improvement in blood pressure: the patient’s systolic blood pressure was reduced 7%, 11% ,10%, 10% and 12% after 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of pomegranate consumption, respectively, compared to values obtained before treatment. Pomegranate’s ability to reduce systolic blood pressure indicates it has a healing effect on the endothelium, or the inner lining of the artery which fails to relax fully in heart disease; a condition known as endothelial dysfunction.


• Plaque Lesion Stabilization: Because two of the ten patients on PJ (after 3 and 12 months) experienced clinical deterioration, carotid surgery was performed and the lesions were analyzed to determine the difference in their composition to those who did not receive pomegranate. The researchers noticed four distinct positive differences in the composition of the pomegranate-treated lesions:

1.     Reduced Cholesterol Content: “The cholesterol content in carotid lesions from the two patients that consumed PJ was lower by 58% and 20%, respectively, in comparison to lesions obtained from CAS patients that did not consume PJ (Fig. 3A).”

2.     Reduced Lipid Peroxides: “[T]he lipid peroxides content in lesions obtained from the patients after PJ consumption for 3 or 12 months was significantly reduced by 61% or 44%, respectively, as compared to lesions from patients that did not consume PJ (Fig. 3B).

3.     Increased Reduced Glutathione Content: “A substantial increase in the lesion reduced glutathione (GSH) content, (GSH is a major cellular antioxidant) by 2.5-fold, was observed after PJ consumption for 3 or 12 months, (Fig. 3C).

4.     Reduced LDL Oxidation: “LDL oxidation by lesions derived from the patients after PJ consumption for 3 or 12 months, was significantly (Po0.01) decreased by 43% or 32%, respectively, in comparison to LDL oxidation rates obtained by lesions from CAS patients that did not consume PJ (Fig. 3D).”

Essentially these results reveal that not only does pomegranate reduce the lesion size in the carotid arteries, but “the lesion itself may be considered less atherogenic after PJ consumption, as its cholesterol and oxidized lipid content decreased, and since its ability to oxidize LDL was significantly reduced.”

This finding is quite revolutionary, as presently, the dangers of carotid artery stenosis are understood primarily through the lesion size and not by assessing for the quality of that lesion. This dovetails with the concept that the sheer quantity of lipoproteins (i.e. “cholesterol”) in the blood can not accurately reveal whether those lipoproteins are actually harmful (atherogenic); rather, if lipoproteins are oxidized (e.g. ox-LDL) they can be harmful (or representative of a more systemic bodily imbalance), whereas non-oxidized low density lipoprotein may be considered entirely benign, if not indispensable for cardiovascular and body wide health. Indeed, in this study the researchers found the pomegranate group had increased levels of triglycerides and very low density lipoprotein, again, underscoring that the anti-atherosclerotic properties likely have more to do with the improved quality of the physiological milieu within which all our lipoproteins operate than the number of them, in and of itself.

Finally, it should be pointed out that all the patients in this study were undergoing conventional, drug-based care for cardiovascular disease, e.g. cholesterol- and blood pressure-lowering agents. Not only did the pomegranate treatment not appear to interfere with their drugs, making it a suitable complementary/adjunct therapy for those on pharmaceuticals, but it should be pointed out that the control group’s condition got progressively worse (e.g. the mean IMT increased 9% within 1 year), speaking to just how ineffective drugs are, or how they may even contribute to the acceleration of the disease process itself.

Pomegranate’s 100+ Health Benefits

Believe it or not, pomegranate has many other ways in which it can help to heal the cardiovascular system, as well as other organ systems. Our research project has identified over 100 distinct health benefits of pomegranate: View the Pomegranate Research Database. Learn more by reading some of our other articles on the topic:

© May 24, 2017  GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter.

Could Eating Pasta Really Make You HEALTHIER?

Can eating pasta make you healthier and make you eat less saturated fat? According to a study presented at the Obesity Society’s annual meeting in November of 2016, the answer is “yes.” [1]

Researchers from Nutritional Strategies, Inc. compared data collected from U.S. adults between 2001 and 2012 and found that pasta lovers also tend to eat less added sugar. Wait, it gets better. Compared to people who avoid carbs, pasta-eaters were found to consume more essential vitamins and minerals including folate, iron, magnesium, and dietary fiber. [1] [2]

Diane Welland, a registered dietitian and Nutrition Communications Manager for the National Pasta Association, says:

“Pasta can be an effective building block for good nutrition, as it serves as a perfect delivery system for fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish and legumes. This analysis underscores the nutritional importance of grains, such as pasta, as consistent with a healthy diet.” [2]

In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that the study was organized by the National Pasta Association. You could say they’re more than a little bit biased. [1]

But researchers have uncovered some positive things about pasta in the past. For example, last summer Italian researchers found that eating pasta as part of a Mediterranean diet might help people lose fat. The study’s lead author, George Pounis, said:

“We have seen that consumption of pasta, contrary to what many think, is not associated with an increase in body weight, rather the opposite. Our data shows that enjoying pasta according to individuals’ needs contributes to a healthy body mass index, lower waist circumference and better waist-hip ratio.”

A Mediterranean diet is rich in fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and olive oil. In the case of this study, pasta was eaten in small amounts, rather than as the focus of the meal.

If you’re going to eat pasta, opt for whole grain varieties. Carbohydrates are vital for energy, and whole grains are loaded with nutrients and complex carbohydrates that decrease insulin levels at the same time.

Source: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The fiber in whole grain pasta can also improve bowel health, regulate your cholesterol, help you lose weight, and regulate your blood sugar.

So while pasta can fatten you up in large amounts, it should have a spot on your dinner plate from time to time.

Sources:

[1] Independent

[2] The Sun

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.