The doc just reviewed my otherwise respectable blood chemistry and decided that my "bad" cholesterol levels warrant taking some LDL-reducing medication for a month, for the 1st time ever. While many things in my life the last two years (last time LDL # was decent) have changed, including a reduction in exercise, I've also had a heightened exposure to sacred entheogenic medicines, as well as RC analogues, during that same time.

Anybody care to chime in on the role these medicines and chemicals could conceivably play in one's cholesterol levels? I'm not a scientist, but could, for example, at least imagine some kind of link between caapi and cholesterol. This is not the kind of question I'd put to the doctor...but on the other hand, if he knew if I sit all day next to a Trichocereus pachanoi plant, maybe he'd tell me to move the plant further away for a month, kinda like the law of inverse squares. Or, not to talk for the next month to any of those SWIM's researching RC's.

I doubt seriously these chemicals played any role.

I'd look at your diet and your activity level first.

I agree with joedirt on the second part.

A few sources on this can be found here - http://chriskresser.com/heartdisease

from what I understand(I think?) certain vegetable oils like canola oil, and some grains like wheat are what are linked to increased levels of LDL cholesterol...Things that many westerners eat all the time..

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I couldn't help myself.

There is no such such thing as "bad" cholesterol. There is only one kind of cholesterol.

The HDL's and LDL's are lipoprotiens that transport the cholesterol around our bodies.

HDL's transport cholesterol from the bodies tissues back to the liver where it is processed to form bile or used to make hormones ect.

LDL's transport cholesterol from the liver and deliver it where it is needed throughout the body.

While cholesterol is a component in arterial plaque it's not the bad guy that corporations like Merck would have you believe, as cholesterol is drawn to sites of inflammation in the cardiovascular system to repair damage and keep you alive.

Most of those supporting the lipid hypothesis have been shown to have limited understanding of lipid science and the mechanisms driving cholesterol production in the body. A lot of scientific papers that have been used to support the heart - dietary fat fallacy have been proven to have cherry picked their data and published outright lies often under the influence of research funding by big pharma and the vegetable oil cartels.

The basis for these fallacious research findings came from research done on rabbits (omnivores) being fed diets high in cholesterol is not applicable to omnivores (humans). The findings from the studies on humans often involved cherry picked data that seemed to support the hypothesis the researchers were trying to prove with their research.

I'll let you in a little trick that scientific researchers use to keep the money coming in. When a scientific paper doesn't suit the dogma of the day or the desires of those funding the research, the abstract for the research can be sometimes be re-written to make the paper appear to support the motives of those funding it. The real data and findings can be accurate but the abstract can be misleading to the point of fraud. This is not meant to imply that the research is fallacious, just the representation presented in the abstract, the abstract can be written by a supervisor or someone other than those undertaking the research. You have to read the entire paper and collate the data yourself to truly understand the findings of the paper.
Most doctors read no more than the abstract and take it as fact. They simply don't have the time to read every paper that comes their way and investigate it completely.

Vegetable oils - where do I start. Polyunsaturated vegetable oils (processed) cause a weakening of the cell walls which your body responds to by drawing cholesterol from the bloodstream to repair the damage. This results in a lowering of serum LDL which is falsely seen as a good sign. This reduction is the sign of of system in distress and the beginning of real problems like cancer and diabetes.

They also throw the balance of omega 3 to omega 6 way out of the normal range which can cause all sorts of problems.

Processed vegetable oils should be eliminated from our diets or greatly reduced. Cold pressed, raw polyunsaturates are very healthy if consumed in the correct ratios but most of the western world live off diets heavily biased towards omega 6.

Statin drugs have a very limited scope when it comes to effectiveness. There have only been a few groups that have been shown to get any benefit at all from statins and those that do benefit even in those limited groups, typically only about 10% of those limited groups benefit. With the exception of familial hypercholeterolemia (a genetic condition that is very rare) hardly anyone has ever benefited from taking statin drugs. It's easy to quote instances of cases that have, but they are statistically insignificant.

Statin drugs wreak havoc on our bodies chemistry and have been implicated as a causative factor in many ailments including nausea, depression, memory problems, suicidal tendencies and even heart failure - but your doctor will never tell you about that.

A rise in serum LDL is a completely normal response for a person moving from an active to an inactive lifestyle and gaining weight.

As a footnote - the incidence of cardiovascular disease and myocardial infarction have skyrocketed in the last hundred years since we've been conned into eating vegetable oils, almost everything in a supermarket (besides the fruit and veg section) is contaminated with rancid vegetable oils. When we ate large amounts saturated fat these problems were almost unheard of.

http://www.cholesterol-a...-Heart-Disease-Myth.html

^^Heres a nice article on the issue of lipids and atheroma, and its bearing on coronary artery disease.

Certain spices, including cayenne, garlic and ginger, have been shown to scavenge cholesterol out of blood vessels and improve the ratio of HDL to LDL. I don't know what kind of diet you have been following, but since many Ayahuasca diets recommend no spicy food, this might play a role for some people.

One of the best ways to reduce your blood cholesterol levels is to eat grass fed animals or dairy products, especially those that have been eating the spring grass. Grass fed animals produce conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which lowers LDL levels and also reduces risk of cardiovascular disease. Levels of CLA peak in spring time.

It's also good to keep in mind that the promotion of polyunsaturated vegetable oils in place of saturated fat "for cardiovascular health" isn't very accurate. Polyunsaturated fats go rancid easily (many of the ones you buy at the store are already rancid before you open them), and these rancid oils cause free radical damage to artery walls. The body responds to this damage by plaquing the arteries with cholesterol, which is an important antioxidant. In other words, elevated cholesterol levels in the blood can be a sign the body is trying to heal from free radical damage, rather than a cause of problems itself.